Profile of Jason Guy on Famous Like Me

The American version of Big Brother has aired on CBS every summer since 2000. It is a reality show in which a number of strangers live in an isolated house and compete to win a cash prize.

Since its second season, the American Big Brother uses different rules than other countries' versions of the show. In the US version, viewers do not vote for eviction; all voting is done by houseguests. As of 2005, there have been six complete seasons of the US version of the show; all have been broadcast on CBS.

For all seasons the eviction-night host has been Julie Chen, wife of CBS President Les Moonves and newsreader for the network's The Early Show. In the first season (2000), Chen was widely ridiculed in the media for her wooden delivery, stilted interaction with the studio audience and weak interviews with evictees on the live programs. The continuity announcer for the first five seasons was Phil Proctor. He played an active role in the first season introducing every scene, but with the major changes to the program after the initial series, he was relegated to the opening and closing of each episode. For season 6, Proctor was replaced by Clayton Halsey. This decision was made so late, Proctor had already toured the new set.

The weekly live show was substantially changed after the first season. Originally, the live show featured a studio audience along with guest comentators Dr. Drew Pinsky, best known for Loveline on MTV, and (sponsor) America Online "Internet Advisor" Regina Lewis. Julie Chen now presents the live eviction show from an empty studio overlooking the entrance to the house.

Season 1 (2000)

The first season, in the summer of 2000, aired seventy episodes from July 5 to September 29 and followed the same format as the international version, in that the viewing public voted by 900 number for which contestant to be evicted from the house after each contestant put two people up. The top two vote getters, including anyone tied for second, were "marked for banishment." Unlike later seasons the show aired six times a week; a one hour live studio show, four half-hour daily recap episodes, and a one hour weekly recap episode.

The first season of Big Brother was considered a disappointment in terms of ratings. Despite being heavily promoted, it failed to match the viewership of the international versions. It also failed to reach the level of wild popularity that Survivor enjoyed the same summer. The home-viewer voting technique resulted in the most controversial contestants being evicted early in the game, leaving the least troublesome contestants in the house.

For example, William, who was later revealed to be working with the Nation of Islam, was evicted first after he called out fellow houseguest Brittany on her supposedly racist ways. Karen was voted out, ostensibly, when the audience sympathized with her when she went through a breakdown of sorts on the program, but did not like it when she admitted to wanting a divorce from her husband on live television.

One of the best-known houseguests was Jordan, who played instigator in the house and was evicted for making waves with the other contestants. Notably, Jordan was the only Big Brother contestant to receive major media coverage upon leaving the house. Unlike the Survivor contestants, Jordan was the only houseguest to appear on The Late Show with David Letterman and later went on to mock Big Brother in the media, noting what a bad show it was. In one of the series' most memorable moments, Jordan went so far as to ridicule the corny theme song on the final episode, telling host Julie Chen "... You know, I'm just living like I'm living today, I'm feeling the thrill of life, and I'm not afraid, Julie."

Also, certain contestants' friends and family used organized voting campaigns to influence the outcome. Houseguest George had written on a poster instructing viewers to vote off Brittany. His family and friends from his home town gathered at a bar and did just this, offering others free drinks if they voted against Brittany.

As the number of houseguests dwindled, the show started losing viewers, and producer Paul Romer hoped to spice up the proceedings by bribing one of the houseguests with $10,000 to leave and replace them with a new, more interesting houseguest. Romer bragged in the media that they'd have no problem getting a contestant to leave. On the Wednesday live show, viewers were introduced to Beth, an alternate from the casting process who described herself as being "opinionated" and "a bitch." Despite prodding from Julie Chen to take what began as $20,000, and was upped to $50,000, none of the houseguests would take the money and leave the game.

Why did the US version not reach the heights of mega-celebrity and viewership compared to versions in other countries? One reason is Survivor premiered a few weeks earlier and quickly claimed the top summer TV spot. More importantly, the standard Big Brother (TV series) formula did not work as well in America. Viewers in other countries cast their votes to keep the most contentious houseguests, thus encouraging more exciting conflict. But Americans took a dislike to edgy or disruptive houseguests, and kept in the blander, friendlier types like Jamie, Josh, and Curtis. This just made the later episodes increasingly tedious as everyone sat around agreeing with each other. Tasks set up by the producers usually imploded, like the ethnic-sterotypes forced on the cast during the "Karen Springer Show" or insults during the "Big Brother Roast."

It is also likely that the American houseguests acted differently. In other regions, houseguests liked exhibiting their obnoxious or quirky personalities, which were often embraced by the public. During the first American season, most of the houseguests toned down their personalities and generally attempted to get along. While in other nations the houseguests "forgot" the cameras were there after a week or so, the American contestants seemed always aware, going so far as to perform and talk to the cameras.

Having spent millions to secure the American TV rights and construct a house for the show, CBS engineered a major overhaul for the second season. Paul Romer was removed from the production, and the role of Endemol was greatly scaled back. Producers Arnold Shapiro and Allison Grodner were brought in and completely reworked the program, most notably eliminating viewer voting for eviction and reducing the number of recap shows from 5 to 2 per week. This allowed the producers to better develop stories for the recap shows. Casting for the show was also changed, with stronger personalities and younger, attractive people making up the majority of the houseguests.

