Big Brother 28 Cast (2026): Meet All 17 Houseguests
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Big Brother 28 premiered on CBS on July 9, 2026, with host Julie Chen Moonves welcoming a new cast into a time-travel-themed house. The 'Big Brother: Time Trip' twist zaps houseguests across the past, present, and future — rooms, relics, and challenges pulled from different eras — while they compete for a $750,000 grand prize.
Seventeen houseguests are playing this summer: fourteen first-timers announced before the premiere, plus three returning reality stars revealed on night one. Here's every member of the Big Brother 28 cast, with links to full profiles for each houseguest.
How the Season 28 cast came together
CBS announced fourteen new houseguests ahead of the July 9, 2026 premiere, built around the season's 'Time Trip' theme — a house inspired by decades like the '80s, '90s, and Y2K, where twists transport players across moments in time. The lineup shifted shortly before the premiere: originally announced houseguest Levi Banks departed the cast, with CBS confirming he voluntarily withdrew before the season began, and alternate Yash Patel took his place.
The 90-minute premiere opened with a title card tribute to Big Brother 27 houseguest Mickey Lee, who died in December 2025 at age 35. From there, the season's signature gadget — the Dining Table Time Machine — sent groups of houseguests to different dates in time, with winners earning Week 1 safety and the power to pull returning reality stars into the game. That's how the surprise houseguests arrived. Big Brother 26 alum Angela Murray and Survivor favorite Rick Devens entered the house, and after a fake-out that teased Big Brother 13 winner Rachel Reilly as the seventeenth player, Survivor 47 winner Dee Valladares actually took the final spot. Survivor host Jeff Probst even made a surprise cameo during the premiere.
Angela Murray — real estate agent, 52
Angela Murray is back. The 52-year-old real estate agent from Syracuse, Utah first played on Big Brother 26 in 2024, where her big personality and unfiltered confessionals made her one of that season's most talked-about houseguests.
Revealed as a surprise entrant during the premiere, Angela is the only one of the three returning players with actual Big Brother experience — she knows the competitions, the paranoia, and the pace of the game in a way the fourteen first-timers don't. Full profile: whoarethey.ai/who-is/angela-murray-big-brother-28
Rick Devens — communications director, 42
Reality TV fans know Rick Devens from Survivor, where his scrappy, never-say-die gameplay made him a fan favorite. The 42-year-old communications director from Macon, Georgia entered the Big Brother house as one of the surprise houseguests revealed on premiere night.
Devens is the rare crossover: he's never played Big Brother, but he arrives with a proven competition résumé and on-camera charisma. His former host Jeff Probst even popped up in a surprise cameo during the premiere. Full profile: whoarethey.ai/who-is/rick-devens-big-brother-28
Dee Valladares — entrepreneur, 29
Dee Valladares won Survivor 47 — now the 29-year-old entrepreneur from Miami wants a Big Brother title to go with it. She entered as the seventeenth houseguest after a premiere-night fake-out that first teased Big Brother 13 winner Rachel Reilly for the spot.
A recent Survivor champion walks in with a huge target on her back, and how Dee adapts from the island to the fishbowl of live feeds is one of the season's biggest storylines. Full profile: whoarethey.ai/who-is/dee-valladares-big-brother-28
Jason De Puy — drag queen, 35
Jason De Puy comes to the house from West Hollywood, California, where the 35-year-old performs as a drag queen — a job that already involves commanding a room and selling a persona night after night.
He's a first-timer in a season stacked with three returning reality stars, which leaves him the classic newcomer balancing act: stand out on camera without landing on the block early. Full profile: whoarethey.ai/who-is/jason-de-puy-big-brother-28
Ashley Trail — bartender, 24
At 24, Ashley Trail is one of the youngest houseguests this season. She tends bar in Chicago, Illinois — a job spent reading strangers and staying friendly under pressure.
She enters the Time Trip house as a first-time player looking to turn those people skills into competition wins and alliances that last. Full profile: whoarethey.ai/who-is/ashley-trail-big-brother-28
Barrett Pfeiffer — jumbotron engineer, 27
Barrett Pfeiffer runs jumbotrons for a living — he's the guy behind the giant screens at live events, and no Big Brother cast sheet has ever listed a job title quite like it. The 27-year-old grew up in Benton, Arkansas and now lives in Austin, Texas.
An engineer's problem-solving instincts could come in handy in a season built on puzzle-heavy twists and era-hopping competitions. Full profile: whoarethey.ai/who-is/barrett-pfeiffer-big-brother-28
Chuk Anyanwu — supply chain analyst, 27
Chuk Anyanwu, 27, works as a supply chain analyst in Dallas, Texas — a job built on logistics, planning, and spotting problems before they happen.
He's one of the fourteen first-timers, entering a game where the Time Trip twists scramble the board week to week and adaptability matters as much as trust. Full profile: whoarethey.ai/who-is/chuk-anyanwu-big-brother-28
Drew Campbell — surgical dental assistant, 22
The baby of the Big Brother 28 cast is Drew Campbell, a 22-year-old surgical dental assistant from Temecula, California. His day job demands calm in a surgical setting — not a bad warm-up for live evictions and blindsides.
The youngest player often gets underestimated in this house, and with seasoned reality TV veterans in the cast, that could work in Drew's favor. Full profile: whoarethey.ai/who-is/drew-campbell-big-brother-28
Haley Thogmartin — telemedicine executive, 29
Haley Thogmartin comes from Wildwood, Missouri, where the 29-year-old works as a telemedicine executive — negotiating, juggling competing interests, and making calls with incomplete information.
