Big Brother Season 28's premiere date is rapidly approaching, and as I wait for its arrival on the 2026 TV schedule, I'm thinking about twists. That's mainly because I've been watching classic seasons of BB to prepare, and it has me thinking I'd love to see the Battle Back competition return this year.
We've seen BB make massive strides in the game with new twists like the BB Blockbuster, and I think it can happen with the long-running Battle Back. I think if the producers can make similar tweaks to this, it could improve the game in a dramatic way.
How Big Brother Could Improve The Battle Back Competition
In theory, the Battle Back grants a player who exited early in the game a second chance to re-enter Big Brother and win it all. Of course, as anyone who has watched the show for years has seen, it rarely plays out that way.
In execution, Houseguests sometimes return having been out of the game for weeks, and things have advanced so much they're scrambling to catch up on all they missed. As for the other Houseguests, are they more apt to flip their weeks-long plans for someone who they had no idea would return, or will they just vote them out? If you don't know the answer, I assure you your best guess of what happens will save you the time it takes to fire up that Paramount+ subscription.
So how does Big Brother fix this problem? To start, I think the Battle Back winner needs some type of immunity. Getting back in the game is a feat, yes, but worthless on its own. A returning Houseguest needs two weeks off the block to get back into the game. Whether that's giving them immunity or some other incentive for Houseguests to keep them around, it would make a tremendous difference. It sounds extreme, but if we want these people to have a shot to win Big Brother, they need more than they have.
What I Don't Want From A Battle Back
I do think that Big Brother attempted to solve the Battle Back in Season 25 with its zombie week. For those who didn't watch, Jared Fields and Cameron Hardin received a chance to re-enter the house shortly after being eliminated in the Double Eviction. At the end of the week, they competed in a challenge to decide which of them stayed and which was truly evicted.
The twist was a flop and resulted in a massive lull where no one was evicted for a time. While I would love the Battle Back to return in some form, I can confidently say that was the worst way to execute it.
All this to say, I'm not sure what the fix is for the Battle Back, but I do hope Big Brother has an idea. It would be amazing to see a Houseguest get evicted and end up returning to win it all, but as it stands, the cards are too stacked against them. Give them just a slight leg up, and Houseguests a reason to keep them around, and it should work out.
Big Brother Season 28 is set to kick off on CBS on July 9th. Tune in for the premiere on the network or with a Paramount+ subscription, and be prepared for what should be the television event of the summer.
