This Is What's Actually in the Slop on 'Big Brother'

Every season of Big Brother, we see contestants endure the horror of what's known as the Big Brother "slop." It kind of looks like the cold "mush" that Miss Hannigan served in the 1982 version of Annie, and we bet it tastes like it, too.

The Big Brother have-nots have been served slop since 2006 (before then, houseguests generally ate simple meals like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches).

Fans have long since wondered what's in the slop. Is it like really bad oatmeal? Is it sawdust? Could we picture ourselves surviving off of slop for that long? The answer to that last question is a collective "no."

In 2019, Big Brother revealed what's in the infamous slop: Oats, water, unflavored whey protein, unflavored soy protein, and vitamin and mineral powder. It's flavorless and dry, but it's got all the vitamins and minerals you need. Luckily, it's not like contestants have to eat slop every single day for every single meal.

The Big Brother slop is reserved for houseguests who are the have-nots. Each week, four have-nots are chosen to sleep in beds that are uncomfortable with ill-fitting blankets, eat nothing but slop, and take cold showers. In recent seasons, fans haven't been as invested in which players are the have-nots, but it's still very much a thing.

The alleged recipe is this:

-5 cups of steel oats

-1 cup unflavored whey protein isolate

-1/2 cup unflavored soy protein

-4 tbsp. vitamin and mineral powder

You bring 12 cups of water to a boil, add the steel cut oats, and cook for about 25-30 minutes, stirring constantly, so the oats don't get stuck to the pot.

Then you add the rest of the ingredients.

According to Online Big Brother, eating slop can cause weight and energy loss, emotional instability, gas and bloating, and even allergies.

During Season 9, Allison, who's a diabetic, had to go to the hospital after eating slop — after this happened, the show producers let the contestants add some sugar if they want in order to prevent an incident like this from happening again. You can technically add other ingredients, so some BB contestants have gotten pretty creative.

The approved slop add-ons, according to Online Big Brother, are: "balsamic vinegar, olive oil, vegetable oil, hot sauce, ketchup, BBQ sauce, mayonnaise, mustard, pickles, relish, salsa, soy sauce, steak sauce, Worcestershire sauce, honey, black pepper, garlic salt, crushed red pepper, salt, vanilla, basil, bay leaves, cinnamon, leaf oregano, paprika, parsley, rosemary, brown sugar, artificial sweetener, powdered creamer, white sugar, tea, and protein powder."

There are technically different ways to consume slop, too. You can make bunless burgers, slop "meat" balls (if you add extra protein powder, you can apparently roll the slop into balls), slopcakes, and breakfast slop.

Big Brother slop is certainly here to stay, and we couldn't imagine Big Brother swapping it out with anything more iconic. In fact, over the years, people have recreated the BB slop for fun, and the videos are pretty funny.

Judging from the reactions from these videos, slop seems just as disgusting in real life as it is on Big Brother. Which is also "real life," but, you get what we mean.

There have been cases of Big Brother contestants cheating when they are supposed to be on the slop diet. Season 21's Jackson often turned away from the cameras during showers, which led to fans believing he was secreting eating something else during those times.

He was never punished, however, and he went on to win the season. And slop is definitely still here to stay.

Watch Big Brother Sundays and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST and on Thursdays at 9 p.m. EST on CBS.