This season was the first to be accompanied by the House Calls: The Big Brother Talk Show spin-off series, which was viewable online and discussed the events of the game.

The Big Brother 5 premiere garnered 9.55 million viewers, almost matching that of the previous season's launch night.

[2] In September 2003, following the ratings success of Big Brother 4, Entertainment Weekly confirmed that CBS had renewed the series leading up until 2006,[3] ensuring three more seasons to air during the Summer time period.

[5] On the fifth season, producer Arnold Shapiro stated, "Allison [Grodner] and I are excited about Big Brother 5, and the new surprises and twists that await this summer's HouseGuests [...] The one constant we can promise participants and viewers alike is: expect the unexpected.

The Thursday episode, which aired at 8 pm Eastern Time, featured the live eviction and subsequent Head of Household competition taking place.

The Saturday episode, which aired at 9 pm Eastern Time, featured the food competition and nomination ceremony, as well as some highlights from the previous days.

[16][17] The website for the series also featured a "Love 'Em or Leave 'Em" poll, in which fans could monitor the popularity of the HouseGuests each week.

The online webshow, hosted by Gretchen Massey and Big Brother 3 HouseGuest Marcellas Reynolds aired thirty-minute episodes on weeknights, and allowed fans to call in and express their opinions on the events of the game.

This made House Calls the first live Internet talk show produced exclusively for a television network.

One of these had four stone beds in it, with host Julie Chen referring to the room as "pretty bad" in an interview before the premiere.

Each week, the HouseGuests took part in several compulsory challenges that determined who would win food, luxuries, and power in the House.

[30] Unlike other versions of Big Brother, the HouseGuests could discuss the nomination and eviction process open and freely.

The jury members were sequestered in a separate house and were not allowed to watch the show except for segments that included all of the HouseGuests.

The jury members were not shown any Diary Room interviews or any footage that included strategy or details regarding nominations.

Ellis quickly figured out the twist, and Big Brother later gave the two letters from home explaining the situation.

Additionally, this is the first season in which only six people participated in the Power of Veto Competition: the Head Of Household, the two nominees, and three other players selected by the previously mentioned three's choosing.

[34] Diane Henry, Jennifer "Nakomis" Dedmon, and Jase Wirey all returned to compete on Big Brother: All-Stars in 2006.

[43] For this competition, HouseGuests had 75 seconds to crawl through a rotating helix DNA strand with small yellow balls attached to it.

Each question that a HouseGuest's partner missed caused their treadmill to speed up, and the last pair remaining would be finalists for the title.

In the "Flaringo Toss" Power of Veto competition,[43] HouseGuests attempted to make their hoola hoops land on a decorative flamingo in the backyard.

There was also a space, the "bad egg", in which landing a chicken in it would result in the house losing all of the obtained food items.

Later that day, Marvin chose to nominate Holly and Lori for eviction, citing them as two of the most influential players in the game.

That same day, Drew chose to nominate Holly and Nakomis for eviction,[68][69] a decision which immediately formed a rift in the Four Horsemen alliance.

The competition led to Diane, Drew, Marvin, and Natalie being on the peanut butter and jelly diet for the week.

[103] The HouseGuests later competed in the "Admit One" luxury competition, in which Diane, Drew, and Will earned the right to watch the comedy film Without A Paddle.

Marvin and Michael advanced to the final round, in which the person who sunk the most balls in sixty seconds would become the new Head of Household.

For this competition, there were a total of ten boxes, each with the image of that week's Head of Household, nominees, and Power of Veto winner.

[143][144][145][146] Color key: Big Brother 5 had similar ratings to that of the previous season, and averaged a total of 8.30 million viewers per episode.

[160] The Tuesday, August 3 edition of the series, which featured Jase winning the Power of Veto, had a total of 9.7 million viewers.

[162] The Thursday, August 12 episode, which featured Jase's eviction from the house, garnered a total of ten million viewers.