Big Brother: Reindeer Games
American reality competition television series
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Big Brother: Reindeer Games (also known as Reindeer Games) is a reality competition television series and spin-off of the American version of Big Brother. It aired on CBS on December 11, 2023, to December 21, 2023, and hosted by former Big Brother HouseGuests Derek Xiao, Tiffany Mitchell, and Jordan Lloyd. The series features nine former HouseGuests competing against each other across six episodes which aired over the course of two weeks. Big Brother: Reindeer Games was placed on hiatus in 2024, due to lack of scheduling availability on the network.
- Derek Xiao
- Tiffany Mitchell
- Jordan Lloyd
| Big Brother: Reindeer Games | |
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| Also known as | Reindeer Games |
| Genre | Reality competition |
| Based on | |
| Presented by |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | December 11 – December 21, 2023 |
| Related | |
| Big Brother | |
House
The house used for Big Brother: Reindeer Games was renamed to the Santa's Lodge under the holiday-theme. The entryway of the house was decorated with flying reindeer, gold-wrapped presents, and a red flannel rug. The living room had a Christmas tree decorated with ornaments and wreaths. The kitchen, which in this season was named "Mrs. Claus Bakery", had red and green wallpaper with Christmas symbols, and gingerbread men on the counters.[1]
Format
Each episode consists of three games and ends in a "Santa's Showdown", the outcome of which determines the elimination of one HouseGuest.[2] The players did not live in the Big Brother house or together, and there was no voting to evict other players. Four HouseGuest remained in the finale with one winning a $100,000 grand prize.[3]
Format changes and additions
Unlike the previous seasons of Big Brother, Reindeer Games did not involve any nominations, house-voted evictions or live broadcasts. Instead, the nine houseguests from previous seasons would compete in a series of holiday-themed daily challenges.[4][1]
Naughty and Nice Challenge
In this challenge, the houseguests would compete to gain an advantage for the next challenge, while simultaneously, giving a disadvantage for a houseguest of their choosing, also known as the Naughty List Punishment.
Jingle Bell Brawl Challenge
The winner, or winners, of this challenge, would receive safety from elimination.
Santa's Showdown
The nominees would compete against each other in various challenges to determine who would remain in the lodge and who would be eliminated from the game.
- The losing houseguest would get to choose a present under the Christmas tree that contains gifts from a fruit cake to $5,000.
Santa's gifts history
| Episode | Eliminated HouseGuest | Santa's gift |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cameron | One-year Jelly of the Month Club subscription |
| 2 | Cody | Fruit cake |
| 3 | Danielle | $5,000 |
| 4 | Josh | Ugly Christmas sweater |
| 5 | Britney | Pair of underwear and socks |
HouseGuests
L–R: Cody, Cameron, Britney, Josh, Nicole, Santa (host), Taylor, Danielle, Frankie, Derek (host), Tiffany (host), Jordan (host) and Xavier
The HouseGuests were revealed intermittently throughout December 6 and 7, 2023.[5]
| Name | Age | Occupation | Residence | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicole Franzel-Arroyo Big Brother 16, Big Brother 18 & Big Brother 22: All-Stars |
31 | Boutique owner | Ubly, Michigan | Winner Episode 6 |
| Taylor Hale Big Brother 24 |
28 | Motivational speaker | Detroit, Michigan | Runner-up Episode 6 |
| Frankie Grande Big Brother 16[a] |
40 | Actor | Los Angeles, California | Finalist Episode 6 |
| Xavier Prather Big Brother 23 |
29 | Attorney | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Finalist Episode 6 |
| Britney Haynes Big Brother 12 & Big Brother 14 |
36 | Real estate agent | Tulsa, Oklahoma | Eliminated Episode 5 |
| Josh Martinez Big Brother 19 |
29 | Content creator | Miami, Florida | Eliminated Episode 4 |
| Danielle Reyes Big Brother 3 & Big Brother 7: All-Stars |
51 | Real estate manager | San Francisco, California | Eliminated Episode 3 |
| Cody Calafiore Big Brother 16 & Big Brother 22: All-Stars |
32 | Software sales rep | Howell, New Jersey | Eliminated Episode 2 |
| Cameron Hardin Big Brother 25 |
34 | Stay-at-home dad | Eastman, Georgia | Eliminated Episode 1 |
- Notes
- Frankie Grande also participated on the 18th series of Celebrity Big Brother UK.
