Julie Chen misses Big Brother Live Eviction for first time, chooses Jerry O’Connell as host

Jerry O’Connell can do it all!

On Thursday September 12th Big brother host Julie Chen Moonves announced that she would not be hosting the live eviction that night for the first time since it began in 2000. She explained that she was ill and said that O’Connell would be standing in for her.

“Friday morning I woke up with a sore throat and went to see my good friend who is an ENT,” she wrote on her social media. “That night he called to say I have COVID. Luckily this is only the second time for me and it is very mild. No fever and just a sore throat.”

“Unfortunately I still tested positive this morning… even though I feel good and strong and my cough is gone, I have to go to the hospital tonight Big brother live eviction show,” she continued. “Thanks to Jerry O’Connell for filling in for me. I hope Jerry fits into my dress, has a great time and tells the houseguests I miss them but I’ll be watching from home.”

She signed the post with her classic line: “See? Chenbot is a human after all! Love each other and enjoy the show tonight.”

In the September 12 episode of The conversationwhich O’Connell co-hosts, he responded to the role after joking on Instagram that he would be “the substitute teacher” that night.

“Anyone who watches this show knows that I’m a huge Big brother fan and I’m a big fan of the host and The conversation “former student Julie Chen Moonves,” he said on the radio.

Chen Moonves then called to say she was on the mend, before giving O’Connell some advice for the job. “Jerry, thanks for stepping in, you’re going to do a great job tonight, unbelievable,” she said.

“Tonight is a big night — it’s eviction night,” O’Connell replied. “I think the houseguests are going to be super disappointed because I don’t think they know you’re not coming, so I’m going to see them at the live show and they’re going to be like, ‘Where’s Julie?'”

Chen Moonves teased her understudy, telling O’Connell that the episode was the first of “jury house isolation,” where contestants are cut off from the outside world until the finale. She also joked about the shoes O’Connell had to fill to truly be her.

“Jerry, I know you’re a movie star, a game show host, a talk show host, a husband, a father of two beautiful girls,” she began. “But I have to give you a very important tip for tonight. When you go into my dressing room, go into the bathroom. In the second drawer on the left, there’s a corset.”

“I’m telling you, Jerry, there’s no way you’re going to fit into my dress tonight without a corset,” she joked, telling him to ask hair and makeup for help tightening it. “Once you get that corset, you step into it and say, ‘Okay, girls, come in. It’s tug-of-war time.'”

The conversation The presenters laughed when Chen Moonves told Jerry to keep them “pulling” but not “too tight” so he had back fat.

“Okay!” O’Connell exclaimed, clapping and blowing kisses to Chen Moonves.

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Big brother airs Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in primetime on CBS.