‘BB19’: Julie Chen Reveals Her Feelings On Paul’s Return To The Game And Who She’d Like To See Win This Season

Big Brother fans have mixed feelings on this season’s cast and a returning houseguest that has already been granted three weeks of immunity, and now the show’s host, Julie Chen, is giving her thoughts on a season that has been full of fireworks just one week in. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Chen defended the Den of Temptation twist that gave returning player, Big Brother 18 runner-up Paul Abrahamian, a three-week pass from being nominated for eviction on the CBS reality competition. In addition, Julie revealed who she likes in this season’s cast, and who she’s not a fan of.

Julie Chen told THR the new Den of Temptation twist is fair because a houseguest can only get it once. And since America doesn’t know if the temptations in subsequent weeks are going to be better than something they voted to give someone earlier in the season, there’s no telling if Paul’s premature temptation twist will come back to bite him later.

Julie also shut down superfans who say Paul came into the game with an unfair advantage. The longtime Big Brother host said Paul “walked in with a huge target on his back,” and because other players feel angry and jealous of him, “they’re going to want to get him out even more.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BV7pITsAEqM/?taken-by=cbs_bigbrother&hl=en

Chen admitted she had mixed feelings about Paul last season, but now she loves him. Julie added that she wouldn’t mind seeing Big Brother 16 alum Derrick Levasseur come back to the Big Brother house, an interesting choice considering he won that season. Still, while Julie Chen says she likes Paul, she would rather see a new player win this season of the show.

“With Paul, my gut reaction is that he’s so good at the game that if he won I would feel bad for all of the newbies,” Chen said.

Speaking of returning players, Chen didn’t deny that there could be some kind of battle-back type of situation once again this summer. Julie even joked about the return of Cameron Heard, the short-time Season 19 player who was forced to sacrifice his spot in the house when Paul Abrahamian showed up on opening night.

“Expected the unexpected!” Julie told THR.

“I don’t know what Cameron is doing right now…I would love to see him back in the house.”

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As for the people who are actually in the house, Julie admits she is not a fan of Cody Nickson, the poker-faced Head of Household who had to nominate five houseguests for eviction during his whirlwind HOH run.

“I’m not the biggest fan of Cody,” Julie said.

“He’s drunk with power. He knows he’s very strong and good at competitions and that he can be intimidating. He is playing it smart by just staring at everyone by just keeping his mouth shut, so he’s probably actually a very good player, but I don’t like his attitude. He’s feeling himself a little too much.”

Julie said BB player Mark Jansen is more of her type, and she added that she also likes Alex Ow’s personality.

“[Mark’s] a big teddy bear who is a genuine person and someone you want to root for,” Chen said. “And I like Alex’s boldness and high energy.”

Take a look at the video below to see Paul’s shocking announcement to HOH Cody on Big Brother 19.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWpaZ75jZU8

Big Brother airs Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays on CBS.

[Featured Image by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File]