Future appearances
In 2024, Josh Martinez competed on The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras.[6] Martinez competed on the second season of the Telemundo reality television series Los 50.[7]
In 2025, Xavier Prather competed on season one of The Anonymous. Britney Haynes and Danielle Reyes competed on season three of The Traitors US. Martinez competed in season one of Destination X.[8] Taylor Hale competed in The Amazing Race 38.[9]
In 2026, Martinez competed on the sixth season of La casa de los famosos.[10]
Episodes
| No. | Title | Original release date [11] | U.S. viewers (millions) | Rating/share (18–49) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Episode 1" | December 11, 2023 | 1.53[12] | 0.26/2[12] | |
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Nine All-Star HouseGuests entered the holiday-themed Big Brother house, which is referred to as Santa's Lodge.
Britney was the first to guess the song correctly, "Up on the Housetop", to win the advantage. Britney would later learn that with the advantage comes a disadvantage, which she must grant to another contestant. After hearing the other HouseGuests, Britney decided to give Cody the Naughty stocking, as he is a threat in competitions.
Frankie had to decide which two HouseGuests would participate in the Santa's Showdown to determine who would be eliminated. He chose Cameron and Xavier.
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| 2 | "Episode 2" | December 12, 2023 | 1.59[13] | 0.23/3[13] | |
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Cody correctly guess with the song "Deck the Halls" and gets to choose the teams for the next challenge and also gets to give disadvantage to one of the opposing team members. He chooses Frankie, Nicole and Xavier to be on his team and other four houseguests Danielle, Britney, Taylor and Josh forms the opposing team. Cody gives the disadvantage to Taylor.
Nicole took a lot of time on her tree leading to Brothers Britney's team winning. Then the winning team have to choose to save someone from the losing team. They end up choosing Nicole because they wanted a big target to be eliminated.
Xavier completes first followed by Frankie. Cody Calafiore was eliminated. | |||||
| 3 | "Episode 3" | December 14, 2023 | 2.04[14] | 0.30/3[14] | |
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| 4 | "Episode 4" | December 18, 2023 | 1.78[15] | 0.28/3[15] | |
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| 5 | "Episode 5" | December 19, 2023 | 2.03[16] | 0.30/3[16] | |
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| 6 | "Episode 6" | December 21, 2023 | 2.29[17] | 0.32/3[17] | |
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Competition history
- The Houseguest won Big Brother: Reindeer Games and the $100,000 prize.
- The Houseguest was the runner-up.
- The Houseguest was eliminated in the finale.
- The Houseguest won the Jingle Bell Brawl challenge, securing immunity and nomination power.
- The Houseguest was nominated to compete in the Santa's Showdown challenge.
- The Houseguest was eliminated from the Lodge after losing the Santa's Showdown challenge.
