CBS pledges Big Brother & Survivor casts to be 50% POC

[Jack_]

https://ew.com/tv/cbs-reality-series-casting-representation/

CBS pledges Survivor, Big Brother casts will now be 50 percent people of color

Following criticism from past contestants, shows like Survivor, Big Brother, and Love Island will include at least 50 percent people of color in their casts moving forward.

CBS announced a new diversity pledge Monday that will have a visible impact on its staple of reality shows: All future casts will contain at least 50 percent Black, indigenous and people of color.

That means hits like Survivor, Big Brother, and Love Island will be far more diverse starting with the 2021-2022 season.

"The reality TV genre is an area that’s especially underrepresented, and needs to be more inclusive across development, casting, production and all phases of storytelling," said George Cheeks, president and chief executive officer for the CBS Entertainment Group. "As we strive to improve all of these creative aspects, the commitments announced today are important first steps in sourcing new voices to create content and further expanding the diversity in our unscripted programming, as well as on our network."

The move follows several Survivor contestants speaking out about the lack of diversity in the long-running show's cast.

Over the summer, contestants including Sean Rector (season 4, Survivor: Marquesas) and Jolanda Jones (season 10, Survivor: Palau) formed a group called The Black Survivor Alliance with the goal of "bringing light to our collective experience with implicit bias and racism on and off the show" and had a series of meetings with CBS executives and host and executive producer Jeff Probst about the show being more equitable and inclusive. The BSA was one of two groups of former Black contestants to hold meetings with the network and producers.

In an interview with EW, Rector suggested his outspoken criticism of the show's diversity issues was one reason he never appeared on the show again for one of its All-Stars seasons. "If you don’t think racism and implicit bias exists, tell me why [Survivor: Marquesas winner Vecepia Robinson] has been completely ignored and has NEVER received an inquiry call or invite to even play in a season with all previous winners?," Rector wrote. "(Please miss me with the 'she was boring or not great TV' BS). Subsequently, ten seasons later, Earl Cole, a Black man, finally won and like my sis Vecepia and Marquesas, was largely ignored by showrunners ... Television, specifically the Survivor franchise, has a responsibility and the power to represent a more just and equitable playing field as a benchmark of real progress for ALL people, and not some concession of perceived power or standing that had to be compromised by one group to another."

Other contestants like Survivor: Edge of Extinction's Julia Carter (season 38), Survivor: Cagayan's J’Tia Taylor (season 28) and Jones have likewise recently spoken out in Ross' Quarantine Questionnaire series of interviews with past contestants. (Below, the cast of 2017's Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers).

“My edit, and that of so many other Black people, caused me to organize the BSA and move to end systematic racism on Survivor,” Jones says. "Of the seasons I watched, the one that makes me the saddest, makes me cry and breaks my heart, is season 14, where there were three Black players, Earl Cole, Cassandra Franklin, and Dreamz Herd, as the finalists. The systematic/systemic racism, implicit bias, and microaggressions shown throughout the editing but especially during the final Tribal were so hard to watch. The thickness of the racism could be cut with a knife ... 'diverse' does not mean the majority of the cast is white with a mixture of other races."

Added Carter: "Many people do not realize the impacts that [diversity] has on the game. When you truly diversify the cast (and I don't mean just a sprinkle of each race in every season), you even the playing field and allow every castaway a real opportunity to connect with more individuals, find allies, and win the game. Seasons like Cook Islands and Fiji, in which there was racially equal casting, should be the norm, not the exceptions."

Agreed Taylor: "Lazy, crazy, workhorse, and sidekick are the typical ways that Survivor portrays African Americans, which is disproportionally negative. We are heroes, nerds, beauties, and so much more in real life. And I’d like to see that on Survivor."

Big Brother has likewise had controversies over racial issues over the years, particularly in 2019, due to remarks made by white contestants on the show.

Also, just in general, more than any other broadcaster CBS has come under fire in recent years for a lack of diversity. In 2017, for example, the network's entire new fall lineup consisted of six scripted shows all staring men – five of which were white men.

Since then, the network has announced a series of changes both behind the scenes and in front of the camera, with this reality TV casting goal as the latest move. Over the summer, for example, CBS announced it will allocate a minimum of 25 percent of its future script development budgets to projects created or co-created by Black, indigenous and people of color (a goal that will also now apply to unscripted shows), and also set a target for its writers’ rooms to be staffed with a minimum of 40 percent of same (a goal which increases to 50 percent in 2022). The network's scripted cast diversity has also improved with series such as Bob Hearts Abishola, The Neighborhood, All Rise, SWAT and FBI.

Arisa Cox her impact

[Mitchell]

Brilliant news :love:

[Wizard.]

Whew we've been waiting a long time

[Jigs]

Perched for Survivor!

[Maxxie.]