Season 2 (2001)

The second season of the show aired twenty-nine episodes during the summer of 2001 from July 5 to September 20. New rules were introduced in this season and have been used since. Under these rules, viewers do not vote for housemates to be evicted. Each week, the housemates compete for the title of Head of Household (HOH). The contestant who wins this competition is given additional privileges, and also nominates two other housemates for eviction. The remaining housemates then vote their choice of the two nominees, and the one with the most votes is evicted. The HOH breaks a tie, if necessary. At season's end, the winner is selected by a vote of the evicted houseguests rather than by the viewing public (although the audience would decide who would win in the event of a tie). In a special twist this season, the two remaining houseguests got to decide which houseguest's vote they could void, in hopes that their vote was for their opponent, and that they would gain an advantage over the other player.

Early in the second season, a houseguest, Justin, placed a knife to the throat of fellow houseguest Krista. Both competitors were under the influence of alcohol, but Justin was quickly disqualified and evicted.

Contestant Shannon became known for her temper. After a snit with fellow houseguest Autumn, she placed a bag of chips on Autumn's pillow to make Autumn feel that one of the houseguests thought she was fat, without a note, so that Autumn would not know who did it and would become paranoid. After a fight with fellow houseguest Hardy, Shannon stormed off to the bathroom, where she picked up his electric toothbrush and scrubbed the toilet with it, in an ostensible act of revenge. The voice of Big Brother alerted Hardy to Shannon's actions, however.

The houseguests received a short visit from some contestents of the other CBS reality show Survivor. Gervase Peterson and Susan Hawk from Survivor: Pulau Tiga and Alicia Calaway and Jeff Varner from Survivor: The Australian Outback visited the house for a few hours in an episode that aired on September 5.

About two weeks before the end of the second season, the September 11 attacks pre-empted television for an entire week. In a move away from the rule of not letting the houseguests in on information from the outside world, the three remaining houseguests were told of the news. The "Big Brother" voice asked Monica to enter the diary room, and she was told that her cousin Tamitha was as yet not located at the World Trade Center. The week after the attacks, the game continued as normal.

On finale night, the audience was updated that former houseguest Sheryl was diagnosed with breast cancer and needed to undergo chemotherapy, as well as the news that Monica's cousin Tamitha had died at the World Trade Center.

Season 3 (2002)

In the third season, which aired thirty-two episodes during the summer of 2002 from July 10 to September 25, a new twist was added to the game, in that the houseguests could compete for a Power of Veto. At a weekly meeting, the winner could decide to veto a houseguest that the Head of Household had placed on the nomination block. In this season, it was not possible for a nominee to use the veto on themselves. The Power of Veto was used very rarely; its most notable use was in the very first week when houseguest Gerry Lancaster, after a long-winded speech, vetoed the nomination of the black, gay houseguest, Marcellas Reynolds, on the grounds that he had accepted to nominate him because he was gay and because he was black.

Another twist was called Expect the Unexpected, in which, for the first time, a houseguest would be allowed back in the house by a group vote. The first four evictees competed against one another in a series of questions asked by host Julie Chen; subsequently, the choices were narrowed down to two: Eric Ouellette and Amy Crews. The swing vote, unbeknownst to the audience before the live vote, was Lisa Donahue, who had developed a romantic alliance with Eric. Lisa voted for Amy and she was allowed back in the game. Some houseguests tried to kick Amy out immediately, in a plan called Operation Revolving Door. Amy won Head of Household the first day back, and the plan failed.

Marcellas was also involved in one of the most shocking moments of the third season. The Head of Household that week, Jason Guy, had nominated Marcellas and Amy in a week where five contestants were reduced to four. In the final twist of the season, the last Power of Veto competition to be played had a special rule. If the nominee won the contest, they could save themselves from eviction, a rule that would become a staple in future seasons. When Marcellas won the veto contest, he had the option of saving himself. Trusting an alliance he seemed to have with Danielle Reyes, he chose not to use the veto. When Lisa Donahue and Danielle finally voted, Amy and Marcellas were tied 1-1, which meant Head of Household Jason had to break the tie. Jason voted to evict Marcellas, meaning had Marcellas used the veto, that outcome would have kept him in game and kept alive his chances at winning $500,000.

This season featured a guest appearance by singer Sheryl Crow in a special two-hour edition of the show that aired on August 21. Sheryl Crow and her band performed three songs for the houseguests in the backyard. This came as a big surprise for them with about a month left in the game.

Season 4 (2003)

In the fourth season, which aired thirty-three episodes during the summer of 2003 from July 8 to September 24, the big twist for the year was The X-Factor. Eight houseguests were introduced, only to have five houseguests' exes compete against them in the game. This quickly became messy, as Scott, a houseguest who had his ex-girlfriend move into the house, had a violent outburst, and subsequently told the house that he had had a sexually transmitted disease. He was disqualified and evicted from the game.

Another twist, introduced in the last veto contest of Big Brother 3, was the Golden Power of Veto, in that if a nominated person won such a veto, they would be allowed to take themselves off consideration for voting, which was not allowed when the veto was introduced originally the year before.

