Big Brother 2 (US)

***Big Brother 2*** was the second season of the American reality television series *Big Brother (U.S.)*. It began on July 5, 2001, and aired on CBS for 82 days, concluding on September 20, 2001.

The format of *Big Brother 2* was different than that of the first American season, which had been a direct port from the original Dutch version. In Season 2, Every week the houseguests would compete to become the Head of Household (HOH). The HOH would then nominate two houseguests for eviction. The fellow contestants would vote, and the player with the most votes would be evicted. On Finale night, all former houseguests returned to vote for who they thought should win the grand prize.

## Twists/Changes

* **More Gameplay Orientated Game:** As the result of the negative critical response to the first season, the second season introduced a more gameplay orientated focus on more competition and strategy in likes of Survivor, this format would become the basis of *Big Brother (U.S.)*.
	+ **Nomination Discussion Allowed:** Unlike most international versions, the Houseguests were now free to talk about nominations.
	+ **Head of Household:** For the first time internationally, each week one Houseguest will be given the power to control nominations and nominate two Houseguests for eviction.
	+ **Houseguests Vote:** Unlike the previous season where the viewing public voted to banish the houseguests, the Houseguests themselves would decide who would be evicted.
	+ **The Jury:** For the first time internationally, a "jury" of peers will vote for the winner of the season rather than a voting public.

## Houseguests

 **Winner**

 **Runner-Up**

 **Jury: *Ruben***

 **Jury: *~~Shingo~~***

 **Jury: *Ruben***

 **Jury: *~~Ruben~~***

 **Jury: *Shingo***

 **Jury: *Shingo***

 **Jury: *Shingo***

 **Jury: *Ruben***

 **Jury: *Shingo***

 **Jury: *Shingo***

## Voting History

* *Shingo and Ruben got to void one vote, before they knew what it was. Shingo chose Marissa's and Ruben chose Athena's vote.*

## Game History

### Week 1

 **HOH**

 **Nominee4 Votes**

 **Evicted5 Votes**

On Premiere Night, 12 houseguests enter the Big Brother house. They are met with completely new rules from the first season and have to adapt to a strategic game. Each week there will be an HOH that will nominate two houseguests for eviction. Then the other houseguests will vote to evict one of those two houseguests from the house. The houseguests were sent to the backyard to compete in a food and luxury competition. They were able to successfully win food for the week but were then told that the last houseguest to remain sitting in a car would win it. The competition came down to Marissa and Mia. Despite Marissa pleading with Mia to give it to her as she needed it, Mia stayed stone cold and won the car. This caused some first night drama between the two girls. At the HOH Competition, Bruce became the first ever HOH winner. He hit it off pretty quickly with Athena, Ian, Katelina, and Shingo. They started hanging out a lot and since he was in power, they felt like the "cool kids" of the house. At the Nomination Ceremony, Bruce nominated Charlie and Mia with Mia as the intended target. Charlie went up as Bruce felt he'd be a good pawn. Shawna quickly noticed the close group of five and feared their power going down the road. She confided in some others and expressed how she felt that Mia would be a good person to keep since she'd target the cool kids. She was able to get the outsiders on board, but Marissa was the tough sell. Athena and Katelina talked about the potential showmances they were finding themselves getting into. Bruce and Katelina had become super tight and had kissed a few times already. Ian clearly had feelings for Athena but she felt more of a connection with Shingo. Come eviction night, Marissa put her head ahead of her heart and Charlie was evicted 5-4, blindsiding Athena, Bruce, Ian, Katelina, and Shingo.

### Week 2

 **HOH**

 **Nominee2 Votes**

 **Evicted6 Votes**

Following Charlie's eviction, the cool kids were reeling and felt hurt that the others went behind their back to vote out Charlie. At the HOH Competition, Shawna secured her status as the ringleader of the outsiders by winning. She had her eyes set on the cool kids, she just needed to figure out which ones to nominate. After a lot of thinking, she decided to put up Bruce and Katelina to split up the couple. These two didn't take it well and the week was full of drama and arguments between the nominees, Shawna, Mia because she loved the drama and sometimes Marissa coming in to defend Shawna. Athena tried to secure the votes to save her friend from being evicted and found that some of the guys wanted to keep Bruce. Despite this, it all worked out in the end and Bruce was evicted by 6-2 vote, truly going from hero to zero.