But 76% of the US population is white?

[Liam-]

And the other half will be full of Aaryns and Jacksons for ‘balance’

[Morgan.]

But 76% of the US population is white?

I don’t get the point being made here

[MB.]

It's funny how just putting "POC" in a thread title seems to bring out the people who never even watch the shows in question and are only interested in seeming reactionary, isn't it

[Captain.Remy]

Yay! Survivor is already a bit more diverse than Big Brother I feel like, but both have work to do. Big Brother in particular.

[DouglasS]

I don’t get the point being made here

The point is if they wanted to represent America as a whole then 76% of houseguests would be white and 26% POC, as it is representative as a whole of the country. That seems to be what the casting has always been on survivor and big brother. Likewise they have 50% guys and 50% girls... rather than 75% girls and 25% boys to fit ‘diversity’ criteria

[DouglasS]

And the other half will be full of Aaryns and Jacksons for ‘balance’

Jackson :love:
Best winner of the past decade!

[UserSince2005]

watching tv last night, every single advert in an ad break was black people. I felt i was living back in kenya. whats the population of black people in the uk? 3%?

[Elliot]

Might get back into bbus now

[Nicky91]

Perched for Survivor!

that one can maybe happen again 2022 or 2023 after covid

[Crimson Dynamo]

watching tv last night, every single advert in an ad break was black people. I felt i was living back in kenya. whats the population of black people in the uk? 3%?

Its an obsession with Christmas adverts at the moment

No idea why

[UserSince2005]

Its an obsession with Christmas adverts at the moment

No idea why

they thought they were being clever, but they ended up looking ****ing stupid.

At least we can trust on the French corporations to bring us quality, beauty, show stopping stunning xmas cinematography.
qeMqcApmS7g

[Cherie]

It's funny how just putting "POC" in a thread title seems to bring out the people who never even watch the shows in question and are only interested in seeming reactionary, isn't it

Isn't that what you did when LI was cancelled this year? you don't watch but you had plenty to say about it :shrug:

[Cherie]

surely the cast should be who will deliver the best television, or is that not edgy enough :laugh:

[DouglasS]

Isn't that what you did when LI was cancelled this year? you don't watch but you had plenty to say about it :shrug:

:clap1:

[Nicky91]

surely the cast should be who will deliver the best television, or is that not edgy enough :laugh:

yes true

cast should be based upon what is best for family entertainment quality, and to me that is loads of variety, and not too much ''in it for the scripted drama'' sort of contestants

[UserSince2005]

Id watch an all black cast no problem.
**** i was watching College Hill before white people watching black people became trendy.

[Maxxie.]

The point is if they wanted to represent America as a whole then 76% of houseguests would be white and 26% POC, as it is representative as a whole of the country. That seems to be what the casting has always been on survivor and big brother. Likewise they have 50% guys and 50% girls... rather than 75% girls and 25% boys to fit ‘diversity’ criteria

Yeah basically.

I don't really care that much either way but its silly making things 50% for the sake of it. If its a coincidence because the casting is right then that's fine.

[Morgan.]

The point is if they wanted to represent America as a whole then 76% of houseguests would be white and 26% POC, as it is representative as a whole of the country. That seems to be what the casting has always been on survivor and big brother. Likewise they have 50% guys and 50% girls... rather than 75% girls and 25% boys to fit ‘diversity’ criteria

Well maybe they don’t want to represent America as a whole. Maybe they want to represent the changing world we are living in. The casting is proof that a black person will never win BB as it was ... having less of a certain group for as a minority and makes them an immediate target off the back for no reason other than skin colour!!!! But notice when CBB2 rolled around ... then raised the percentage of houseguests who were of colour from 1/2 to I believe 4 and they performed much better and all made the final 5. This is a step in the right direction. Stay pressed and don’t watch if it bothers you seeing people of colour on TV.

[Captain.Remy]

It's all related to representation of diversity on TV.
And both shows have had their issues with that for a long time.
I'm not against putting more deserving POC on TV to increase representation than the current white/POC split in USA.
Some past seasons of both shows didn't meet the same "76% white" criteria. We've had seasons with a much higher percentage than that yet we didn't hear white people say "oh that's too much, we need to respect the split by adding more POC". Never happened.
We all know a lot of acceptance, tolerance, diversity is through what we see on TV because it's normalizing stuff (ex: gay housemates on BB or any other shows back in the 2000s). It helps and I'm totally OK with that.

[DouglasS]

Well maybe they don’t want to represent America as a whole. Maybe they want to represent the changing world we are living in. The casting is proof that a black person will never win BB as it was ... having less of a certain group for as a minority and makes them an immediate target off the back for no reason other than skin colour!!!! But notice when CBB2 rolled around ... then raised the percentage of houseguests who were of colour from 1/2 to I believe 4 and they performed much better and all made the final 5. This is a step in the right direction. Stay pressed and don’t watch if it bothers you seeing people of colour on TV.