Yet another twist in the game occured when Jun won HoH in Week 8 of the competition. The Veto competition would be held BEFORE Jun would make her nomininations. The reason being was that Jun, as HoH, won a special trip outside of the Big Brother house to attend the 20th Annual MTV Video Music Awards. Her disappearance (as she entered the Diary Room and never returned) played a part in the Veto Competition, as the houseguests had to guess where Jun was. Jun returned, and nominated Jee, her ex-boyfriend, and Alison. However, Alison won the Veto, and used it on herself, forcing Jun to put Robert in her place. Despite Robert being a replacement for Alison, Jee was unanimously evicted 2-0.

One last twist to the format included a jury of seven who would decide the outcome of the game. When the game got down to nine players, the evictees formed the jury. The jury format eliminated America's need to break a tie if necessary, as done before in Season 3 (though Lisa won 9-1).

When the game narrowed to the final four, the final veto competition winner, Alison, received the Diamond Veto, which allowed her to choose which houseguest would be evicted. Alison, who was nominated by Robert that week, took herself off the block in a live ceremony, leaving Jun and Erika on the block. As the only voter, she was forced to vote out a fellow female, and ousted Erika. Alison would go on to win the final Head of Household.

The casting twist of having houseguests and ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends in the house had a impact on the outcome of this season. None of the three houseguests without an "ex" finished in the top five, Jack Owens being the highest with a sixth place finish. However, six of the final seven were either houseguests who had ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends in the house, or were the ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends themselves.

Season 5 (2004)

The fifth season ran for thirty-one episodes during the summer of 2004, from July 6 to September 21. Like the previous season's Ex-Factor, this season also had a twist theme. It was called Project Do Not Assume or Project DNA for short and had two aspects. The first was that two of the contestants, Michael and Jennifer were half-siblings who were unaware of each other before the show. They discovered this in the second week and revealed it to the other houseguests.

The second Project DNA aspect was a pair of twins who switched places every few days, appearing as one person, Adria, to their housemates. If they were not discovered after five weeks in the house, they would be able to live in the house simultaneously as individuals. The twins evaded eviction in the fourth week when Adria was nominated as a veto replacement by the Head of Household, Drew. Host Julie Chen introduced Natalie to the other houseguests on Day 35, minutes following Scott's eviction.

The Golden Veto was tweaked slightly to increase the possibility that the veto would be exercised. From this season on, only a maximum of six players could participate in any veto contest: the two nominees and the Head of Household all getting to select one person each. The winner was free to use or decline to use the veto as he or she saw fit, but with so few players playing, there were indeed more vetoes this season than in the previous two seasons combined.

An additional twist was a "Double Elimination Week" in the tenth week of the game, in which the entire process of selecting a Head of Household and veto holder, and evicting a player all occurred twice in one week.

Adria and Natalie were already considered a big threat before Adria made her bold move. Even her own alliance started questioning her. Saying the twins are "solid" and they know they can count on each other. When Adria won HoH, after revealing that Natalie was her twin, she put up Marvin, A floater in the game, and Will, from her alliance. Adria's plan was to form 3 different alliances in the game, since there was already two alliances. Everyone was stunned by this and was determined to evict the twins. In the Power of Veto competition, Will wanted to win so that he could stay and evict the twins for their forsaken move. However, Adria won the Power of Veto. Will was Hoping she would use the Veto to save her alliance; she did not use the Veto and set the plan in motion. Will was evicted and was the first person to be sent to the jury house. Afterwards, the power shifted. Adria and Natalie were nominated for eviction. In the veto competition, the twins showed their power when Adria won the power of Veto two weeks in a row. The twins debated which one should stay. Natalie wanted Adria to stay because she was a better competitor. When the Veto was used, Adria chose to save herself. It wasn't safe for her because her twin, Natalie was later evicted, which meant Natalie was the second person in the jury house. After losing the HoH competition, Adria was put up again. In the veto competition, Adria almost won but lost to Karen, which was her first victory in the game so far. Talking strategy to Karen, Adria wanted Karen to save her. Saying to Karen, she was just a pawn in their group. She'll get evicted because they don't see you as a useful competitor. She also said that if she gets evcited this week, they'll come after Karen. Karen wanted to save Adria, but didn't want to break the promise of her alliance, so she didn't use the power of Veto, and Adria was evicted, and was sent to the jury house.

Season 5 also saw the introduction of a companion talk show on the web. "House Calls" aired weekdays during the entire season and was hosted by former Big Brother 3 houseguest Marcellas Reynolds and radio personality Gretchen Massey. The show featured telephone calls from viewers and interviews with evicted houseguests, houseguests from past seasons and the producers of "Big Brother" Arnold Shapiro and Allison Grodner.

Season 6 (2005)

The sixth season ran for thirty episodes during the summer of 2005, from July 7 to September 20. In this season, the house has been revamped completely with new features, including a two-story house, a secret room, a private bathroom for the HoH, a co-ed shower, a digital picture frame for the houseguests, and lots more. The season's big twist is called Summer of Secrets. At the beginning of the season, every single houseguest in the game had one secret partner, however, every pair believed that they were the only ones working together.

This season also included a change to the theme song.

