Jerry O’Connell to Sub for Julie Chen Moonves on Big Brother Eviction

Big Brother fans should expect the unexpected when they tune into the live eviction episode on Thursday, September 12.

Julie Chen Moonves, who has hosted the show all 26 seasons, will miss the night’s episode while she recovers from COVID-19, she shared via her social media channels.

It will be the first episode that Chen Moonves, 54, has missed since the show premiered in 2000. Jerry O’Connell, a current cohost of The Talk, will fill in for her.

“Friday morning I woke up with a sore throat and went to see my good friend who is an ENT. That night he called to say I have COVID,” Chen Moonves wrote. “Thankfully this is only the second time for me and it’s been very mild! No fever and just a sore throat. Unfortunately I am still testing positive as of this morning … despite feeling good, strong and my cough being gone, I must sit tonight’s Big Brother live eviction show out.”

O’Connell, 53, has been on The Talk since 2021, joining just two seasons after Chen Moonves left. He has previous reality experience with The Real Love Boat, which he hosted alongside his wife, Rebecca Romijn.

“Thank you to Jerry O’Connell for filling in for me,” she continued. “I hope Jerry fits [into] my dress, has a ball and tells the houseguests I miss them but will be watching from home. See? Chenbot is human after all! Love one another and enjoy tonight’s show.”

It has been a week of firsts for Big Brother. In addition to the first guest host, Wednesday night’s episode featured the first-ever one-round OTEV competition — a popular Power of Veto competition meant to last six rounds as each player is eliminated one at a time. Makensy Manbeck won after each of her five opponents answered the first question incorrectly.

With O’Connell running the show, Thursday night’s episode is sure to be packed. The Wednesday, September 11, episode left non-live-feed watchers on a cliffhanger, with Makensy about to announce her decision to use or not use her Power of Veto. With Kimo Apaka and Angela Murray sitting on the chopping block, Makensy can remove one of them and force current head of household Chelsie Baham to name a replacement nominee.

The episode will show those decisions before getting to the live eviction vote and a brief interview between O’Connell and the evicted houseguest. The end of Wednesday night’s episode also teased a new twist to be introduced on Thursday, replacing the AI Arena twist that ended last week.

Thursday night’s Big Brother eviction episode will air on CBS at 8 p.m. ET.