Ariana Grande's Brother & Broadway Star to Compete on New Season of BIG BROTHER

Ariana Grande's half-brother and Broadway vet Frankie James Grande will be one of the contestants on the new season of BIG BROTHER, premiering June 25th on CBS. The 31-year-old, who has a Youtube channel with more than 185,000 subscribers and nearly 10 million views, has appeared on stage in Broadway's Mamma Mia! and in Pageant.

Today, he spoke to PEOPLE about the upcoming competition. "I'm going to drop Grande and just use my father's last name, Marchione," he says of his plan to not reveal who is famous half sister is until the end of the season. "If I get recognized, I'm going to have to win Head of Household and do damage control. If I don't, I plan on flying under the radar the first few weeks."

He also shared that he is getting plenty of support from the 'Sam and Cat' star. "I got to call Ariana on camera and tell her what I was doing and she just said, 'I know how much you love the show. Go make them fall in love with you ... but don't show them all of you because a lot of people will hate you for that, ' " says Frankie. "We both get so much hate online but it is usually about ourselves. I'm hoping there is more love than hate on me while I'm on the show because Ariana was like, 'I'm going to kill myself if I have to read hate about you too.'"

He also jokes that Ariana would not fare well on a reality competition. "She could never," he says. "She isn't a Survivor type. She's a diva," adding, "I'm a diva too, but I've done charity work in Africa and spent weeks in huts without electricity and running water. She's never done anything like that and I couldn't ask her to. But if they wanted to helicopter her in from a hotel every day for like 20 minutes, I think she'd win."

Read the story in full here and check out Grande's Big Brother profile here!

This season, the BIG BROTHER Houseguests will live in a whimsical urban tree house-themed dwelling. The living room features a 20-foot-high wood tree sculpture, and wood panels that give the illusion of peering out into the world from inside the tree. The theme continues with the dining room's branch-bound chairs and the kitchen's butcher block island made from thick slabs of eucalyptus trees. Nestled above the living room is an actual tree house shack where the Houseguests can play chess. The Head of Household suite includes a giant bird's nest for the bed and a wall lined with nearly 1,000 bird houses. Also, the bedrooms' décor is based on the classical elements earth, wind and fire with the bathroom's theme being water.

Following the two-night premiere, BIG BROTHER will air Sundays, beginning June 29 (8:01-9:00 PM ET/PT), Wednesdays (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT), and the live eviction show hosted by Julie Chen on Thursdays, beginning July 3 (9:01-10:00 PM live ET / delayed PT).

BIG BROTHER follows a group of people living together in a house outfitted with 76 HD cameras and more than 100 microphones, recording their every move 24 hours a day. Each week, the Houseguests will vote someone out of the house. At the end, the last remaining Houseguest will receive the grand prize of $500,000. BIG BROTHER is produced by Emmy Award-winning producer Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan for Fly on the Wall Entertainment, in association with Endemol USA.

Photo credit: Cliff Lipson/CBS

To post a comment, you must register and login.