Nomination

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**Nominations** is a process in the game wherein the one or all houseguests would vote their fellow houseguests for eviction. If nominated, the *nominees*, would have to convince either the public or their housemates to save them in various ways, most often via speech.

There are various nomination processes that are applicable to certain versions of *Big Brother* depending on the format. Typically in North American versions, the Head of Household has the sole responsibility to nominate two houseguests for eviction, whereas in most international versions, all housemates are required to nominate two people privately in the Diary Room and must give specific reasons for their nominations, otherwise their nominations would be invalid.

Interestingly, a nomination can be affected by a power or a twist. Most seasons have implemented certain twists that have affected nomination processes, for example, the Power of Veto. Usually, these special powers and twists could either save or endanger the nominees' lives inside the house.

In some cases except on North American versions, Big Brother has the power to give an automatic nomination as punishment to a houseguest if he/she violated a major house rule, typically after receiving a second violation warning.

## North America

### The Nomination Ceremony

 File:Nom.jpg   The Head of Household selects two houseguests to nominate for eviction. The exceptions to this rule arrived during *Big Brother 15 (US)*, *Big Brother 16 (US)*, *Big Brother 17 (US)*, *Big Brother 18 (US)*, *Big Brother: Over The Top*, *Big Brother 19 (US)*, *Celebrity Big Brother 2 (US)*, *Big Brother Canada 7*, and *Big Brother 21 (US)* where two different kinds of twists required three/four nominees each week, with still only one person leaving each week. Each HOH still nominates only two houseguests in those situations. The HOH places the keys of the players who are safe into the Nomination Box, a circular device with numbered key slots. The keys of those who are nominated are placed in a smaller box located in the HOH suite. The HOH pulls the first key, revealing that that person is safe. The HOH spins the Template:Wp to the owner of the key, who then puts it around his or her neck, and pulls the subsequent key. This proceeds until there are no more keys in the box, with two players left without keys being nominated. The HOH stands up and explains the reasoning behind his or her nominations. At this point, the HOH calls the ceremony adjourned and the houseguests return their keys to the Memory Wall. The Nomination Ceremony takes place at the kitchen table. The Ceremony occurs each week until the Final Three, at which point both houseguests who lost the final HOH are automatically nominated.

The twists that allowed for a third or fourth nominee include:

* **Most Valuable Player** - In *Big Brother 15 (US)*, America voted for one houseguest to become MVP, where they would secretly nominate a third houseguest for eviction, alongside the HOH's two initial nominees. They control the renom if their initial nominee is saved by the Power of Veto.
* **America's Nominee** - In *Big Brother 15 (US)* and *Over The Top*, America voted for one houseguest to go on the block as a third nominee, alongside the HOH's two initial nominees. Whoever had the second (or third depending on the POV results) votes after the initial vote automatically became the replacement in BB15, while in BBOTT if the nominee was Vetoed, there would be no replacement.
* **Battle of the Block** - In *Big Brother 16 (US)* and *17 (US)*, two HOHs would be crowned each week, and they would each nominate two houseguests for eviction. Those nominated pairs would compete in the Battle of the Block, where one pair wins safety, dethroning the HOH that nominated them, leaving one HOH and two nominees to continue the week as normal.
* **Roadkill Competition** - In *Big Brother 18 (US)*, houseguests would compete in the Roadkill Competition, where the winner would secretly nominate a third houseguest for eviction, alongside the HOH's two initial nominees. They control the renom if their initial nominee is saved by the POV.
* **Hit The Road** - During the premiere of *Big Brother 19 (US)*, there was no HOH or POV in play. After half of the house was granted immunity, the remaining half competed for safety, with the losing three being nominated for eviction. They then voted on whether they would like to hold another competition or have a regular eviction vote between the three, and they chose to do a vote.
* **Den of Temptation Curse** - Also in *Big Brother 19 (US)*, one houseguest would receive a curse from the Den of Temptation in the first week. They would have to nominate themselves as a third nominee, alongside the HOH's two initial nominees, at one of the next three nomination ceremonies, but if the POV was used to save them, there would be no replacement.
* **Temptation Competition** - Once again in *Big Brother 19 (US)*, houseguests chose whether or not they would compete in the Temptation Competition each week. The winner would be granted immunity, while the loser goes on the block as a third nominee, alongside the HOH's two initial nominees. If the POV was used to save them, there would be no replacement.
* **Power Pair** - In *Celebrity Big Brother 2 (US)*, the houseguests competed in a Power Pair competition. The winning pair would then be eligible to play in the HOH, but while the winner becomes HOH, the loser automatically becomes a third nominee alongside the HOH's two initial nominees. While not officially confirmed, it was assumed that if the Veto was used on the third nominee there would be no replacement, as that was the precedent set in BBOTT and BB19.
* **Secret Assassin** - In *Big Brother Canada 7*, one houseguest would complete a task to become the Secret Assassin. This person would then secretly nominate a third houseguest for eviction, alongside the HOH's two Post-POV nominees. This twist took place after the POV had already been played, so there was no chance for a renomination.
* **America's Field Trip** - In *Big Brother 21 (US)*, America voted for three houseguests they want to see compete in a competition. The winner would be granted immunity, while the runner-up gets a punishment, and the loser goes on the block as a third nominee, alongside the HOH's two initial nominees. If the POV was used to save them, there would be no replacement.

