Julie Chen Moonves has hosted Big Brother since its first season in 2000, but she already has several former Houseguests in mind if someone eventually has to take her place.
Season 24 winner Taylor Hale sits at the top of that list. When Variety asked Chen Moonves about fan speculation that Hale could eventually succeed her, she did not dismiss the idea. “I’ve wondered that too because, to me, she would be perfect,” she said, specifically praising Hale’s on-air work for Entertainment Tonight.
Hale was not Chen Moonves’ only suggestion. She also named Season 16 winner Derrick Levasseur and longtime Big Brother couple Jeff Schroeder and Jordan Lloyd as people she could envision taking on the job.
There is no current host change to announce, and Chen Moonves did not suggest that she is preparing to leave. The succession discussion came as Big Brother approaches a very different milestone, its 1,000th original episode, airing August 27.
Taylor Hale Has Built a Hosting Résumé Since Winning Season 24
View this post on Instagram
Hale’s potential as a future host is supported by the amount of television work she has taken on since winning Big Brother 24 in 2022. She became the first Black woman to win the U.S. version of the competition and also won America’s Favorite Houseguest, then began returning to the franchise in roles that required her to analyze rather than play the game.
One of her most prominent assignments came in 2024, when she took over the Season 26 jury roundtable after longtime moderator Dr. Will Kirby stepped away. Paramount+’s official finale description confirms that Hale returned to oversee the jurors’ discussion before they chose between the final contestants.
Her role expanded again with Big Brother: Unlocked. CBS launched the companion show in 2025 with Hale and Derrick Levasseur as hosts, giving them a format built around strategy analysis, interviews and material from inside the house. For Season 28, CBS brought both winners back and added Jerry O’Connell as a celebrity panelist.
Hale has also developed experience beyond Big Brother. She has conducted interviews for Entertainment Tonight and co-hosted the Recording Academy’s official Grammy red-carpet coverage in both 2025 and 2026.
Derrick Levasseur, Jeff Schroeder and Jordan Lloyd Are Also on Julie’s List
Chen Moonves did not frame Hale as the only person capable of replacing her. She also pointed to Levasseur, whose post-Big Brother career has included podcasting, true-crime television and hosting work after his dominant Season 16 victory.
Levasseur hosted Investigation Discovery’s Breaking Homicide and has spent years discussing strategy and criminal investigations through podcasts and television appearances. His return alongside Hale on Big Brother: Unlocked has kept him closely connected to the CBS franchise more than a decade after his win.
Schroeder and Lloyd offer another possibility. The two met while competing on Season 11, later married and now host Togethermess, where their current output includes regular Big BrotherMess episodes devoted to Season 28. Schroeder also has substantial conventional hosting experience, including work on Daily Blast Live and Great Day Colorado.
Jerry O’Connell Is the Only Person Who Has Actually Filled In for Chen Moonves
One familiar face has already experienced the main hosting job, although only for a single night. When Chen Moonves tested positive for COVID-19 in September 2024, she missed a live eviction episode for the first time since Big Brother premiered. Jerry O’Connell stepped in for the September 12 broadcast, becoming the rare person to stand in Chen Moonves’ usual position during a live eviction.
Chen Moonves Prefers Hosting to Producing the Game
The Variety discussion also revealed what Chen Moonves actually values about her current position. Unlike some longtime reality hosts who are heavily involved in producing or shaping their shows, she said she prefers keeping her responsibilities centered on hosting.
“I might suggest things, like ideas, when we’ve had Celebrity Big Brother,” Chen Moonves said, but added that she likes not having “the pressure of having to do creative or the casting.”
Chen Moonves Will Be in the Chair for ‘Big Brother’s’ 1,000th Episode
View this post on Instagram
For now, the person delivering the live eviction results remains the same host who introduced viewers to the house in 2000. CBS has scheduled Big Brother‘s 1,000th original episode for Thursday, August 27, from 8 to 9:30 p.m. ET. The network says the 90-minute live broadcast will include the BB Blockbuster, an eviction, retrospective material from the show’s 26-year history and appearances by former Houseguests determined through fan voting.
The episode will also launch what CBS is calling “the biggest twist of the summer.” Executive producers Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan have kept the specifics under wraps, leaving the reveal for the milestone broadcast.
CBS describes the 1,000th episode as the first time a primetime television series has reached that number of original episodes. For Chen Moonves, who once worried during the poorly received first season that Big Brother could be canceled before finishing its initial run, the longevity has exceeded anything she expected. “Never did I ever expect the unexpected,” she said in CBS’ announcement for the special.