List of "secret partners" in this season

1. Ivette and Beau (former co-workers)
2. Michael and Kaysar Ridha (neighbors)
3. Maggie and Eric (friends)
4. Sarah and James (dating)
5. April and Jennifer (sorority sisters)
6. Ashlea and Janelle Pierzina (ex-roommates)
7. Rachel Plencner and Howie Gordon (best friends)

In an episode that aired July 28, Julie Chen told the houseguests that everyone had started the game with a secret partner, but by that time, everyone had already figured it out. She also told them that if one of the pairs makes it to the final two, the winner will win $1,000,000 with the runner-up winning $250,000.

The season is notable for a number of intense confrontations and arguments. In the second week, Michael confronted Eric about spreading lies of him being a pervert and touching some of the female guests in the house, while Eric was angry over comments Rachel had overheard about Eric's family being made by Michael. The encounter escalated to such a degree after Ivette informed Eric that Michael burped in her face, and Michael told Eric that he was a "midget with a small penis". Simultaneously, Ivette and Kaysar had an argument where Ivette accused him of "having no respect for women". Big Brother then directed the four houseguests to different areas in the house and things cooled down considerably.

In the first week of the game, many new friendships were formed and many outcasts were created. Rachel won the first Head of Household competition by being the last one aboard a giant surfboard in a two hour endurance competition. A majority alliance began to form and several people were left out of it as being outcasts: Ashlea, Michael, and Kaysar. Rachel nominated Ashlea because she did not get to know her well and Kaysar for being introverted and not interacting with all the HouseGuests. Rachel also won the Power of Veto but decided not to use it. Ashlea was evicted in a 10-1 vote.

Eric won the second Head of Household and, being a member of the majority alliance, nominated two more outcasts: Janelle and Michael. James won the Power of Veto but did not use it. After a fight between Eric and Michael, the rest of the house decided to eliminate Michael in a 9-1 vote.

Week 3 would bring great changes to the Big Brother house as the first outcast became the Head of Household. Kaysar, who had been targeted in previous weeks, earned safety with the title and vowed to break up the powerful alliance in the house as much as he can. Needing allies, he first recruited Janelle who he had been becoming close with in the house. He then pulled two sets of secret partners, Rachel/Howie and James/Sarah, away from the dominating alliance and into a group he called the "Sovereign Six." As for his plans for the alliance, he famously stated: "Rachel and Howie, James and Sarah, Janelle and me - Final Six." Kaysar then proceeded to nominated Maggie and James. The Sovereign Six intentionally threw the Power of Veto competition and enabled James to win it and he removed himself from the chopping block. Kaysar then nominated Maggie's secret partner Eric to ensure that one of the powerful duo would be evicted. The house ended up deciding to eliminate fireman Eric and leader of the Friendship alliance in a close 5-4 vote.

Maggie came back to win the next Head of Household that evening, and vowed revenge on Kaysar for eliminating her partner. She nominated James and Kaysar, but swapped Janelle for James when James won and used the Power of Veto on himself. Kaysar, the leader of the new Sovereign Six alliance, was targetted and eliminated in a 7-0 vote.

At the beginning of the Week 5, a new twist was revealed to America and to the HouseGuests. As was done in the third season, one of the evicted houseguests was voted back into the house. This time the viewers were asked to vote online or by text messaging or voting on the internet for either Michael, Eric, or Kaysar to return to the game (Ashlea had originally been eligible to be voted back, but she disqualified herself by voluntarily leaving sequester due to an illness in the family). However, the returning HouseGuest would not come back until the next week, giving Howie, who won the next HoH, one chance to eliminate an enemy. This was one of the most interesting and influential weeks, as Maggie was able to convince Howie against his partner Rachel's wishes that James and Sarah were betraying their alliance and were immediate threats to everybody in the house. Howie was convinced, and nominated the two, insuring that one of them would be eliminated no matter what happened. He stated that week that "this would either be the greatest move in Big Brother history or the dumbest." It is widely regarded that his move of nominating alliance members who had intended to be loyal to him was not the best decision he could have made at the time. James ended up winning the Power of Veto again, and Howie nominated Ivette in his place. Sarah was evicted that week in a 6-1 vote.

At the beginning of the sixth week, Julie Chen announced that over 5 million people had voted and that Kaysar would rejoin the house with 82% of the vote. In the next HoH competition, Jennifer survived a fourteen hour endurance challenge by outlasting Kaysar, making it the longest competition in Big Brother history. She swore on her life to Kaysar and even pretended to shed tears in order to convince Kaysar that she would nominate two members of her own alliance, to backdoor James, a common enemy in the house, even though this would work against her strategically. She broke her promise and put up two people in Kaysar's alliance, Janelle and Rachel, two of the strongest female players in the game. When Rachel won the Power of Veto and saved herself, Jennifer nominated Kaysar instead of James. This led to a confrontation between Howie and April when he claimed that she was full of lies and pulling the strings in her alliance (Beau, Ivette, Maggie, Jennifer, and herself, otherwise known as the Friendship). Howie and Janelle spent hours over the course of the week directly yelling insults and verbal attacks at members of the Friendship as they casually walked by after Kaysar was nominated. This time, Big Brother chose not to intervene. This event split the fan base even more, creating a sharper division between those who empathized with how the Friendship was being treated and those who supported the Sovereign Six.