| HouseGuest | Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | Episode 5 | Episode 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naughty and Nice Challenge Winner |
Britney | Cody | Taylor | Frankie | Nicole | Xavier |
| Naughty List Punishment Recipient(s) |
Cody | Taylor | Josh | Nicole Xavier |
Xavier | Nicole |
| Jingle Bell Brawl Challenge Winner(s) |
Frankie | Britney Danielle Josh Taylor |
Nicole[a] | Frankie Taylor |
Taylor Frankie |
(None) |
| Santa's Showdown Nominees |
Cameron Xavier |
Cody Frankie Xavier |
Xavier Britney Danielle |
Josh Nicole |
Britney Xavier | |
| Nicole | Safe | Safe | Brawl Winner | Showdown | Safe | Winner (Episode 6) |
| Taylor | Safe | Brawl Winner | Safe | Brawl Winner | Brawl Winner | Runner-up (Episode 6) |
| Frankie | Brawl Winner | Showdown | Showdown | Brawl Winner | Brawl Winner | Finalist (Episode 6) |
| Xavier | Showdown | Showdown | Showdown | Safe | Showdown | Finalist (Episode 6) |
| Britney | Safe | Brawl Winner | Showdown | Safe | Showdown | Eliminated (Episode 5) |
| Josh | Safe | Brawl Winner | Safe | Showdown | Eliminated (Episode 4) | |
| Danielle | Safe | Brawl Winner | Showdown | Eliminated (Episode 3) | ||
| Cody | Safe | Showdown | Eliminated (Episode 2) | |||
| Cameron | Showdown | Eliminated (Episode 1) | ||||
| Eliminated | Cameron Lost Santa's Showdown |
Cody Lost Santa's Showdown |
Danielle Lost Santa's Showdown |
Josh Lost Santa's Showdown |
Britney Lost Santa's Showdown |
Xavier Lost Semi-final Bracket |
| Frankie Lost Semi-final Bracket | ||||||
| Taylor Lost Final Bracket | ||||||
| Nicole Won Final Bracket | ||||||
- Notes
- For this episode's Santa Showdown, the Jingle Brawl Winner nominates one contestant into Santa's Showdown. If that contestant finishes the challenge in the allotted time, they then choose a contestant to go into Santa's Showdown. This contestant will have less time than the player who went before them. This process repeats until someone loses the challenge and is eliminated.
Production
Development
In May 2023 Deadline Hollywood reported that CBS was considering an additional season of Big Brother in the 2023–24 television schedule, with "all-star contestants", to fill in gaps left by the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes.[18] CBS had previously done the same with Big Brother 9 which aired in 2008, to combat the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike.[19]
Prior to the Big Brother 25 finale in November 2023, host Julie Chen Moonves teased a "holiday surprise" from the "Big Brother universe". In an interview following the episode, Chen Moonves stated that a fourth season of Celebrity Big Brother was unlikely to happen, but noted the possibility of a shortened season with returning players.[20] The Hollywood labor disputes ended with the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike ending in September,[21] and the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike ending two months after.[22] With most scripted series set to begin filming shortened seasons in late-November and early-December,[23][24] and most premiering in 2024,[25] there were still empty slots in the schedule.[26]
During the Big Brother 25 finale, it was announced that a new spin-off of Big Brother would air in December titled Big Brother: Reindeer Games.[27] The series was produced by Fly on the Wall Entertainment and Banijay Americas (originally Endemol Shine North America) with Allison Grodner, Rich Meehan, and Chris Roach serving as executive producers, all returning from Big Brother.[28]
In November 2024, it was announced that the series would not air a second season in December, with producers citing that they could not find airtime availability on CBS. Although they remained hopeful that it could return in the future.[29]
Casting
The series did not feature Chen Moonves and was instead hosted by former Big Brother HouseGuests Derek Xiao, Tiffany Mitchell, and Jordan Lloyd, who were known as "Santa's Elf Ambassadors"; Xiao and Mitchell competed on Big Brother 23, while Lloyd was on both Big Brother 11 and Big Brother 13.[30] Additionally, nine other former contestants, including one from Big Brother 25, would return to compete.[31]
Marketing and release
The series premiered on December 11, 2023, and was filmed in its entirety prior to its release.[32] It did not feature any live feeds.[33] Big Brother Reindeer Games aired three episodes a week on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, over two weeks, totaling six episodes before its finale on December 21.[34] A teaser trailer was aired during the Big Brother 25 finale featuring former competitors Frankie Grande, Britney Haynes, and Danielle Reyes, and was based off a similar teaser that aired to promote the twenty-fifth season.[35] Episodes from the series also streamed on Paramount+.[36]
See also
- Big Brother UK Panto – A Christmas-themed spin-off of Big Brother UK in which former contestants reunited to produce the pantomime play.