At the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, CBS finally revealed the cast of the upcoming reality TV show "Big Brother" Celebrity Edition.
Eleven contestants were announced, including former White House staff Omarosa Manigault, "American Pie" actress Shannon Elizabeth, "Sugar Ray" lead vocals Mark McGrath, "The Cosby Show" actress Keshia Knight Pulliam, "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Brandi Glanville, "RuPaul's Drag Race" judge Ross Mathews, basketball coach Metta World Peace, "Big Time Rush" star James Maslow, Miss Universe 2015 runner-up Ariadna Gutierrez, "Hairspray" star Marissa Janet Winokur, and former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell.
Julie Chen will return to host the show. She teased fans on the possible cast of the show's Celebrity Edition in a Jan. 28 tweet containing 11 emoji characters — a comedy and tragedy mask/ theater mask, a silhouetted head speaking, a microphone, a television, a pie, a basketball, a crown, a martial arts uniform, an alarm clock, a palm tree and a briefcase. She also hinted about the unveiling of the cast at the Grammys in a tweet on Jan. 29, saying, "Hey #BBCeleb fans .. you may want to tune in to tonight's #Grammys .. #ExpectTheUnexpected (winking face)."
The upcoming Celebrity Edition will be the first season to feature celebrities as cast members. They will all live together in a house with 87 HD cameras and more than a hundred microphones recording all their activities 24 hours a day. Every Friday each week, one contestant will be evicted from the house. The last housemate standing will be crowned the winner of the show.
"Big Brother: Celebrity Edition" will premiere on Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. EST. In its first week, the season will air on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. In the succeeding weeks, "Celebrity Edition" will be shown on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Fridays are two-hour eviction episodes. The season will also air on Feb. 24, a Saturday, with the finale event set on Feb. 25.