In Week 7, another twist was announced by host Julie Chen. The houseguests learned that the week would not follow the typical schedule, but would instead be accelerated in order to accommodate a double eviction. In less than 48 hours from the live Thursday night broadcast, another houseguest would be evicted. After a brief trivia competition, Janelle emerged the victor and was told that she had to immediately nominate two houseguests for eviction. She nominated Jennifer, the previous HoH who betrayed the trust of Janelle's alliance, and Maggie, arguably the best player of the "Frienship" alliance. Amassing further power, Janelle seized the Power of Veto, and in a move that shocked the nominee herself, used it on Maggie and nominated Ivette, ensuring Jennifer's future eviction. However, as has been routine for this season, at the next HoH competition, and Beau won the title of head of household, jeopardizing the alliance between Janelle, Rachel, and Howie.

As Head of Household, Beau chose to nominate Howie and Rachel, two strong secret partners. This shocked some members of the house because Beau was known to dislike Janelle. James, again, came out of the Golden Power of Veto competition victorious, setting a Big Brother record for most won vetos. James did not use the Power of Veto. In a 5-0 vote, Rachel was the 6th houseguest evicted from Big Brother 6 because she was too strong of a player and a big threat.

The next week, April, another member of the Friendship, won HoH, jeopardizing the Sovereign's alliance. She nominated Howie and Janelle as pawns to finally evict outcast James. April got even more power by winning the Power of Veto. April was true to her word and used the power of veto to save Janelle and put up James.

The next week, the Sovereigns regained control as Howie became the HoH. On an episode airing August 30, houseguest April called the viewers of the show "pieces of shit" for voting for Janelle to win a phone call over a member of her own alliance. Janelle decided to receive a phone call from Michael, who was voted out on week 2, a person who she had known for little over two weeks. This angered members of the Friendship who had been pining to talk to loved ones, family members, and husbands who they had been missing dearly for months. April and her alliance accused the producers or rigging the vote and refused to believe America would actually vote for an "evil" person like Janelle to win over one of them.

On September 1, host Julie Chen revealed that there would be another double eviction, and fortunately for the Sovereigns, Howie won HoH for that week. However, his reign would only last for 48 hours. He had to quickly put up two houseguests for eviction, and he nominated Ivette and Beau, the last pair in the house. On September 3, Beau left the house after Maggie won the veto and chose not to use it. Ivette won the proceeding HoH. Ivette put up Howie and Janelle, in hopes of evicting Janelle. At the Final Five Power of Veto Competition, Janelle saved herself from certain eviction by winning the Veto. April was put in her place. On September 8 Howie was evicted after Ivette had put him and April up.

Janelle won the Final Four HoH in a "Before or After" trivia competition. Janelle had put up Ivette and Maggie. Her plan was to tear up the alliance of Ivette, Maggie, and April. Ivette won Veto and saved herself, forcing April, the only safe player, to be nominated for eviction. In the end, Ivette evicted April.

In the final 3 round Ivette won the first part of a three part HOH competition in an endurance test. In the second round Janelle beat out Maggie in a physcial and memory game of past events in the house. The stakes were enormously high at the live Final Head of Household competition. If Janelle won, she planned to break up the Friendship and evict Maggie to have a better shot at winning the money at the end. If Ivette won, she decided she would evict Janelle because her alliance members had promised to not vote for her if she had evicted Maggie. Ivette and Janelle went head to head, leading to a double tie breaker. The deciding question was this: "How many hours have you spent in the Big Brother house up to this point?" Ivette answered 1875 and Janelle answered 1900. The answer was 1797. Ivette pulled through and earned the right to choose who would be evicted. She eliminated Janelle, leaving Ivette and Maggie in the final 2.

At finale night on September 20, 2005, Maggie Ausburn became the winner and champion of Big Brother 6 barely beating her friend and alliance mate Ivette by a 4-3 vote. Here are how the votes went down: Jennifer voted for Maggie, Rachel voted for Maggie, James voted for Ivette, Beau voted for Ivette, Howie voted for Maggie, April voted for Maggie, and Janelle voted for Ivette.

Here is a total of competition wins throughout the season, divided into the two main alliances in the house.

Note: Michael and Ashlea didn't win any competition and weren't part of any alliance because they were the first two evicted, and the alliances didn't form yet.

Sovereign Six

Janelle Pierzina - 2 HOH 2 Veto (Won Veto while she was HOH), and 2nd and 3rd America's Choice

Rachel Plencner - 1 HOH 2 Veto (Won veto while she was HOH)

Howie Gordon - 2 HOH 0 Veto

Kaysar Ridha - 1 HOH 0 Veto, and 1st America's Choice

James - 0 HOH 4 Veto

Sarah - 0 HOH 1 Veto

Friendship

Ivette - 2 HOH 1 Veto

Eric - 1 HOH 0 Veto

Maggie - 1 HOH 1 Veto

April - 1 HOH 1 Veto (Won Veto while she was HOH)

Beau - 1 HOH 0 Veto

Jennifer - 1 HOH 0 Veto

Trivia

• By the end of the sixth season of Big Brother, there will have been a total of 75 different houseguests to play the game. Of those 75, there will have been 62 evictions for 60 different houseguests. Seven occurred in the first season to reduce ten houseguests to a final three, the only season concluding with three finalists. In season two, twelve houseguests were reduced to a final two, a formula that has been used ever since. However, due to the expulsion of Justin Sebik, there were only nine evictions. In season three, twelve houseguests were reduced to two, but one houseguest, Amy Crews, was evicted on two occasions, making for a total of eleven evictions. In season four, thirteen houseguests began the game, but there were only ten evictions due to Scott Weintraub's expulsion. The fifth season of the series began with thirteen houseguests, and added a fourteenth, Natalie, with the "twin twist" playing itself out. That led to twelve evictions. In the sixth season, there will be 13 evictions for 12 people, with Kaysar being evicted twice. The remaining 13 players either won their season's game or were runners-up, but all made it to the final day of the season.

