Big Brother Northwestern 3

## Cast/Memory Wall

**Big Brother Northwestern 3**, also known as **Big Brother Northwestern: Eye Spy**, is the third season of Big Brother Northwestern. Taking place on December 6, 2022, it is the first season of Big Brother Northwestern to feature an overarching theme, being centered around the idea of Spies and Secret Agents.

With the most alliances in a season up until this point, Season 3 saw the emergence of multiple house targets and the first appearance of a mid-season power alliance (the Post-Alena's Eviction alliance). Tying with Season 1 for the most houseguests in a season, 12 rounds of gameplay ultimately saw Season 2 returnee Alex DeVito become the first houseguest to reach the Final 3 twice, winning in a 6-5-0 victory over new houseguests Eli Blanks and Ashley Valent.

## Production

Big Brother Northwestern follows the format of the rebooted Big Brother Australia series (seasons 12-14), thereby featuring the following production changes from the American version of Big Brother

* **Nominator Challenges:** At the start of each round, the housemates compete in a "Nominator Challenge". The winner of the competition has the sole power over the nominations. Immediately after the challenge, the winning housemate will be called to the Diary Room by Big Brother to name three nominees, and provide full reasons for their nominations. If the competition is run in pairs, then the winning pair must decide together on nominations.
* **Eviction Vote:** On eviction night, all housemates must vote to evict one of the nominees, with the exception of the nominating housemate (who will only cast a tie-breaker vote, if required), nor do the nominated housemates vote when there are only two nominees (on account of their votes canceling the other's out). The eviction vote is by secret ballot, with housemates casting their votes orally in the Diary Room to Big Brother, and must provide a reason for their vote. The nominee with the most votes is evicted from the house.
* **Final 3:** The finale of the seasons consists of the final 3 houseguests in the game.
* **Jury Vote:** Due to Big Brother Northwestern not having a viewing audience, the winner of the season was determined through a Jury Vote as opposed to a Public Vote.

## Twists

* **BB Assassin:** The first season-long twist of BBNU, each houseguest was given a target at the start of the game. If a houseguest’s target was evicted, they would receive safety for the next round of the game, but would be blocked from competing in the next nominator challenge. In addition, they would pick up that person’s target, giving them another shot at safety. The twist lasted until Round 9.
* **Double Agent Power:** During the first challenge of the season, the Double Agent Power was hidden in the house. The houseguest to find the advantage would be able to block two houseguests from voting at one of the first 5 evictions of the game. The advantage was found by Alena Haney, who used it in Round 5 to block Eli Blanks and Esteban Ortiz from voting.
* **Team Nominator Challenge:** During Round 4, the houseguests were split into two teams for the nominator challenge, where the winning team must come to a consensus decision on who to nominate. The members of the winning team would still be able to cast an eviction vote, but in the event of a tie, must come to another consensus decision.
* **Regular Fake Eviction:** During Round 7, the houseguest that receives the most eviction votes was not removed from the game but instead hidden in a secret room, where they eventually returned to the game following the Round 8 eviction. Their return to the game also signified the end of the BB Assassin twist.
* **Second Chance Challenge:** During Rounds 9 and 10, it was revealed that the three nominated houseguests would compete in a second challenge, where the winner would save themselves from eviction.

## Houseguests

  **Winner**

 **Runner-Up**

 **Third Place**

 **Jury: *Eli***

 **Jury: *Alex***

 **Jury: *Alex***

 **Jury: *Eli***

 **Jury: *Alex***

 **Jury: *Eli***

 **Jury: *Alex***

 **Jury: *Eli***

 **Jury: *Alex***

 **Jury: *Alex***

 **Jury: *Eli***

## Assassin Target Chart

This chart shows the initial BB Assassin assignments at the beginning of the season.

## Alliances

*Arranged by duration/effectiveness/power:*

* **The Neighbors** - *Eli, Esteban*
* **Post-Alena's Eviction Alliance** - *Ashley, Eli, Esteban, Mario, Talya*
* **Miss Gworl** - *Alex, Esteban, Ethan*
* **Presave My Single** - *Eli, Talya*
* **Shart The Clown** - *Alex, Mario, Talya*
* **Queef** - *Ashley, Mario*
* **Gavin Shaub** - *Esteban, Mario*
* **If You Vote Us Out, You're Antisemitic** - *Ethan, Talya*
* **Redhead Alliance** - *Ashley, Helena*
* **Giggle Farts** - *Helena, Nathan, Sofi*
* **The Bubble Disaster** - *Eli, Nathan*
* **As You Big Brother It** - *Alex, Bobby, Eli, Esteban, Sofi*
* **Cookie Cake** - *Alex, Nathan*
* **MARS** - *Alena, Mario, Rachel, Sofi*
* **Share Happiness** - *Eli, Khoi*
* **Hot Dog** - *Khoi, Sofi*

## Game Summary

### Round 1

 **Nominator**

 **Nominee2 Votes**

 **Double Agent PowerNominee4 Votes**

 **Evicted7 Votes**

8 new houseguests entered the Big Brother Northwestern house to face off against 6 returning houseguests. In the first challenge, Alena found the Double Agent power, while Esteban won the nomination power following a face off against Sofi. Esteban nominated Alena, Helena, and Khoi for eviction, because he didn’t want to break any of his other alliances. While much of the house expected Khoi to be evicted, it was by a 7-4-2 vote, with Alena and Helena being shocked by the number of votes they received.

