Julie Chen reveals which former TODAY anchor was asked to host ‘Big Brother’ first

"Big Brother" once eyed Meredith Vieira as a potential host of the reality show, years before she became a co-anchor on TODAY.

Longtime "Big Brother" host Julie Chen Moonves shared with "Entertainment Tonight" that CBS originally wanted Vieira to host the reality competition when it debuted in 2000. Chen Moonves has been the host for the entire run of the show, which is entering its 25th season.

"I wasn't the first choice to host. It was offered and turned down by Meredith Vieira," Chen Moonves said.

She heard rumors that Vieira, 69, had been the network's target when they created the reality competition, which features a group of strangers living in a house that's isolated from the rest of the world.

Chen Moonves asked her husband, former CBS Corporation chairman and CEO Les Moonves, about whether there was any validity to those rumors.

“I said, ‘You know, I heard stories back when I was cast on 'Big Brother' to host that you guys asked Meredith Vieira first,'" Chen Moonves said. "And he said it was true."

At the time, Vieira was part of the ensemble at the daytime talk show "The View," where she served as the moderator and co-host from 1997 to 2006. She left "The View" to join TODAY as a co-anchor from 2006 to 2011.

In the middle of all that, Vieira also hosted the syndicated version of the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" from 2002-13.

Chen Moonves, 53, added that her husband also shared the reason Vieira was on the network's radar.

“He said, ‘I knew 'Big Brother' was going to be kind of a trashy show … So, we wanted to class it up with the host,’” Chen Moonves said. "They offered it to her because she was a very well-respected name in the business.”

After Vieira turned it down, Moonves said they sought her out to be the host only a month before they launched the show.

“I was terrible in the beginning," she said. "I’ve grown so much as a human being and as a host … And I love it. I can’t imagine not hosting 'Big Brother' anymore.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com