### Week 3

 **HOH**

 **Nominee0 Votes**

 **Evicted7 Votes**

Following Bruce's eviction, the cool kids were all relatively down after losing a key member. None of them were more upset than Katelina. She was heartbroken to have lost him, and Athena promised her that they'd get vengeance. At the HOH Competition, Athena rose to the top and won her first HOH. She originally wanted to target Shawna for payback, but after having a discussion with her and Marissa, the three girls made an agreement to not nominate one another until Final 3. Because of this, Athena looked elsewhere and decided on Mia and Ruben. Mia because of all the drama she was starting, and Ruben because he had voted to evict Katelina the week prior despite the house consensus being to keep her. The house waffled very little and Mia's drama starting ways were put to an end by a 7-0 unanimous vote sending her home.

### Week 4

 **HOH**

 **Nominee0 Votes**

 **Evicted6 Votes**

Following Mia's eviction, nobody was really too effected. She had been nothing but a nuisance so even those on her side hardly missed her. At the HOH Competition, it was Ruben who reigned supreme. With his power, he wanted to split up the duo of Athena and Katelina. He had reason to put up Athena as his target because she'd nominated him the previous week. At the Nomination Ceremony, Athena and Katelina were nominated as planned. The two friends took the news poorly and spent the week together to celebrate their final week together. Despite Athena not campaigning for herself, Shawna and Marissa wanted her to stay as they had that deal ongoing with her. They were able to convince the other outsiders to keep her by saying Katelina did less around the house. Come eviction night, Katelina was evicted unanimously as both Ian and Shingo kept Athena as a result of the love triangle.

### Week 5

 **HOH**

 **Nominee2 Votes**

 **Evicted3 Votes**

Following Katelina's eviction, the house was very divided but the lines were blurred. At the HOH Competition, Ian got his first win of the season. Because of the arrangement her, Shawna, and Marissa had made the previous week, Athena used her connection with Ian to keep the two safe. The love triangle between Ian, Athena, and Shingo continued to bubble. At the Nomination Ceremony, Ian nominated Travis and Zoe, saying his reasoning was that they had never gone up before. Zoe started to suspect that Marissa and Shawna had made a side deal the week before. She felt betrayed and played since she was the one to go up despite having a good relationship with Ian. After gathering more info, Zoe started a house meeting to try and save herself. She made it clear that her target was Shawna and Marissa, not Athena, Ian, and Shingo. She then asked Travis who he'd target and he said he'd go after Athena, Ian, and Shingo. Because of this, the love triangle started to think getting Zoe out might not be best for their game. Due to this, the vote was split and Ruben was now the tie breaker. Both Shawna and Zoe tried making pitches to him but in the end, his bond with Zoe managed to get Travis evicted 3-2.

### Week 6

 **HOH**

 **Nominee1 Vote**

 **Evicted3 Votes**

Following Travis' eviction, Shawna and Marissa felt hurt and abandoned by Ruben after he sided with Zoe over them. They knew if they didn't win HOH, they'd probably find themselves on the block. Marissa saved them when she went on to win an important HOH. She ended up deciding to nominate Ian and Shingo for eviction to ensure her and Shawna would be the last houseguests to touch the block. Marissa and Shawna eventually decided to target Shingo for eviction. Despite this, Ruben and Zoe wanted to keep Shingo as they saw Ian as a bigger threat. This left the decision completely up to Athena. The love triangle was really starting to come to an end. She had to make a decision and was scared knowing she had to hurt one of the guys. Come eviction night, Athena chose to evict Ian, meaning he was sent home 3-1.

