Arisa Cox lifts the veil on the Mystery All-Stars

By John Powell – GlobalTV.com

Season 12 of Big Brother Canada is set to debut tomorrow night and already there is an air of mystery and surrounding the production. Two Mystery All-Stars are part of this year’s cast. Who are they? What will their roles be? Will they be players? Will they be coaches? We asked Executive Producer, host Arisa Cox.

John Powell: Congratulations on the new season! You must be excited and thrilled.

Arisa Cox: You know me so well! (laughs) I’m excited! What do ‘the kids’ say? I am sick, screaming, crying and throwing up! All of those things!

This is an incredible cast a lot of super fans we’re dealing with so that’s always fun and two incredible, iconic players are back, which I love to see! Watching the Big Brother franchises in its various forms for a long time and seeing seasons where they have All-Stars is very, very interesting because they are targets from the jump but they tend to always win out in the end. It’s really fun journey because you end up rooting for them and against them!

John Powell: What can you tell us about those Mystery All-Stars who will be entering the house this year? Are they actual players? Are they coaches? What will their role be?

Arisa Cox: I don’t want to give too much away but what I will tell you is that they will be playing. They will be playing and I can tell you that. I don’t think there’s a person on the planet who’s seen Big Brother who won’t be excited by the two have been chosen to play this year. That’s what I will say.

John Powell: Speaking of those new houseguests they do trend a little older this year, don’t they?

Arisa Cox: Every person going in there has a strategy in mind. They know who they are. This cast is a little bit older, which I think is always really great for that reason. They’re much more confident in their own identity. I mean, that’s a generalization but maybe they know who they are by this point in their lives. They are people who aren’t necessarily figuring themselves out. They know themselves and are willing to put themselves out there by being in a very unique experience that will never be replicated.

I have so much respect for houseguests who are brave enough to try this, this wild thing, knowing that they could succeed or they could fail. When you speak to houseguests who played afterwards they say they have learned so much about themselves. Things that you might take decades to learn in the real world when you have so many distractions because this is a game. Getting off your phone, getting back to talking to someone face-to-face and not having your loved ones around you shows what you’re made of. I’m excited for that journey for them!

I am so thrilled with this cast! We have a lot of ‘superfans’. We have a lot of people who know what they’re talking about and are aware that there are multiple, different ways to play the game. They’re aware of what’s worked in the past and what hasn’t. All of them want to do something unique. As a fan, host and producer, I really look for that. I look for that drive to win and that killer instinct! It’s very cool to watch people who have their eye on the prize but also it is an emotional game. We are emotional beings. So, you can have your gameplan on a piece of paper but very rarely are people able to execute exactly what they think they will. Kevin Jacobs (winner of Big Brother Canada 10) comes to mind as somebody who actually did. To this day, I’m blown away by that!

John Powell: Can you talk a bit about the redesign of the house?

Arisa Cox: The house is beautiful! It is very luxurious and sexy! It is just a beautiful fantasy that we’ve created for them. This is Hollywood North! Picture the Hollywood Hills but in the Canadian Rockies. It’s lights, cameras, drama! We’re embracing that!

One aspect of the game that sometimes people forget about is that people are going to know and remember your name. If you’re lucky they’re going to know your name for a long time. Big Brother Canada houseguest status is something that will be a reality for you when you go to get gas, when you go to the grocery store and it will be the same possibly for your kids and your family too. You really have to be okay with being somewhat famous.

We as producers decided to face that head-on. That incredible mansion that we have is going all the way Hollywood and it also has more rooms than we’ve had in some time. There’s lots of nooks and crannies, places that may have different functions throughout the game and it gives people more places where they are able to have private conversations. That means the level of duplicity and manipulation will increase when you have a lot of those little corners to hide in.

John Powell: As an Executive Producer and the host how do you balance both roles?

Arisa Cox: I really, really know the show and I really love the show. I think that is at the heart of both of those jobs because all of the other Executive Producers also know and love the show really deeply.

If I have to look back at my career I wouldn’t have had it any other way. It was a good eight seasons of just being host. I would see a cast when everyone else saw them revealed. I was embracing my role as like a ‘fan host’. I really, really loved that I was just as surprised as everyone else with some of the things that were happening.

Now, my status has changed and I feel like all of that intel that I have as a fan of the game gets to show up. It’s very valuable intel to have as my role as an Executive Producer. I don’t think I would be able to do what I’m doing now without having all of those years of experience leading up to it. To really sort of understand the fan experience. I think starting with the love of the show and wanting it to be great no matter what and then working with fantastic people who also feel that way has made that transition pretty seamless.

John Powell: As an Executive Producer is there anything you wish could do but haven’t thus far?

Arisa Cox: I would love to do a Big Brother Chaos season that starts with 50 people! I would I love to see a season where we invited back every single person who’s played! I would love to see Canada versus USA! What I would want to try is just about EVERYTHING!

Every year we come up with these amazing themes! Erin Brock, who’s our Supervising Producer, is such a visionary! We work with such incredible people to support her vision and just the vision of all of these fans for making some of the best television you can find. I think the proof is in the pudding. I think we’ve been able to do some amazing things over 12 years. Do we want to keep pushing the envelope and coming up with with wild ideas? Yes, we do! Yes! We! Do!

John Powell: There have been many changes as Big Brother has evolved over the years. What have you learned about fans throughout all of that?

Arisa Cox: That’s a great question. Wow!  That’s a great question. I think that I’ve learned that even when things feel negative it’s because of a place of love. I think you only care so much about a thing because you love it so much.

I think just remembering that people care so much because they love what we’re working so hard to create. We’re all on the same team! We’re all on the same side! We who create the show love the show just as much as the fans who watch it and who make it their lifestyle! Trust me, if you’re living it, we’re living it too! Ultimately, Big Brother can be a pretty transformative show. You get out of it what you put into it…There’s so many ways you can engage with the show and I love that it exists on so many levels!

Big Brother Canada 12 premieres Tuesday, March 5, 2024 at 7 p.m. ET/PT exclusively on Global and STACKTV. Then, Big Brother Canada airs Wednesday, March 6 at 10 p.m. ET/PT (EVICTION) (moves to 9:30 p.m.ET/PT the following week) and Sunday, March 10 at 9 p.m. ET/PT (HOH).

This season, #BBCAN12 will air three nights a week featuring new episodes every Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT (Head of Household), Tuesdays at 7 p.m. ET/PT (Power of Veto) and Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT (Eviction).