• Only Amy Crews in season three and Kaysar Ridha in season six were allowed to re-enter the house with a second chance to win their season's contest. Unfortunately for both, neither one won their respective season, as Amy entered Week 6, was evicted Week 10, and Kaysar entered Week 5, but was evicted Week 6.

• When Michael Donnellan and Eric Littman were evicted second and third, respectively, in the sixth season, it marked the first time in Big Brother that two men had been evicted so quickly. In previous years, the first three out always included at least two women.

• The oldest houseguest in Big Brother history was Jack Owens, a retired FBI agent, who played in the fourth season at age 58. The youngest was 19 year-old Michelle Maradie, the ex-girlfriend of fellow houseguest David Lane, also in the fourth season.

• The most times a player has been nominated at some point during the week is six, held by Amy Crews of season 3. Amy was nominated twice before her first eviction, and four more times when she came back into the house.

• The most times a player has won the Power Of Veto contest is currently held by James Rhine, who won that title four times in eight weeks inside of the house in the sixth season.

• Drew Daniel holds the record for winning the most Head of Household contests when he won his fourth on September 17, 2004. Drew is also the only person to be HOH on two back-to-back occasions. Normally, the outgoing HOH cannot continue to hold power when someone has been evicted, but when the houseguests are reduced to three, everyone, including the most recent HOH, competes for the position.

• The most lopsided eviction occurred during the first week of the fifth season. In that round, Jennifer Dedmon and Mike Lubinski were nominated for eviction, with Mike being voted out, 10-0. The fourth season would have tied, but since contestant Scott got expelled before voting day, houseguest Amanda got evicted 9-0.

• The most lopsided final vote occurred during the third season between finalists Danielle Reyes and Lisa Donahue. With all evicted houseguests able to compete in the final vote, Lisa won the one-sided final vote 9-1, with only Jason Guy voting Danielle to win the third season. The most lopsided vote with the jury format occured during the fourth season between Alison Irwin and Jun Song. Jun won the game 6-1, with only Nathan Marlow voting for Alison to win.

• The closest final vote was a one vote margin, which has occurred twice. Drew Daniel was the first to win by a one-vote margain when he defeated Michael "Cowboy" Ellis 4-3 to end season five. One season later, Maggie Ausburn defeated Ivette Corredero by the same 4-3 vote to win season six.

• Only Danielle Reyes and Jason Guy, each from season three, went the entire season without being nominated in a nomination ceremony. But neither Danielle nor Jason won season three, finishing second and third, respectively, to winner Lisa Donahue.

• Only Alison Irwin of season four and Drew Daniel of season five have gone the entire season without facing the possibility of eviction when the voting was done.

• Will Kirby, the season two winner, holds the distinction of being the only winner that has never won Head of Household since the format change that took place after the first season. Michael Ellis also made it to the last day of season five without being HOH, but lost the final vote to Drew Daniel.

• Big Brother 6 holds the record for going longest without a double Head of Household win by any of the contestants with nine consecutive times, starting at the beginning of the game. Rachel, Eric, Kaysar, Maggie, Howie, Jennifer, Janelle, Beau, and April all won HOH before Howie became a repeat winner.

• The most people on the block in any one round in Big Brother history was six. In the fourth round of the first season of Big Brother, Eddie McGee, Josh Souza, Curtis Kin, Cassandra Waldon, George Boswell, and Brittany Petros were all nominated, with Petros being evicted. Since the rules changed when Big Brother 2 began in 2001, this is unlikely to be duplicated.

• Big Brother 6 became the first season to have four females in the final four. After Howie Gordon's eviction, four females remained in the game: Janelle Pierzina, Ivette Corredero, April Lewis and Maggie Ausburn. It was also the first time that there had been an all same sex final 4 in Big Brother America history.

Strategy

American Big Brother is probably the most complex reality gameshow in the world. Unlike other versions of Big Brother around the world, evictions are not decided via the general public vote (which are ostensibly a straightforward popularity contest and can be affected by editing decisions made by the show's producers). Additionally, the contestant's voting choices can be discussed with others in the house, allowing for strategy. Unlike the gameshow Survivor, which begins with two separate teams, there are no official teams in the Big Brother house, and therefore allegiances can shift dramatically from week to week as different players win Head of Household (HoH). Predicted long-term alliances with other contestants early in the game "The final four will be me, you, X and Y" are unlikely to hold as a non-allianced contestant is likely to eventually win HoH and nominate 2 members of your alliance, resulting in the likelihood that one of them will be evicted. However, like Survivor, the final winner is decided by a jury of the last seven evicted contestants. Therefore, to be successful a balance must be maintained between getting to the end of the game and not alienating too many defeated opponents.

