The Wildcard Competition on 'Big Brother' Season 23 Is a Potential Game-Changer

Just in case you missed the memo, Big Brother Season 23 is all about gambling. Host Julie Chen Moonves cemented this fact when she introduced in the July 11, 2021, episode the newest challenge for the houseguests called the Wildcard Competition. Because would you expect anything less from a season dedicated to tempting the players with risking it all for the sake of a chance to get more?

But because these types of competitions are often thrown on viewers and Big Brother players alike, it's important to break down the Wildcard Competition and explain what the houseguests should expect and how long this particular game will be in play. It's not a season-long comp, but it is one that could change the overall game at multiple points.

Each week, the team which has the current Head of Household is safe, making its members ineligible to compete in the Wildcard Competition. The other three teams are instead able to pick one person each from their team to enter a timed challenge which, if they win, will make them safe from eviction for the entire week. The "Wildcard" part of it, though, comes after they are named the winner.

Once the winner is picked from the competition, they spin a wheel to find out if one, two, or three other members of their team are also safe. If the number on the wheel ends up being less than the amount of players left on the team, then the player has to make the difficult choice between their teammates to pick who will remain safe for the week with them.

"For whoever wins, safety is up for grabs," Big Brother executive producer Rich Meehan explained to Parade. "But that safety will always come with a major risk/reward dilemma. So I may win safety, but how I attained that safety might make some people happy and might make some people very upset with me."

There might be some set teams that won't change right away in the Big Brother Season 23 house, but the alliances are already getting tricky. Brandon "Frenchie" French is the first Head of Household of the season and he made the grave mistake of making deals and alliances with almost everyone in the house. Unsurprisingly, he's not the only one looking outside of his chosen team for secret partners.

According to Twitter, Azah Awasum, Derek Frazier, Tiffany Mitchell, Xavier Prather, and Kyland Young make up the Cookout alliance, with Hannah Chaddha as an honorary member.

Then, according to fans, you have an all-girls alliance called the Sirens, featuring Azah, Tiffany, Britini D'Angelo, and Claire Rehfuss. And those are just two of the alliances already popping up.

Chances are, they'll change, evolve, and even crumble as the season progresses. But the Season 23 players are ready to build relationships inside and outside of their respective teams, and the Wildcard Competition is sure to make things even more complicated for them.

Watch Big Brother on Sundays and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET and Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount Plus.