Julie Chen Moonves Reflects on 25 Years of Big Brother and Who She’d Want to Replace Her One Day (Exclusive)

It’s hard to think about Big Brother and not think about its one and only host, Julie Chen Moonves.

Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE ahead of the premiere of Big Brother 27, Chen Moonves, 55, reflects on the 25th anniversary of the reality competition series and shares who she’d want to replace her if the time ever came for her to say goodbye to the summertime staple.

“Not only did I not think I would be here 25 years later, there were rumors that first season it was going to get canceled mid-season,” Chen Moonves recalls of the show’s debut season, which aired in the summer of 2000.

“What do you do?” she continues. “Just open up the front door and send everyone home? How do you pull the plug on this live show that has a 24/7 element to it where people have subscribed to watch them live and sleep and breathe in the house?”

Chen Moonves recalls some of the harsh things critics had to say about Big Brother — and her — during its first season.

“They were critical of the show … down to the furniture,” she notes. “It was like, ‘They’re living in this cheap plywood house.'”

Not only that, but Chen Moonves even remembers people being critical of her as well.

“I thought, ‘Oh, this show’s going to get canceled or I’m going to get canceled from the show,'” she admits. “Back then, we didn’t have the motto ‘expect the unexpected,’ but it was in existence.”

That didn’t happen, of course, and the show has continued to air annually — except when fans got two seasons in 2008 thanks to the writers’ strike — ever since, with Chen Moonves as its mainstay.

Chen Moonves said she has learned to “not take myself so seriously” after hosting Big Brother for two and a half decades.

“My main job was as a journalist. I came from the news division of CBS News,” she says of her experience before taking on the gig. “Season 1, the critics were not wrong that I was stiff as a board and had no personality. I mean, that’s what I’m attempting to do.”

Chen Moonves reveals that she “went overboard” in her attempts to “combat the critics,” leading to her sister telling her she was being “a little too Regis Philbin-y, and you’re not Regis Philbin.”

“I had to strike the right balance,” she says, adding that she’s “grown as a host to where I know when to play it straight, when to have a sense of humor, when to laugh at myself.”

Chen Moonves has even embraced the nickname given to her by viewers in those early seasons, proving she knows how to “participate in the silliness” the show is famous for.

“We make fun of things that are popular, and we make fun of ourselves, and I’ve learned to make fun of myself on a public stage and show the lighter side of me,” she says. “It’s been nice.”

Last season marked the first time Chen Moonves has ever missed a live eviction episode in all her years of hosting Big Brother. Her future on the show has been a topic of conversation for quite some time, and the idea isn’t something she’s fond of.

“That’s a world I don’t even want to imagine,” she responds when asked about a future without her on Big Brother.

However, if there ever came a time for her to hang up her mic, Chen Moonves has an idea of who she would want to step into her role.

“I would love for my son to take over the show so there’s still a Chenbot part of it. You know, pass it on to the heir apparent,” she says, referencing her 15-year-old son Charlie, whom she shares with husband Les Moonves.

“But I don’t think he has an interest in anything like that right now,” she continues, adding that he’s more into being “a musician and an athlete” these days.

While Chen Moonves admits Charlie will just “dip in and out” each season and just “wants the elevator version of what has happened” each week, she’s hoping this season’s theme, “Hotel Mystère,” will entice him to watch more closely.

“He’s more into spooky things,” she says. “But this season being spooky, maybe I can get him into it.”