• Alliances. An alliance is a group of people who pledge absolute loyalty to the other people in their group. Alliances may be overt or secret. In season 3, Jason Guy and Danielle Reyes formed a secret two-party alliance in the early stages of the game. This alliance worked well because they could convince the other houseguests to go after people other than themselves without appearing to have a bias. Jason and Danielle finished 3rd and 2nd respectively. Larger alliances often do not work as well -- because of the amounts of members involved, they usually fracture before they are the only houseguests remaining. Non-secret two-party alliances are particularly dangerous, often resulting in both members of the alliance being nominated at the same time (e.g. Eric and Lisa, who were romantically involved were nominated in week 4 of season 3, as were Roddy and Chiara in week 6 of the same season.) When Lisa had the chance to vote Eric back into the game, she chose not to (a choice that proved to be a wise one as she went on to win season 3). Also Famous for two-party alliances that weren't secrets where Adria and Natalie of Big Brother 5, who were the "twin twist." Overt alliances can propel one member or two members to the end, like we saw when Maggie Ausburn beat Ivette Corredero in season 6, but alliances are obvious targets and most members won't make it.

• Being a Floater. An alternative to forming alliances is "floating" -- having no ties to a particular group but then being available to whoever is HoH that week to vote in the way they request. Floaters are often resented as self-serving, but can do well in the game as alliances target each other and delay targeting floaters. Season 4 was the debut of the "floater strategy" and the final two was comprised of a pair of self-proclaimed floaters. That was the season Jun Song went on to beat Alison Irwin.

• Using Power. Winning the HoH or Veto games will guarantee an extra week in the game (unless the contestent does not choose to use the veto on themself, as Marcellas did in season 3, he was then voted out). Like Janelle from BB6, she won HOH and also won Veto in the same week. Having so much power made her go up the next week, but she was able to win the Veto again and saved herself. Playing with power often guarntees you another week. However, the power of winning such competitions will mark a contestant as being a strong (and dangerous) player, as well as potentially upsetting other contestants as a result of wielding power to nominate or change nominations. A person cannot win HoH two weeks in a row (except for the final two weeks), so the week following being HoH is particularly dangerous, many former HoHs have been nominated and/or evicted the following week. Some HoHs use their temporary week of power as a bargaining tool, striking a deal with other contestants that they will not nominate them the following week if they win HoH. Nominating is almost always likely to create enemies, a possible exception to this is in the first week of the game when contestants do not know each other very well and alliances are yet to have been formed. Although winning HoH or the Veto is not always a good idea (see Flying Beneath the Radar below), sometimes it is necessary in order to prevent your own eviction. In that case, practising a game in advance (when given the chance) is a useful strategy. For example, in week 3 of season 4 Alison and Nathan, who had become unpopular in the house for breaking an allegiance, spent a long time practising at a ball-aiming HoH game, which Alison went on to win. In the final weeks, Alison memorized all the names of HoH and Veto winners and nominations in previous weeks, which proved to be a good strategy because a good number of later games involved putting events that happened in earlier weeks in order: Alison won these games too. Janelle from season six also did this. She studied long when she and Howie were the last two surviving members of her alliance. She studied faces and questions Later in a trivia HOH competition of the final 4, there were six questions and Janelle had answered everyone right so she won HOH. Because Janelle studied long and hard she was able to win at most trivia HOH competitions. She is also able to win at physical events, but not at endurance.

• Flying Beneath the Radar. Contestants who appear aggressive, annoying, or competitive are often targeted early in the game. For example, Eric in season 6, Michael, Scott and Jase in season 5. More successful contestants have been those who have had quieter personalities, for example, Lisa and Jason who made it to the last week in season 3, Drew (the winner of season 5) and Erica and Jack (who made it to weeks 7 and 9 in season 4). Contestants who are viewed as weaker in competitions (e.g. Cowboy in season 5) are likely to be nominated later than stonger competitors, as they are unlikely to win Head of Household in the last weeks of the game and can be picked off once the stronger contestants have been removed. One possible strategy is to "throw" (lose on purpose) competitions, in order to appear weak. Season 4's Jack was suspected of doing this, despite being one of the more intelligent contestants, he never won Head of Household, although he later claimed that he never threw a competition. Will Kirby never won an HOH and eventually went onto win the 2nd season of Big Brother. Will has claimed he threw competitions purposely.

• Holding onto an Unpopular Contestant. While annoying contestants are generally ousted in the early to middle parts of the game because people don't want to live with them, during the endgame stage (when only a few contestants are left), it is sensible to enter the final week with an unpopular contestant by your side, as they are unlikely to garner votes from the jury. Contestants who have played the game by betraying or upsetting at least 4 jury members are therefore unlikely to win. For example, in season 3, Lisa (HoH) chose to evict likeable Jason and take Danielle to the final with her. Danielle had been a more scheming player and had been extremely instrumental in the eviction of other contestants (particularly Roddy, whom she had compared on numerous occasions to the Devil). Consequently, Lisa won the jury vote 9-1. Season 4 was a stand-off between two unpopular contestants, Alison and Jun. Alison (HoH) chose to take Jun with her to the final, rather than Robert who was better-liked. However, by this point in the game, Alison was so disliked, that she still lost the jury vote (6-1) despite arguing to the jury that she had been a better competitor (having won many more competitions and schemed more successfully) while Jun had been more passive: "riding on other people's coat-tails". After winning HOH in season 3, Drew Daniel chose to take Cowboy to the final 2 because Cowboy was seen as a useless player, unworthy of earning the big prize -- Drew won.

