TV show Big Brother USA celebrates milestone 1,000th episode with two new world records

After 26 years, 28 seasons, and hundreds of Houseguests, the reality competition TV show Big Brother USA has officially broken two Guinness World Records for its presence as a summer entertainment stalwart. 

Featuring a group of contestants that live in a camera-filled house, the USA version of the international show has been airing consistently since 2000, and celebrated its 1000th episode last night on 27 August. 

With this broadcast, they claimed two titles for the most episodes of a primetime TV show and most episodes of a competitive reality TV show in history. 

In a joyful and emotional retrospective 90-minute episode, longtime host Julie Chen Moonves joined Guinness World Records Adjudicator Michael Empric for an official award presentation. 

Also present was an audience filled with former US cast members, as well as Big Brother USA executive producers Allison Grodner, Rich Meehan and Chris Roach.

“Throughout our many summers producing Big Brother USA, we never thought we’d reach 1,000 episodes – let alone, achieve not one but TWO Guinness World Records titles!” said Allison, Rich, and Chris. 

“We were so thrilled to have Michael from Guinness World Records join us for our historic 1,000th episode and officially present these to our legendary host, Julie Chen Moonves!” they continued. “And we cannot thank our now two-time Guinness World Records title-holding Big Brother family enough for working tirelessly behind the scenes to get us to this unprecedented milestone.”

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Over the last two decades, these hardworking team members helped elevate the show to become one of the top reality TV shows in the USA, in part because it deviates from the many international versions of Big Brother. 

The American format is primarily a strategy competition – where Houseguests compete for power, form alliances, nominate and evict one another, with the final winner ultimately chosen by a jury of previously eliminated players.

And this record-breaking night looked back at some of the show’s greatest moments from the last 28 seasons of drama, including announcement of fan-poll results like “best catchphrase” and “favorite alliance name.” 

These fan votes also determined who would make surprise guest appearances during the milestone episode, and the audience was thrilled to see appearances from some of the most iconic competitors, such as: Chelsie Baham, Dan Gheesling, Britney Haynes and Kaysar Ridha. 

And in the spirit of big celebrations, came an additional big twist for the current season’s Houseguests – as they will have to travel back to the year 1000, where four Big Brother legends will lord over the night and challenge Houseguests in new and unprecedented ways.

So for all of those who want to check out the newest season – and catch up on some of the biggest player evictions in Big Brother history – you can watch episodes on Wednesdays (8:00-9:30 p.m., ET/PT), Thursdays (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET/PT), and Sundays (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network and Paramount+.

And be sure to get familiar with all the show’s lore, first – because after making 1,000 episodes, these Big Brother USA contributors are now Officially Amazing!