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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How about relying less on quizzes and coming up with new competitions?
ALLISON GRODNER: Jeez. Yes, I would like to, and no, I don't want to do the same old thing over and over again. We always like to mix it up and keep it fresh and exciting, and look, we do more competitions than any other reality show, and we're doing three a week. So sometimes we do bring back old favorites, and sometimes, especially when it comes to live shows, it's hard to venture out of the Q&A due to the time constraints and the complications that arise when you're doing something live. And we've tried many, many times to mix it up, but it's very difficult. As you can see, there certainly was the controversy surrounding the Niagara Balls [last summer], the ball competition during a live show. We went outside the box and said, We want to do something that's active and exciting and all of that, but you see what can happen on live television [it appeared that an errant ball flew into Jameka's tube that automatically disqualified her from the competition]. The integrity and fairness of the game is so important, and obviously we want to entertain as well. So it's a lot we're juggling.

What if you built a competition arena?
It's a cost and space issue. They've done that in Europe. But viewers don't appreciate the technical difficulties. It was a big deal when we moved to a different studio in season 6 and built an entirely different area — which came at a huge expense and was a huge endeavor.

Would you ever have Julie Chen be physically present during the competitions to avoid any snafus?
It's been a tradition of Big Brother that she's outside the house, and the houseguests are inside. She's that person who greets them on the way out, so it sort of would break that for her if she were in there, interacting with them.

Is it time to change the food penalty?
Slop is pretty bad. But we should find out if there's some suggestions out there. I'd be open to them. Maybe a fresh new food for the summer — awesome! But here's the thing: Just by naming something slop, you've already got something that's negative, and people dread it. It certainly creates drama, whereas peanut butter and jelly did not. Also, peanut butter and jelly creates a situation where people get lethargic, whereas at least slop is protein-fortified and nutritionally balanced.

Fans continually want to know: Why do you do so many recaps at the top of each hour?
I appreciate the die-hard fans who watch the show religiously, and that's terrific. But we're always looking to bring in new viewers, and I think the idea is, with three shows a week, there's the thought that maybe people aren't watching all three and that you need to make sure that everyone's caught up for every show. But I do believe over the years we've lessened it a bit.

Here's another reader suggestion: Why not let the ''power of veto'' holder put up the replacement nominee for eviction, instead of having the head of household do it?
Because that really diminishes the HOH's power. It's such a big power piece in the house to be HOH, and if you were to take the POV replacement nomination away from the head of household, you cut their power in half. That's not fair, considering how someone fought to be head of household.

NEXT PAGE: ''That's the genius of Big Brother contestants, because in order to subject yourself to this kind of thing, there is a certain level of narcissism that makes you not give a damn about the outside world.''


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