During Double Eviction and "Fast Forward" weeks, the HOH simply names the nominees.

For *Big Brother Canada*, nominations take place in the lounge area instead of the dining table, and instead of the nomination box, a combined memory/nomination board is used. A rectangular key card is used instead of a key. They also introduced the Triple Eviction, which also ended with three nominees on the block, but with two people leaving and one surviving. Nominations were made similarly to Double Evictions, with the HOH simply naming them in the moment.

 File:Bb16nom.jpg
The traditional key pulling Nomination Ceremony was discarded completely for *Big Brother 16* onwards, as well as *Big Brother Canada 3* onwards. From BB16 onwards, the Head of Household put the keys of the nominees of their choice in the new nomination boxes. The HoH would twist their keys and the photos of their nominees appear on the Memory Wall screen. This format was used throughout, during both the 2 HoH twist and when the game reverted to the regular format. In *Big Brother Canada 3* onwards, the HoH would enter the Big Brother vault and input the nomination on a touch screen computer. Once this was done, the HoH makes their way to the lounge area and will stand in front of the houseguests. The HoH will then either pull a lever or insert a card (depending on the season) to reveal the first nominee's picture that will appear on the TV screen. The HoH will then pull another lever or insert another card to reveal the second nominee's picture that will appear on the TV screen.

During *Big Brother: Over The Top*, the Nomination Ceremony was replaced by the Safety Ceremony, where instead of naming the two nominees directly, the HOH names everyone who is safe, leaving only the two nominees unnamed.

### The Nomination Speech

Each version of Big Brother has its own speech, but the most well-known one is the Big Brother U.S. speech.

"This is the nomination ceremony. It is my responsibility as the Head of Household to nominate two Houseguests for eviction. In my nomination block are the keys of the houseguests I am nominating for eviction, I will turn two keys to lock in my nominations and their faces will appear on the memory wall. The first houseguest I have nominated is (Turn's Key) (Face Appears), The next Houseguest I have nominated is (Turns Key) (Face Appears), I have nominated you (HG #1 Name) and you (HG #2 Name). (HG #1 Name) (Reason as to why you nominated them), (HG #2 Name) (Reason as to why you nominated them). This Nomination Ceremony is adjourned/complete." - Big Brother 16 onwards