### Round 2

 **Assassin Safety**

 **Nominator**

 **Nominee3 Votes**

 **Nominee4 Votes**

 **Evicted5 Votes**

Following Khoi's eviction, Ethan became the first recipient of Assassin Safety. Eli completed the Escape Room challenge first, with Esteban in a close second place. Eli nominated Sofi because she was his Assassin target, as well as Rachel and Alex, much to the surprise of most of the house. In an extremely close plurality vote, Rachel was evicted 5-4-3, and called Eli and Nathan out on her way out.

### Round 3

 **Assassin Safety**

 **Nominator**

 **Nominee3 Votes**

 **Nominee3 Votes**

 **Evicted5 Votes**

Following Rachel's eviction, Alena was the next person to receive Assassin Safety due to Eli's failed plan to earn it for himself. In the Code Breakers challenge, it was between Talya and Ethan, but Eli came from behind and won his second challenge in a row. He nominated Alex and Sofi again because everyone knew he was gunning for one of them (but didn’t want people to know which one), as well as Helena because he thought no one would vote for her. A group mentality started to form against Eli, with people either wanting to target Eli for winning challenges or keep Eli for being a shield. Sofi and Alex exposed the As You Like It alliance in front of everyone, and it was revealed to Esteban that he was not initially included in it. Sofi said that she was good at challenges so she could win the next challenge to nominate Eli, while Helena argued that she had never played before and wanted a chance and Alex said that they would be a loyal alliance player. In a shocking 5-3-3 vote, Sofi was evicted, but not before revealing that Alex was her target, exposing Eli’s new target.

### Round 4

 **Assassin Safety**

 **Co-Nominator**

 **Co-Nominator**

 **Co-Nominator**

 **Co-Nominator**

 **Co-Nominator**

 **Nominee2 Votes**

 **Nominee4 Votes**

 **Evicted5 Votes**

Due to finally being successful in evicting Sofi, Eli received Assassin Safety for the next round. For the challenge, the teams were Red (Alena, Mario, Nathan, Talya, and Bobby) and Blue (Ashley, Helena, Ethan, Esteban, and Alex). The Blue team won and decided to nominate Bobby, Nathan, and Talya, seeing those three as the biggest physical threats on the losing team and because Nathan and Eli had a separate conversation before the start of the challenge. In another plurality vote, Nathan was evicted 5-4-2.

### Round 5

 **Assassin Safety**

 **Nominator**

 **Nominee0 Votes**

 **Nominee3 Votes**

 **Evicted4 Votes**

Following Nathan's eviction, Esteban received Assassin Safety. Alex won the challenge and nominated Eli for eviction as the house target, alongside Alena and Bobby for eviction. Alena chose to use the Double Agent advantage to block Eli’s and Esteban’s votes (because it was the last round to be used). Eli was convinced he was going home, but Ashley and Talya formed a new alliance with Eli, Esteban, and Mario to save Eli and spearhead a blindside against Alena, resulting in Alena's shocking 4-3-0 eviction.

### Round 6

 **Assassin Safety**

 **Co-Nominator**

 **Co-Nominator**

 **Nominee2 Votes**

 **Nominee2 Votes**

 **Evicted3 Votes**

Following Alena's eviction, Mario received Assassin Safety. For the next challenge, the housegeusts completed in pairs: Ashley and Esteban, Talya and Ethan, Eli and Bobby, and Alex and Helena. Talya and Ethan won the challenge and decided to save Eli because they believed he would be evicted no matter who he was against. They decided on Helena, Bobby, and Ashley for eviction, with Helena and Bobby being easy nominees and because they viewed Ashley as sneaky for bringing up the possibility of a Jewish alliance; however, the Post-Alena's eviction alliance protected Ashley and, in another plurality vote, Helena was evicted 3-2-2.

### Round 7

 **Assassin Safety**

 **Nominator**

 **Nominee0 Votes**

 **Nominee1 Vote**

 **Fake Evicted6 Votes**

Ashley was the next to received Assassin Safety following her near escape from eviction. Esteban won Touchy Subjects after tying in the vote for “Who should be evicted next” with Eli. Esteban chose to save Eli because of their alliance and the potential of Assassin safety and instead nominated Bobby and Ethan due to protecting his alliances, and named Talya as the final nominee because he believed she wouldn’t be evicted. In a unanimous vote, Ethan was evicted, however the eviction was fake and he was sent to the Secret Room, ready to return with a vengeance.