So you are saying ensuring black contestants make it to the end and to ensure they win is what matters? Regardless if they deserve it?

Tamar Brixton literally won the last season of celebrity big brother... so saying they will never win is ridiculous.. that was in 2019... it does not show that at all?

It’s an individual game based on strategy, colour literally has nothing to do with it... Danielle Reyes made the final 2... had there been three more people like davonne//David’s/bayleigh they’d still lose because they all sucked strategically! It was clear to see Cody/Enzo/Nicole/Dani/Tyler were dominating strategically in the game

You’re talking rubbish.

Tamar won because she played a pretty good game, colour is nothing to do with peoples chances of winning, stop acting like it is.

Why would seeing POC bother me? I’m just saying surely it makes more sense for BB USA cast to be representative of America because it’s the USA version..

I’m sure BB Africa is representative of Africa and has more black contestants and a lot less white contestants.. it’s not racist, just a representative of the country it is airing in.

Also they were not targeted for their skin colour.. ever? Can you please back this false I formation up? No one black was targeted for the first 3 weeks of this series of big brother, 3 white women were evicted first..

[arista]

They should put this onto UK TV channel
CBS Reality

Ch 146 on Sky

[Maxxie.]

To be fair that is surprising that Tamar Braxton is the only black winner of BB US, is that right? I assumed it would be a lot more than that.

How many PoC's have won the 40+ seasons of Survivor?

Shows like the amazing race etc. it would be irrelevant though as that's based on pure skill and not popularity. From what I've seen of TAR though it seems pretty diverse anyway and that's only the early seasons.

[DouglasS]

To be fair that is surprising that Tamar Braxton is the only black winner of BB US, is that right? I assumed it would be a lot more than that.

How many PoC's have won the 40+ seasons of Survivor?

Shows like the amazing race etc. it would be irrelevant though as that's based on pure skill and not popularity. From what I've seen of TAR though it seems pretty diverse anyway and that's only the early seasons.

Vecepia, Sandra x2, Yul, Earl, Natalie, Jeremy, Wendell
8 which is pretty representative of the population (20%)

[Maxxie.]

It's all related to representation of diversity on TV.
And both shows have had their issues with that for a long time.
I'm not against putting more deserving POC on TV to increase representation than the current white/POC split in USA.
Some past seasons of both shows didn't meet the same "76% white" criteria. We've had seasons with a much higher percentage than that yet we didn't hear white people say "oh that's too much, we need to respect the split by adding more POC". Never happened.
We all know a lot of acceptance, tolerance, diversity is through what we see on TV because it's normalizing stuff (ex: gay housemates on BB or any other shows back in the 2000s). It helps and I'm totally OK with that.

We do! The upcoming series of IAC has only 1 black and 1 mixed raced out of 12, and you can find me on DS saying that's not enough. On a site where most people would disagree or just not care. Its not really that big of a deal either way, but it would be nice for IAC casts to become more diverse.

So yes it does go both ways!

Also its different with 'normalising' stuff because PoC are normalised anyway as well as the LGBTQ+ community. Back in the early 2000s a lot of people probably didn't know anyone openly gay or trans but I now I think its fair to say that most people in this country probably do. Let alone people of colour.

I'd actually personally like to see more Asian representation in the showbiz/TV world. Again the UK asian population compared to black is a lot higher and I bet you can name a lot more black British celebs than Asian ones!

[Morgan.]

So you are saying ensuring black contestants make it to the end and to ensure they win is what matters? Regardless if they deserve it?

Tamar Brixton literally won the last season of celebrity big brother... so saying they will never win is ridiculous.. that was in 2019... it does not show that at all?

It’s an individual game based on strategy, colour literally has nothing to do with it... Danielle Reyes made the final 2... had there been three more people like davonne//David’s/bayleigh they’d still lose because they all sucked strategically! It was clear to see Cody/Enzo/Nicole/Dani/Tyler were dominating strategically in the game

You’re talking rubbish.

Tamar won because she played a pretty good game, colour is nothing to do with peoples chances of winning, stop acting like it is.

Why would seeing POC bother me? I’m just saying surely it makes more sense for BB USA cast to be representative of America because it’s the USA version..

I’m sure BB Africa is representative of Africa and has more black contestants and a lot less white contestants.. it’s not racist, just a representative of the country it is airing in.

Also they were not targeted for their skin colour.. ever? Can you please back this false I formation up? No one black was targeted for the first 3 weeks of this series of big brother, 3 white women were evicted first..