HOH 1: This is the nomination ceremony. It is our responsibility as the Heads of Household to each nominate two people for eviction. Based off a random draw, I will reveal my nominations first. The first houseguest I have nominated is (Turn's Key) (Face Appears), The second Houseguest I have nominated is (Turns Key) (Face Appears), I have nominated you (HG #1 Name) and you (HG #2 Name). (HG #1 Name) (Reason as to why you nominated them), (HG #2 Name) (Reason as to why you nominated them). HOH 2: The first houseguest I have nominated is (Turn's Key) (Face Appears), The second Houseguest I have nominated is (Turns Key) (Face Appears), I have nominated you (HG #1 Name) and you (HG #2 Name). (HG #1 Name) (Reason as to why you nominated them), (HG #2 Name) (Reason as to why you nominated them) This Nomination Ceremony is adjourned/complete." - Big Brother 16 to Big Brother 17 (Battle of the Block Variant)

"This is the nomination ceremony. It is my duty as Head of Household to nominate two people for eviction. I will pull the first key/keycard, that person is safe. That person will pull the next key/keycard, so on and so forth. (Pulls Key/Keycard) (Safe Houseguest's Name), you are safe. (Repeated Until The Two Nominees Remain)  I have nominated you (HG #1 Name) and you (HG #2 Name). (HG #1 Name) (Reason as to why you nominated them), (HG #2 Name) (Reason as to why you nominated them). This Nomination Ceremony is adjourned/complete." - Big Brother 2 to Big Brother Canada 2

### Nomination Block

The Nomination Block is the chairs in the Living Room where the Nominees sit on Eviction Night and during the Power of Veto ceremony. Once the Nomination Ceremony is over, the houseguests without keys are considered on Nomination Block.

 File:Nomblock.jpg
The Nomination Block is surrounded by couches on either side and has a head-on view of the television used to communicate with host Julie Chen (or Arisa Cox for the Canadian edition). Houseguests on Nomination Block are ineligible to vote.

### The Backdoor

It is a popular strategy to place two houseguests in an opposing alliance to the Head of Household on Nomination Block. However, because both nominees get to play in the Veto, a popular strategy called "backdooring" places two "pawns" or "decoy nominations" on the block. The HOH does not want either of the nominees to go home. Instead, they are merely used as placeholders until after the Veto. This prevents a strong competitor from playing in the Veto, thus saving themselves. Instead, the Veto is guaranteed to be used and the HOH selects their true target as the replacement, thus leaving them defenseless. This strategy was created in *Big Brother 5 (US)* by Nakomis Dedmon, then called her "Six Finger Plan", a nod at the fact that all six Veto players were in on the plan to backdoor Jase Wirey. The plan was successful and an enraged Jase was evicted without the chance to defend himself. A rule change to prevent the backdoor was implemented during *Big Brother All-Stars (US)*, making the players in the POV competition randomly selected, meaning there is always a chance for everyone to play in the competition, greatly reducing the odds of a successful backdoor.

## International

Although the international format requires all housemates to nominate two people for eviction, there are two processes that appear on certain versions of *Big Brother*; a process involving nomination points and a regular voting process.

### Nomination Points System

 File:PBB8-Batch4-FirstNomi.jpg
In some versions, notably *Pinoy Big Brother*, the nomination ceremony revolves around giving nomination points to two housemates they want to face eviction. This nomination is currently used in *Big Brother Finland*, *Big Brother Sverige*. This process was first used in Big Brother Denmark, and has formerly appeared in *Big Brother Australia* from 2001 to 2014, and *Big Brother Mexico*. Spin-offs like Secret Story Spain and La Casa de los Famosos also use this process.

Every week, all housemates must go to the Diary Room wherein they have to distribute three nomination points (in rare cases 5 points) to fellow housemates; 2 points for one housemate, and 1 point to another housemate. Further, the housemates must state valid reasons, be it for strategic or personal reasons, otherwise Big Brother will not accept the nomination. They are also not allowed to give themselves a nomination point. The housemates who received the three highest nomination points would be nominees of the week. As a result, the number of nominees may vary if some housemates are tied to receiving the top three highest points. At the end of the week, the public will vote for who they wanted to stay, the housemate with the lowest save votes will be evicted.

