THEME
OK, here it is, before it gets officially announced later this week...

On this next edition of Big Brother, there will be 13 houseguests instead of 12. Of the 13, only 9 are "total strangers".

Huh?

Well, there is going to be 4 houseguests that are "exes" - former spouses, ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends of other houseguests. They may have parted on good terms or not. The exes were recruited after the 9 houseguests were cast. The houseguests all enter the house on July 4th, though the first airing of the show isn't until July 8 (this is pretty typical for the show - gives them time to edit things together before the scheduled air date), and they were sequestered on June 29. The house is - allegedly - newly constructed on the same lot as the old house.

Another possible twist - according to a rumor, only seven houseguests would vote for the winner and they would be sequestered after being evicted from the house. In fact, according to reports, they will be put into a second house where they will still be taped, and some of that footage will be added to the show. However, they will only be allowed to see selected portions of the show, and nothing from the Diary Room, so they cannot change their minds based on what they see there. (Sounds like that big Danielle backlash from last year got to the producers).

In another case of backlash, no one will be brought back after getting booted out (like Amy last year).

There are no houseguests that are married this time around, and they have the youngest and oldest houseguests to date (19 and 59).

Other rumors - The U.S. version will be seen in the U.K. (Why? Their ratings are down this year, why broadcast another version, unless their's is so boring? The U.K. version is also in the middle of something very cool - they're swapping one of their houseguests with one from Big Brother Africa, which is a huge ratings winner on that continent, as well as igniting a new understanding of the people of its many countries.)

Oh, and Real.com picked-up the live internet feeds again for this season.

Let's see how much of this is true next week...