### Week 7

 **HOH**

 **Nominee0 Votes**

 **Evicted3 Votes**

Following Ian's eviction, the houseguests rallied together and decided they needed to beat Shawna in the HOH Competition. At said competition, Zoe came out on top and won her first challenge of the season. She made it clear from the start of the week that her eyes were set on targeting Marissa and Shawna. The two ladies didn't even bother campaigning as they knew it was no use. At the Nomination Ceremony, Zoe kept true to her word and nominated Marissa and Shawna for eviction. Marissa made it clear that she didn't want to campaign against Shawna, but Shawna wanted to make sure she was the one to stay. She knew she had Ruben's vote to stay and just needed to persuade Athena and Shingo to keep her around. Shawna continued to build on her connection with Athena and promised she'd bring her to the Final 2. In the end, Shawna's work paid off and Marissa was evicted 3-0.

### Week 8

 **HOH**

 **Nominee0 Votes**

 **Evicted2 Votes**

Following Marissa's eviction, it seemed as though the entire house was against Shawna. At the HOH Competition, Shingo came out on top and won his first challenge. Ruben and Zoe assumed one of them would have to go up next to Shawna because of Shingo's showmance with Athena, but the two were very confident they'd survive against her. Shawna wasn't ready to go down without a fight and managed to convince Athena to put in a good word for her with Shingo. Athena explained why taking out a potential duo in Ruben and Zoe was smarter for them. This worked and Shingo nominated Ruben and Zoe for eviction, much to their surprise. Zoe chewed out Athena, Shawna, and Shingo for scheming and stated she would refuse to be apart of the jury if they made up the Final 2. Due to all of this, she was evicted rather than Ruben by a unanimous vote.

### Week 9

 **HOH**

 **Nominee0 Votes**

 **Evicted1 Vote**

Following Zoe's eviction, Ruben won the coveted Final 4 HOH, ensuring himself a spot in the Final 3. Shingo attempted to convince Ruben to target Shawna by saying she is playing strategically unlike him, Ruben, and Athena. This plan would not work as Shawna had built a strong bond with Ruben over the course of the season. At the Nomination Ceremony, Ruben nominated Athena and Shingo for eviction. Athena assumed she'd be staying because of her agreement with Shawna to go to the end together. Originally, Shawna wanted to stick to her word, especially with Ruben stating he wanted Shingo to leave rather than Athena, thinking Athena would be easier to beat in the final HOH. As Shawna thought about it, she realized that Athena was her only competition in terms of strategy. Shingo and Ruben were both playing emotionally and didn't think of the game strategically. Due to this, Shawna broke her word and evicted Athena, blindsiding both Ruben and Athena in the process.

### Week 10

 **Nominee0 Votes**

 **Evicted1 Vote**

The final Head of Household competition was divided into three parts; the two houseguests that accumulated the highest total number of points in the first two rounds of the competition would advance to the final round. The first part was a quiz based on how former houseguests had described the three remaining houseguests; Shawna received 5 points, Shingo received 4 points and Ruben received 3 points. In the second part, houseguests were given a time limit to complete various household tasks, and would receive a point for each task they completed; Shingo received 7 points, Ruben received 6 points and Shawna received 5 points. This meant that Shingo and Shawna advanced to the final round, after receiving 11 points and 10 points each respectively. The final round was a quiz based on experiences in the Big Brother 2 house, the houseguest that answered the most questions correctly would become the final HOH. After answering every question correctly, Shingo was crowned the final HOH. He chose to evict Shawna, as he thought he stood more of a chance of winning if he was up against Ruben.

## Finale

 **Winner5 Votes**

 **Runner-Up3 Votes**

### Jury

 **Shingo**

 **Shingo**

 **Ruben**

 **Shingo**

 **Shingo**

 **Shingo**

 **~~Ruben~~**

 **Ruben**

 **~~Shingo~~**

 **Ruben**

## Trivia

* This was the first season to feature Head of Household competitions.
* This was the first season to feature a Jury and a Final Two.
* This is the only season where a finalist was allowed to nullify a jury vote.
* This was the first season to feature more than 10 houseguests.
* This is the only season to have a jury of ten.
* This is the first season to have Food Competitions.
* This is the first and only season to have one eviction take place over two weeks.