She's a first-timer, and her early game comes down to a familiar tension: leading without looking like a threat. Full profile: whoarethey.ai/who-is/haley-thogmartin-big-brother-28
Kamu Kirk — MMA fighter, 32
Physical threats get targeted early in Big Brother — that's the problem facing Kamu Kirk, a 32-year-old MMA fighter from Phoenix, Arizona, before he wins a single competition.
The upside is obvious: a fighter's conditioning and mental toughness travel well to endurance and strength comps. Whether the athleticism becomes an asset or a liability depends on his social game. Full profile: whoarethey.ai/who-is/kamu-kirk-big-brother-28
LaTrice Verrett — boutique salesperson, 57
LaTrice Verrett, a 57-year-old boutique salesperson from Maplewood, New Jersey, is the oldest houseguest in the Big Brother 28 cast — and she brings decades of sales experience, which is to say decades of building rapport fast.
Older houseguests often become the social anchors of their seasons, and LaTrice is well positioned to build the kind of cross-generational trust that carries players deep. Full profile: whoarethey.ai/who-is/latrice-verrett-big-brother-28
Lyric Medeiros — attorney, 25
Every attorney who enters the Big Brother house faces the same choice: admit the profession or downplay it, because smart players get targeted. That decision now belongs to Lyric Medeiros, a 25-year-old attorney from Honolulu, Hawaii.
Passing the bar by 25 speaks for itself, and lawyers train in exactly what this game demands — argument, persuasion, reading a room. Full profile: whoarethey.ai/who-is/lyric-medeiros-big-brother-28
Mallory Aurichio — rocket scientist, 24
Yes, an actual rocket scientist. Mallory Aurichio, 24, from New Jersey, holds maybe the most eye-catching occupation ever announced for a Big Brother cast, and an aerospace background suggests real puzzle chops for the season's competitions.
She wasted no time making an impression, either — Mallory was a fixture of early live-feed conversation as Week 1 gameplay heated up. Full profile: whoarethey.ai/who-is/mallory-aurichio-big-brother-28
Melody Morris — corporate game show host, 24
Melody Morris hosts games for a living. Now the 24-year-old corporate game show host — originally from Thornton, Colorado, currently in Maricopa, Arizona — is playing the biggest one on television.
Hosting means comfort on camera and an instinct for keeping people engaged, and in a house where likability decides votes, that counts. Full profile: whoarethey.ai/who-is/melody-morris-big-brother-28
Rome Seymour — pickleball coach, 28
Rome Seymour teaches America's fastest-growing sport. The 28-year-old pickleball coach from Delray Beach, Florida spends his days motivating players and managing egos — now he'll try both on housemates instead of students.
He's a first-timer aiming to turn athletic instincts and an easygoing coach's demeanor into early comp wins and alliances that hold. Full profile: whoarethey.ai/who-is/rome-seymour-big-brother-28
Taylor Brown — school counselor, 27
School counselors are professional listeners, and historically that's one of the best archetypes in Big Brother — being everyone's confidant is real power. Taylor Brown, 27, from Deerfield Beach, Florida, fits the mold.
The catch: players who get that trusted eventually look like late-game threats. Managing that perception is her long game. Full profile: whoarethey.ai/who-is/taylor-brown-big-brother-28
Yash Patel — financial analyst, 24
Nobody in the Big Brother 28 cast had a stranger route into the house than Yash Patel. The 24-year-old financial analyst from Monroe Township, New Jersey joined the season as an alternate after original houseguest Levi Banks withdrew shortly before the premiere.
Analysts live in numbers and risk assessment — useful for vote math and threat evaluation — and after a last-minute call-up, Yash is playing with house money. Full profile: whoarethey.ai/who-is/yash-patel-big-brother-28
How to watch Big Brother 28
Big Brother 28 airs on CBS three nights a week: new 90-minute episodes on Wednesdays, plus one-hour episodes on Thursdays (featuring the live eviction) and Sundays, all at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Paramount+ Premium subscribers can stream episodes live as they air; Paramount+ Essential subscribers can watch on demand starting the day after broadcast.
The 24/7 live feeds launched July 10, 2026, and are available on any Paramount+ tier as well as free (with ads) on Pluto TV. CBS also airs the weekly aftershow Big Brother: Unlocked, with a limited-time live feed available on the official Big Brother YouTube channel after each Unlocked episode.
Frequently asked questions
How many houseguests are in Big Brother 28?
Big Brother 28 features 17 houseguests: 14 new players announced before the season, plus three surprise returning reality stars — Angela Murray, Rick Devens, and Dee Valladares — revealed during the July 9, 2026 premiere.
Who are the returning players in BB28?
Three returning reality stars joined the Big Brother 28 cast on premiere night: Angela Murray from Big Brother 26, Survivor fan favorite Rick Devens, and Survivor 47 winner Dee Valladares. Big Brother 13 winner Rachel Reilly was teased as the seventeenth houseguest before Dee was revealed as the actual player.
When did Big Brother 28 premiere?
Big Brother 28 premiered Thursday, July 9, 2026, on CBS with a 90-minute episode hosted by Julie Chen Moonves. The premiere introduced the 'Time Trip' theme and opened with a tribute to late Big Brother 27 houseguest Mickey Lee.
What is the Big Brother 28 prize?
The Big Brother 28 winner takes home a $750,000 grand prize, awarded to the last houseguest standing after a season of Time Trip-themed twists, competitions, and live evictions.