The ‘Big Brother’ host tells PEOPLE she doesn’t think “there’s been genuine alliances formed” on the current season
From a live double eviction to zombies entering the game, the Scary-Verse has really shaken up the Big Brother house lately.
While it seemed for a while that Survivor alum Cirie Fields, along with her alliance members Izzy Gleicher and Felicia Cannon, had been running things, Izzy’s eviction — and the exposure of fake alliances — changed the game, literally.
“I don’t think there’s been genuine alliances formed,” host Julie Chen Moonves tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “There’s been a lot of deception in that house and the bonds just haven’t been as strong. The showmances even feel a little bit [like] just a matter of convenience rather than true love.”
The But First, God author thinks that Cory Wurtenberger targeted Cirie’s son Jared when he won Head of Household because “Jared does win games,” she says. “And Cirie not winning game, not as big of a threat.”
The Daytime Emmy winner believes Cory and Cirie hold most of the power right now, with Cory being the one really running the house at this point in the competition.
“He has the gift of being a persuasive speaker,” notes Chen Moonves. “He also has a fair amount of people under his belt, not just America, and that’s a duo right there. I mean, Jag is good at winning games, but he hasn’t been able to steer the direction of the house.”
Chen Moonves feels that Jag Bains should be the next target because “Jag is good at winning things,” she says.
Jared and Cameron Hardin got voted out during the double elimination, but returned as zombies with the ability to fight their way back into the game during a week without an HOH or Veto winner.
“The little zombie twists, that kind of stuff, is just a fun thing,” says Chen Moonves. “They don’t necessarily tell me weeks in advance on something like that.”
But Chen Moonves learns about other twists, like a double eviction, “weeks in advance,” she says. “It’s a little bit fluid because we lost someone before the first live eviction show. That also factors in.”
At the start of season 25, houseguest Luke Valentine got eliminated for using the N-word while talking to a group of fellow competitors.
“He broke a rule — and the rule I wish we had that in life: no hate speech,” Chen Moonves explains. “It’s just zero tolerance for that. That is unacceptable. That word really stings me. I can’t imagine anyone using it even casually. I don’t condone it at all.”
Chen Moonves actively encourages kindness on the show, signing off Big Brother by telling viewers to “love one another.”
“I feel like being on a show like Big Brother, being an Asian face on a popular reality show, that alone [does] a world of good,” she says. “I feel like there are probably some people who would be like, ‘Oh, but you’re different.’ And it’s like, ‘No, but I’m not different.’ That little signoff at the end is me with my Asian name and my Asian face saying, ‘Love one another.’”