Big Brother's EPs Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan are doubling down on the Icons advantage in Season 28 being fair, and it's driving me up a wall. Not long after the season wrapped up its time on the 2026 TV schedule, they're maintaining that the leg up given to Rick Devens, Angela Murray, and Dee Valladares was entirely justified. Amid debates about whether Rick was one of Big Brother's memorable winners or needs an asterisk on his victory, EW caught up with both EPs and asked them about the challenges. For those needing a refresher, the Icons were the only ones allowed to compete for the Week 1 Head of Household competition and were the first three winners of the fan-voted BB Time Capsule twist. Fans complained about both, but Meehan shared his rationale for why he disagrees with the notion of the BB Time Capsule being unfair due to the random chance of winning: Look, ultimately, they have to win. They have to go in and win something. So it wasn’t vote for them and they get it. It was: ‘If someone is voted, they have to go now earn it. Can they earn that advantage?’ And then we doubled the number. If there was three of them, there were six opportunities for people to earn either advantages or punishments. So we kind of thought that was fair.’It's worth mentioning that Meehan's argument didn't address the fact that a fan vote that began in Week 1 heavily favored the Icons, all of whom had established fan bases that many of the Houseguests didn't. As expected, Angela got first dibs, followed by Devens, and then finally, Dee before anyone else got a shot. By the time any other Houseguest got a chance at the powers, Devens had his Diamond Power of Veto, which he later used to save Dee from assured eviction. And, in turn, Dee had her bribe she used to protect the Icons from Yash Patel for the bulk of the game. Sure, I guess any Houseguests could've won those powers, but seeing as we don't know how the powers were set up to be dispersed, we can never know. Allison Grodner agreed with Rich Meehan and said there were plenty of opportunities to take out the Icons if the Houseguests really had wanted to, but simply didn't. She argues the opportunities were there, but they didn't take them: Big Brother is a long game. That may have been sort of the first week where people can argue and all of that, but the truth is there were nine other weeks or whatever that the rest of the cast had to gain power and mount forces against them.She's right, and to her credit, no one could've predicted the blind loyalty Drew Campbell and Barrett Pfeiffer would've had toward The Crossovers alliance in the first half of Big Brother Season 28. Still, without those powers, Dee likely would've gone home in Week 6, and I guarantee that would've completely changed the rest of this season. What frustrates me most about this response is that it feels like Rich Meehan and Allison Grodner are intent on having an adversarial relationship with the Big Brother fandom when they voice complaints. Take, for example, the overwhelming negative response when Rachel Reilly was eliminated without being evicted in Season 27. Rather than admit it was a mistake, they essentially did the exact twist again to commemorate the 1000th episode. Sometimes, it just feels like they want to make the fans mad. Another argument is that Meehan and Grodner have to stay true to their own beliefs, and buckling to the fandom's will would ultimately make for a boring season of Big Brother. It doesn't make me any less frustrated by their responses, but maybe that's necessary to keep the show fun. Watch Season 28 of Big Brother right now with a Paramount+ subscription. I'm not quite ready for a rewatch of this season just yet, but with news that an all-star season might be on the way, I do think I should revisit an older season.