### Ordinary Voting System

Based on the original Dutch nomination process, this system has been used by most Big Brother versions, with Big Brother UK being the most notable, and including the first season of Big Brother US.

In this process, all housemates must nominate one or two fellow housemates for eviction. Depending on the week or events, the 2-4 people with the most nominations are nominated for eviction, and the public gets to vote 1 of the nominated houseguests to be evicted. The houseguest with the most votes by the public will be evicted. Unlike the Points system, this system has a basic process of voting.

### Nomination Challenge System

*Main article: Nomination Competition*

Recent international seasons have started implementing this new nomination process. Instead of the usual nomination voting, all housemates would compete in a series of challenges in order to gain safety/immunity, at the end of the challenge, the housemates who received the three lowest scores, or those who failed to win a challenge round, would be the set of nominees.

This process has been used in Pinoy Big Brother, Big Brother UK, Big Brother Brazil and Big Brother Naija as a twist. The current version of Big Brother Sverige was most notable for removing the ordinary voting process and replacing it with weekly nomination challenges during the first phase of a Swedish season, with a reason that the nomination voting had negatively affected the mental health of previous Swedish seasons' contestants. The 2020 reboot of Big Brother Australia also uses the nomination challenges but is used similarly to North American format's HOH Challenge than an alternative process for nomination.

### The Nomination Ceremony

In International versions, the nomination ceremony is held individually and privately inside the Diary Room. The housemates are prohibited to make any form of discussion about his/her nominations, and they are also prohibited to influence other housemates to nominate certain people. Doing so is considered a major violation in the Big Brother Rule Book. After the voting, the housemates must gather in the living room to wait for the announcement. Typically, either the host or Big Brother would preside the ceremony and the announcement of nominees. After the announcement of nominees, the nominated housemates are given a short amount of time to plead for their safety.

In some seasons, various twists have appeared that changed the usual nomination ceremony. These twists include:

* **Face to Face Nominations:** The houseguests would nominate individually inside the Diary Room, but once this twist is announced, all housemates must individually state their nominations in front of everyone else. The twist forces each housemate to expose their targets in front of everyone else. This face-to-face process is usually done in various elaborate ways, mostly for the suspense on the housemates and the viewers.
	+ **Nominees as Fake Evictees:** Usually happening as part of a fake finale week twist, the remaining housemates must evict each other, often voting in front of each other or through a challenge, until the desired number of finalists are left in the house. Unknown to them, the evictees were not evicted at all, instead, they would be sent to a secret area for a while until they could go back into the house again as nominees. The fake finalists would instead gain immunity for the week. This twist appeared on Pinoy Big Brother: All In and Pinoy Big Brother: Otso - Batch 2 respectively.
* **Positive Nominations:** Instead of nominating for who they want to evict, the housemates must nominate on which housemates, aside from themselves, they want to be saved.
* **Rank-based Nominations:** Instead of usual voting, the housemates must rank everyone including themselves from most deserving to least deserving. The two or three housemates who got the lowest ranks would become the nominees.
* **Viewer's Nominee:** Aside from the housemates, the viewers are also given the power to nominate a housemate.

## Australia

Since its return in 2020, Big Brother Australia has introduced a new nomination process. The current Australian version combines the elements of North American and International nomination processes and ceremonies. In the Australian version, the housemates compete in a nomination challenge wherein the winner gains the power to nominate three housemates for eviction. Compared to its North American counterpart, the Australian version does not have a Head of Household. In addition, there are instances where more than one housemate could gain the power to nominate depending on the nomination challenge.