• The "Six Finger" or "Backdoor" Plan. In week 6 of season 5, HoH Nakomis took advantage of a new rule in the Veto game (that it would only be played by 6 people rather than the entire household) in order to guarantee that houseguest Jase would be evicted. She initially nominated two people in her alliance: Marvin and Diane. However, during the veto game, all six players would be part of Nakomis' alliance. Therefore, the winner of the game was irrelevant, whoever won could remove one of the alliance members from the chopping block, and then Nakomis would be "forced" to choose a replacement contestant, in this case she chose Jase. Had she originally put Jase up for eviction, he could have won the Veto and removed himself. During the eviction vote, Nakomis' bloc majority ensured that Jase was evicted. A similar strategy was carried out in season 6, when Kaysar originally nominated Maggie and James, but then his alliance arranged for James to win the veto game so that their enemy Eric would then go up in his place and be evicted.

• Betrayal. It is difficult to win Big Brother without betraying someone along the way, by either nominating or voting to evict them. Betrayals are best carried out early in the game (so the evictee will not be on the final 7 jury) or on a person who everyone else wants evicted and who holds little influence with others. In Season 5 the final three contestants were Drew, Diane and Michael. Drew was allied with both Diane (who he was romantically involved with) and Michael. When Drew won HoH he had to evict either Diane or Michael. He evicted Diane, but still went on to win the grand prize as he gained 4 jury votes (including Diane's vote). It's been argued that breaking a strong long-term alliance late in the endgame (as long as one appears penitent afterwards) is not such a bad strategy as the broken alliance is unlikely to turn against you and would still prefer to see you win than a non-aligned contestant. This is where personal feelings can be a big factor in how much betrayal a player can get away with.

Competitions

Competitions have been part of the show since every season, and the houseguests must compete together, against each other, or in teams to win them. The competitions in American Big Brother are:

• HOH (Head of Household)- Every week, after the live eviction, the houseguests compete in the Head of Household competition. The HOH gets to nominate two people for eviction, and also gets their own private bedroom, things from home, and laundry service. The current HOH is not eligible to compete in the following HOH competition except for the final HOH competition when there are only 3 houseguests.

• The food competition- Every week the houseguests compete together (Or against each other) in the food competition. If they win, the houseguests win a variety of for the week. If they lose, they must live on Peanut Butter and Jelly, condiments, milk, and water for the week. On occasion, the house is split up into teams for the food competition, however. Whichever team wins gets the food, whichever team loses lives on PB-n-J for the week. (An exception to the rule is if a houseguest has a PB&J Pass, Which allows them to eat food regardless of the outcome of a competition)

• The Power of Veto- In season 3, a new rule was introduced. Each week the houseguests would compete for the power of veto. If they won, they could save a nominee from nomination, forcing the HOH to nominate someone else (The Power of Veto winner was safe either way). But if a nominee won the power of veto, they could not use it on themselves. From season 4-onward, this rule would be renamed as "The Golden Power of Veto" (not to be mixed up with the paragraph below).

• The Golden Power of Veto- In the last Power of Veto competition of season 3, the Golden power of Veto was introduced. The big change with the Golden Power of Veto was that if a nominee was to win it, they could take themselves off the nomination block. This Power of Veto has been used ever since. Starting in the fifth season, only six contestants could compete for the Power of Veto, which allowed the new strategy of backdooring to come to play. From season 4-onward, the last "Power of Veto" competition has been renamed the "Diamond Power of Veto".

• Luxury Competitions- The Luxury Competitions have always been a special treat for the houseguests, and have always given them some kind of Luxury. Almost always, the first Luxury competition has been the chance to unlock the Hot Tub (The hot tub was unlocked by Rachel on Big Brother 6 as a twist).

• America's Choice: America's Choice offers the viewing public to select a houseguest to receive a special opportunity not available to other houseguests; voting is done through the CBS website. Though houseguests do not actively compete for the reward, it is essentially a reward based on viewers' opinions of the houseguests. America's Choice contests typically begin midway through a season and new contests are repeated weekly through the end of the season. Previous contests have allowed houseguests to make a mobile phone call to family, to have a walk-on role for a CBS soap opera, and to conduct an internet chat with fans. In Season 6, the first America's Choice contest was to vote back into the house a previously evicted houseguest; voting for this contest was expanded to include text message voting. The America's Choice Question is not always a choice between contestants to earn a special oppurtunity. America's Choice Questions have also been a choice of what challenge would be played, and what kind of appliances would be given to the houseguests.

American Big Brother on DVD

Discs from the third season of the show, in its entirety as well as edits, have been released on Region 1 DVD. Highlights from the fourth season have also been released.

On the third season discs, the episodes were taken from tapes aired on CBS, and not from unedited versions, meaning that curse words spoken on the show, and nudity seen, was still beeped and blurred out, respectively. With the release of the fourth season highlights, it was announced that the clips would show unaired footage, ostensibly racier than what CBS would allow to air.

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Jason Guy