Big Brother (American TV series)

***Big Brother*** is an American television reality competition show based on the real Big Brother franchise. The American series launched on July 5, 2000 on CBS and is currently the longest-running adaptation in the *Big Brother Fanmade.*

The show broadly follows the premise of other versions of the format, in which a group of contestants, known as "HouseGuests", live together in a specially constructed house that is isolated from the outside world. The HouseGuests are continuously monitored during their stay in the house by live television cameras as well as personal audio microphones. Throughout the course of the competition, HouseGuests are evicted from the house, by being voted out of the competition. The last remaining HouseGuest wins the competition and is awarded a cash prize of $500,000. In its inaugural season (which followed the original Dutch format).

## Format

*Big Brother* is a game show in which a group of contestants, referred to as HouseGuests, live in a custom-built "house" (actually a set built on a CBS stage in Los Angeles, Stage 18 since season 1), constantly under video surveillance. While in the house, the contestants are completely isolated from the outside world, meaning that they are not allowed any contact with those not in the house. This rule could be broken, however, in the event of a medical injury, a family emergency or death. The format of the series is mainly seen as a social experiment, and requires HouseGuests to interact with others who may have differing ideals, beliefs, and prejudices. While a competition, the series allows viewers to witness the relationships formed in the house and the behavior of the HouseGuests. Though locked in the house, the HouseGuests are free to quit the game, though they will not be allowed entry back into the house. Should a HouseGuest break the rules of the game, they could be expelled from the house and unable to return. The contestants compete for a grand prize of $500,000.

### Season 1 format

The premiere season, the format of the show resembled the original Dutch version of the show—a format adapted by most versions. As the format of the show emphasized the social experiment aspects of the premise, the competitive aspects were minimized: HouseGuests did not compete for power or safety, and the nominations process was not discussed by the HouseGuests.

Every two weeks, each HouseGuest participated in a mandatory voting called Nomination which decide a list of HouseGuests nominated for eviction, also known as "Marked for banishment". Each HouseGuest secretly nominated two other fellow housemates, providing full reasons for their nominations. In the event of a tie, the two or more HouseGuests with the most nominations became marked for banishment and faced the public vote for the following week. Towards the end of the season, the nominations process reverted to a weekly process.

After the nominations were finalized, a public voting window opens for America who vote for which HouseGuest would be banished through televoting. This process continued until three HouseGuests remained, where the final vote was changed to determine the winner of the show. The winner won the $500,000 prize, the runner-up left with $100,000 and 3rd place left with $50,000. The competition however, received negative reception from both critics and viewers.

### Season 2–present

At the start of each week in the house, the HouseGuests compete for three types of competitions, Head of Household, Have-Not, and the Power of Veto. For the Head of Household, HouseGuest compete for immunity from eviction and the power to nominate two HouseGuest for the eviction, and often receive privileges such as their own personal bedroom and free laundry service; however, the incumbent Head of Household would not be able to compete in the following week's Head of Household competition, meaning that a HouseGuest could not hold the title for a second consecutive week, except for the final week or other stated circumstances.

At the end of the week, all HouseGuests except for three (the Head of Household and the two nominees) would then cast a vote, one-by-one, privately inside the "Diary Room", to determine which of the two nominees should be evicted; the HouseGuest receiving a majority of the eligible HouseGuest's votes is evicted during a live episode; if there is a tie in the voting, the reigning Head of Household would then cast the deciding vote to resolve a tie. The HouseGuests may discuss the nomination and eviction process openly and freely. Once the HouseGuest is evicted, Chen informs the evictee to pack their belongings in a minute and bid farewell messages to any remaining HouseGuests before leaving the house. Introduced in Season 3 is the Power of Veto, where any HouseGuests compete for the right to replace any nominated HouseGuest from the eviction, which would continue until three HouseGuest remains.

Some eviction ceremonies have at least one week with a different variant which was first seen since season 5. A notable variant, dubbed the "Double Eviction Week" or "Fast Forward Week", had weeklong events (HoH and Veto Competitions, as well as Nominations, Veto and Eviction cermoneies) occur in an accelerated format, so that two HouseGuests are evicted over a week. The "Double Eviction Week" has become a staple of the show, particularly in the penultimate week featuring the Final 5 and Final 4 evictions. Another variation of the Double Eviction was introduced in season 7 with the "Double Eviction Night" where the events of the week occur over the course of the Live Eviction episode, with the event also becoming a staple of the show.

About halfway through the game, the evicted HouseGuests become members of the Big Brother Jury, which play a role to vote for the winner of the series between the final two HouseGuests. The members of the Jury are not shown any Diary Room interviews or any footage that may include strategy or details regarding nominations. In seasons 2, all HouseGuests who were evicted except those who either walked or removed from the game are not eligible, but due to a possibility of a tie and an American public vote is decisive, the jury is only eligible for only the nine recently evicted HouseGuests. Once only two HouseGuests remain, the members of the Jury would cast the votes to decide the winner by placing their keys with the name to the slots (versus stating their choice to eliminate, as in all other votes). The winning HouseGuest wins a $500,000 cash prize and the runner-up with $50,000. Members who either walked or removed but was part of the Jury remained as a member but is not allowed to vote, instead the vote is decided by the public.

#### America's Favorite HouseGuest

Introduced in season 7, viewers of *Big Brother* would cast a vote to decide the fan favorite HouseGuest for a cash award of $25,000 on every season. The results are announced following the finale of the respective season.

During the season's debut, the award is only eligible to the *Jury of Seven* (hence the award was called *America's Favorite Juror* or *America's Choice Jury Prize*). The voting percentages were also revealed live each season during the series finale.

## Competitions

### Head of Household (HOH)

The Head of Household competition is held at the beginning of each week and is most often occurred during the live eviction episode. The live Head of Household competitions are typically quiz-based, and will see HouseGuests eliminated in each round. Various competitions throughout the season will be endurance, requiring HouseGuests to be the last one remaining in the competition. Endurance competitions are often held after game changing announcements, such as when a previously evicted HouseGuest returns. Various endurance competitions may have punished or rewarded contestants who either fall off first or last. Skill-based competitions also appear frequently throughout the season, some of which may last for numerous hours.The final Head of Household competition of each season features three rounds; the first is endurance-based, the second is skill-based (often with a memory component), and the final is quiz-based (usually narrated by the Jury members). One of the Head of Household's duties is to nominate two HouseGuests for eviction; in the case of Final three, the Head will instead vote to evict one of the remaining two HouseGuests since these HouseGuests are nominated by default.

### Power of Veto (PoV)

The Power of Veto is a power first introduced in *Big Brother 3*. During its first season, it allowed a nominated HouseGuest to use it on themselves. Following this, the Golden Power of Veto was used in all subsequent seasons. The Diamond Power of Veto, used in *Big Brother 4*, allowed one HouseGuest to remove themselves from the block. as well as choose the replacement nominee only moments before the live eviction.

### Food and luxury

Food and luxury competitions have been a part of the series since it first premiered. In early seasons, the losers of the food competition would be placed on a peanut butter and jelly diet and would not be permitted to eat any other foods.