### The Nomination Ceremony

Retaining an element from its original international format, the nominator must go inside the diary room to cast their nominations in front of Big Brother. They must also state a valid reason for their nominations. The houseguests gather in the living room as Big Brother presides the ceremony and announces the nominator's nominees. The three named housemates would face eviction.

## Records

Template:Most Nominations In Single Season

## Trivia

### North America

* The only time all 13 slots of the nomination box were used was week 1 on *Big Brother 15 (US)* before its retirement in *Big Brother 16 (US)*.
* Victoria Rafaeli holds the record for the most nominations in one season in Big Brother history, being nominated 10 times in *Big Brother 16 (US)*.
	+ Janelle Pierzina holds the record for most nominations in Big Brother history with 12 total.
* Ramses Soto is the first person to successfully nominate themselves for eviction, via a twist. The first people to *attempt* to nominate themselves were Nick & Phil Paquette, without a twist. Lolo Jones almost got herself nominated when she was taking too long to name a second nominee during the Double Eviction.
* Danielle Reyes, Jason Guy (both from *Big Brother 3 (US)*), Derrick Levasseur (from *Big Brother 16 (US)*), Jillian MacLaughlin (*Big Brother Canada 1*) and Anthony Douglas (*Big Brother Canada 7*) are the only houseguests to never be nominated for eviction.
	+ However, all five of them were put on the block by default after failing to win the Final HOH.
		- Paul Abrahamian technically also accomplished this feat during *Big Brother 19 (US)*. He received his first nomination in Week 1 but was spared from the block due to the Pendant of Protection, and did not actually go on the block until he lost the Final HOH.
	+ Of the five (six including Paul), only Jason was evicted as a result, while only Derrick and Jillian won their respective seasons.
* Derrick Levasseur (from BB16), Austin Matelson (from BB17), James Huling, Nicole Franzel (both from BB18), JC Mounduix (from BB20) and Holly Allen, Tommy Bracco (both from BB21) are the only houseguests to make it past Day 78 without ever being nominated.
* From *Big Brother 15 (US)* (with the exception of *Big Brother 20 (US) and Big Brother 22 (US)*) onwards, there has been a twist that allowed for there to be at least three or four people nominated before the Veto competition. Similar twists also appeared in *Big Brother: Over The Top*, *Celebrity Big Brother 2 (US)* and *Big Brother Canada 7*.
	+ Starting from *Big Brother: Over The Top*, if there was a third nominee active and they were Vetoed, there would be no replacement nominee, leaving only the HOH's original nominations on the block. This has only happened thrice, in BBOTT, 19 and 21.
		- The reason being that the initial nomination was not done directly by a houseguest, but rather by America or a competition. When America took over the MVP twist in BB15, a replacement nominee was still made based on the data from the initial public vote to keep up the illusion that a current houseguest was the MVP.
	+ No one has ever won HOH and MVP/Roadkill in the same week, meaning no one has ever made all three nominations themselves.
	+ Coincidentally, whenever there were three nominees on the block during eviction night, at least one nominee survived with no votes against them every single time. Meaning the vote was either #-#-0 or #-0-0. This has happened throughout every season with three nominees.
		- BB19's first eviction is the first, and currently only, eviction to have all three nominees receive at least one vote against them. BB19 is also the only season to have had multiple separate twists that allow for a third nominee in one season. However, all were based upon the season's Temptation theme.

### International

* Big Brother 1 (US) is the only American season to use an international nomination process.
* Ella Cayabyab currently has the highest amount of nomination points received within a season in *Big Brother* history. She received a total of 99 nomination points during Pinoy Big Brother: Connect.
* In all three adaptations of Big Brother Australia, the show has used the three notable nomination processes. During its original Network 10 run, the original ordinary voting process was used during the first 8 seasons. Nine Network's reboot implemented nomination points during its 2012-2014 run. With Network Seven's current adaptation and format, the Australian version adopted its own version similar to the North American nomination process.

## References

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