Clearly didn’t read my post or you’d have seen that her win was made more achievable by the fact the race balance had been slightly increased in favour of the POC’s

I also didn’t say POC deserve to win regardless of game, so stop putting words in my mouth. TV producers cast stereotypes and black players normally get cast in a certain role that is less likely to succeed in a social strategy game. By increasing the amount of POC players, it’s making it more impossible to just typecast under one stereotype.

I’m sure young minority children/teenagers and even adults watching BB21 felt awful seeing everyone who looked like them segregated and picked off one by one. Let them have the opportunity to see people who look like them and represent their successes and struggles do well and have equal opportunity to succeed.

The fact you’re so riled up about such a normal thing (equality within race) says everything I needed to know about you and I think you need to take time to educate yourself more.

[Morgan.]

To be fair that is surprising that Tamar Braxton is the only black winner of BB US, is that right? I assumed it would be a lot more than that.

How many PoC's have won the 40+ seasons of Survivor?

Shows like the amazing race etc. it would be irrelevant though as that's based on pure skill and not popularity. From what I've seen of TAR though it seems pretty diverse anyway and that's only the early seasons.

Correct, but celebrity aside there are no black BBUS winners. And it’s disgusting. But as I explained earlier it’s a game of numbers and a reflection of society ... create a minority within a group of people and divisions will automatically form and they will be less likely to succeed. Level the playing field and have equal representation from all races, sexualities, genders etc and the results will begin to look a lot more diverse and representative.

[Morgan.]

America is in a position where ignorance towards race and colour is shockingly high thanks to the rule of Trump, so although having 8 black people in a series of big brother isn’t what you see as ‘representative of modern day America’, it’s a step in the right direction of educating people about the injustices people of colour face every day and removing that prejudice.

[UserSince2005]

if they do 50% white 50% black and it turns into a race war this will be embarrassing.

[Withano]

Being progressive for the sake of it doesn’t impress me much

[DouglasS]

Clearly didn’t read my post or you’d have seen that her win was made more achievable by the fact the race balance had been slightly increased in favour of the POC’s

I also didn’t say POC deserve to win regardless of game, so stop putting words in my mouth. TV producers cast stereotypes and black players normally get cast in a certain role that is less likely to succeed in a social strategy game. By increasing the amount of POC players, it’s making it more impossible to just typecast under one stereotype.

I’m sure young minority children/teenagers and even adults watching BB21 felt awful seeing everyone who looked like them segregated and picked off one by one. Let them have the opportunity to see people who look like them and represent their successes and struggles do well and have equal opportunity to succeed.

The fact you’re so riled up about such a normal thing (equality within race) says everything I needed to know about you and I think you need to take time to educate yourself more.

Most people don’t watch reality tv or game shows to see people who look like them.... it’s a essentially a game show - if someone who looks like them doesn’t do well then it’s because they weren’t playing a good game... not everything is about race.

[MB.]

It's funny how just putting "POC" in a thread title seems to bring out the people who never even watch the shows in question and are only interested in seeming reactionary, isn't it

don't make me tap the sign!

[Moniqua]

change is coming x

eye can feel it x

[Macie Lightfoot]

Most people don’t watch reality tv or game shows to see people who look like them.... it’s a essentially a game show - if someone who looks like them doesn’t do well then it’s because they weren’t playing a good game... not everything is about race.

Yes I would agree that people don't tune into Survivor or Big Brother just to see people who look like them, but I'm sure it is also very frustrating, discouraging, and disheartening to see people who look like them continually get dealt a ****ty hand and not even be given a fair chance to succeed.

So yes, I think this is absolutely the right move and about time. A bit tacky that it took the state of the world *AND* BBCan doing the same thing first, but better late than never. I don't know how much more I can stomach of watching the same pretty white people band together and eliminate the minorities in BBUS year in and year out, and do not get me started on Jeff Probst shoving Survivor down our throats as some fake ~woke~ program and continually bait us into thinking this will finally be the year that a str8 white dude doesn't win.

[Maxxie.]

Is BBUS a bit like BBUK in the sense that PoC very rarely win but quite often come 2nd or 3rd. Is that a similar thing in America?

[Morgan.]

Is BBUS a bit like BBUK in the sense that PoC very rarely win but quite often come 2nd or 3rd. Is that a similar thing in America?

Nope, it’s rare that a person of colour makes it past the second juror spot. 8th was the highest this year which is I think the highest in a long time (excluding CBB)

[Nicky91]

PoC do well usually in my country's Survivor (Expeditie Robinson)

one had won in 2015, one of our weather presenters Amara Onwuka

and recent years

2018 we had athlete Gregory Sedoc as runner up

2019 even two PoC as runners up, radio dj Eva Cleven, the voice season 1 finalist Shary-An


as for Big Brother here idk, back when we last had it, not many PoC took part in reality shows, so i will be curious if this is different next year when BB makes it comeback

[Natalie.]

This is great news, about time