### Round 8

 **Assassin Safety**

 **Nominator**

 **Nominee0 Votes**

 **Nominee1 Vote**

 **Evicted5 Votes**

Following Ethan's fake eviction, Ashley won Assassin Safety for the second time in a row. Eli won the nominator challenge and nominated Bobby, Mario, and Talya for eviction, intending to break up the duo of Mario and Talya. Despite the Post-Alena's Eviction alliance planning to save both Mario and Talya and evict Bobby, Mario decided now was the time to jump ship and revealed to Talya that he was going to evict her. In an explosive speech, Talya revealed her alliance with Mario and that Bobby was her assassin target (but that she had never voted for him). Talya’s speech caused chaos and caused the majority to flip their votes from Bobby to Mario, and Mario was evicted 5-1-0.

### Round 9

 **Assassin Safety**

 **Re-EnteredNominator**

 **Saved**

 **Nominee0 Votes**

 **Evicted4 Votes**

With Mario's eviction, Alex became the last returning houseguest standing and Ashley won Assassin Safety for the third time. Ethan's fake eviction was revealed to the houseguests and he returned to the game, marked the end of the Assassin twist.Ethan also won the nominator challenge and nominated Alex, Eli, and Talya for eviction, believing them to be his biggest threats. While this was happening, the remaining 6 formed a deal to get Ethan out the next round. With the house wanting to target Eli, their plans were foiled when Eli won the Second Chance challenge. The house then decided to have a consensus decision and due to Talya mentioning her Purple Haze event, they evicted her 4-0 over Alex.

### Round 10

 **Nominator**

 **Saved**

 **Nominee0 Votes**

 **Evicted3 Votes**

In a long Plank challenge, Alex came out on top and nominated Bobby, Eli, and Ethan for eviction. Bobby narrowly beat out Eli to win the Second Chance challenge, leaving Eli and Ethan on the block. Despite Eli's fears that he would be blindisded, Ethan was evicted unanimously due to the deal made from the round before.

### Round 11

 **Nominator**

 **Nominee1 Vote**

 **Evicted2 Votes**

Esteban won his record-breaking fourth nominator challenge and, despite intially planning to target Eli, decided to nominate Ashley and Bobby, as he believed Eli would take him to the Final 3, a decision that shocked the house. The vote ended up being 1-1, marking the first tied vote in BBNU history, and Esteban chose to break the tie in Ashley’s favor due to wanting a woman in the Final 4, sending Bobby out the door.

### Round 12

 **Nominator**

 **Nominee0 Votes**

 **Nominee0 Votes**

 **Evicted1 Vote**

Ashley won the final nominator challenge and chose to evict Esteban because of his challenge wins and the fact that he had never been nominated until the Final 4. Esteban was extremely bitter and, after using some choice words for Ashley, finally left the house, leaving Alex, Ashley, and Eli as the final 3.

### Finale

 **Winner6 Votes to Win**

 **Runner-Up5 Votes to Win**

 **Third Place0 Votes to Win**

 **Production's Favorite**

Most of the Jury Members returned to the house and listened as the Final 3 gave pitches as to why they should be crowned the winner of Big Brother Northwestern 3. Alex emphasized how they were on the outs of the controlling alliance and the last returning houseguest standing, and Eli highlighted how he was the general house target for the majority of the game yet still was able to reach the Final 3. Meanwhile, Ashley's discussion of her strategic gameplay was overshadowed by Esteban continuously trashing her in the game group chat, which had to be shut down by Drew. Ultimately, the damage was done, as most of the Jury either viewed Ashley as a backstabber or less worthy of the win than her opponents, and Alex was crowned the winner in a narrow 6-5-0 vote. Following the season, Drew announced that Eli was the recipient of this season's Production's Favorite award.

#### Jury

 **Eli**

 **Alex**

 **Alex**

 **Eli**

 **Alex**

 **Eli**

 **Alex**

 **Eli**

 **Alex**

 **Alex**

 **Eli**

## Trivia

* This season had a Spy/Secret Agent theme, which was featured in the twists (notably the Assassin twist) and the challenges titles.
* This season coincidentally took place exactly 6 months after Season 1.
* This is the first season to feature a team-formatted Nominator Challenge.
* This season marks the first time that a houseguest was not allowed to cast an eviction vote. This is due to the Double Agent Power, which was found by Alena Haney in Round 1 and played against Eli Blanks and Esteban Ortiz in Round 5.
* This is the first season to feature a tied vote, which took place in Round 11.
	+ As a result, Esteban Ortiz is the first houseguest to cast a tiebreaker vote and Bobby Axelrod is the first houseguest to be evicted following a tie.
* This is the first season to have a returning player be crowned the winner.
* This is the first season to not feature two houseguests with the same name.
	+ Coincidentally, one houseguest from each former shared-named pair participated in this season: Alex DeVito and Rachel Rubin.
* Due to Alex Branka and Rachel Weintraub not submitting Jury Votes in Season 1, this season features the largest Jury with 11 Jury Members.
* This season started at 4:24 PM and ended at 9:32 PM, lasting 5 hours and 8 minutes.
* Houseguest nearly on this season who ultimately did not participate included:
	+ Returning Players - Grace Wagner and Natalie Tangeman
	+ New Players - Morgan Barber (again)