Not that anybody really cares about ITV-era Big Brother at this point but Kate Lawler and GK Barry will be hosting the new side show The Group Chat. Live feeds have also been axed.

It just baffles me that ITV can get handed a format like Big Brother and keep fumbling it this badly by continuing to put all their eggs in the Love Island basket.

The Group Chat literally just sounds like the format of Late & Live lol

11 hours ago, Henessy Lake said:

The Group Chat literally just sounds like the format of Late & Live lol

It's basically a visualised podcast. They're pretty much all doing it now - Love Island, Apprentice, Traitors, probably I'm a Celebrity too.

It's cheaper and probably will do just as well viewership wise.

I could not be less arsed and it’s sad to say when it’s a show I loved as much as I did. ITV have completely ruined it and it’s a shadow of itself, it might as well be called something else.

I'll give the launch night a go but yeah must say my enthusiasm has nosedived after how much of a non-event last year was, good winner aside

Same here I'll give the launch show a go.

unpopular opinion maybe idk but I can't stand GK Barry so count me out of everything watching that 😭

Just saw the trailer and what do they mean its a different house every week???

Can't say that I'm overly interested again. I only watched launch night last year so may give it a go just to see the vibe. It's a shame really as ITV's first series was really good!

They need to adopt the US format once and for all. The format alone feeds the entertainment and drama.

I'm interpreting the "new house every week" thing to be a redecoration of the environment they're in in the same house like for the weekly shopping tasks or something.

On 29/08/2026 at 14:13, Scene said:

They need to adopt the US format once and for all. The format alone feeds the entertainment and drama.

Agreed, and I’ve said this for the past couple of seasons now, surely with The Traitors being such a thing, people are ready for it?? A lot of the reality tv shows that emphasise gameplay haven’t really hit but BB is an established format and it’s shown it works in the US and Canada. Given that ITV loves a shopping task, take that creativity of coming up with concepts and decorating the house for tasks and apply it to competitions that actually have stakes. Just cast the right people not people who just want to be on TV and get a TikTok boost, simply a bunch of normal competitive people, and I can’t see how it wouldn’t work. It can’t hurt to try given how bland the show has become as it is.

Apparently CBB winner Chantelle is in advanced talks to join the latest series as one of the guest housemates.

I hope they take into account how much we disliked having young infleuncers take over last season and get a better, more diverse cast