Most predictable premiere ever - within minutes of the first promo airing we'd all worked out the twist and I think I know the opening spiel off by heart now. Also although the returning HGs are far less annoying than last year (though I've no respect for Boogie and Janelle returning for a third time, especially as they both have babies at home) it's an awful, awful, twist - and something the ex-HGs seem to have only agreed to because they believe Alison Grodner is so predictable she'll ensure they get the chance to compete for the $500,000 too.
And so far my criticism of the house being the same year in year out has been mainly about the cosmetics, but they've probably got one of the biggest budgets yet are pretty much the only show never to change their layout. They need to now to use the house to their advantage - perhaps this mentor thing might be more interesting if they were either hidden in a secret area, coaching from afar, or the house could have zones for winning and losing teams each week. Every year they pretty much rely on the cast to provide the twist, so how about they start letting the house dictate the season instead.
I'm pretty certain the Chenbot has had work done since last year too. They've done a good job with the FoTH (Front of the House), but not so much the Face of the Host.
