Big Brother 15 is the fifteenth season of the American reality television series Big Brother. The season premiered on June 26, 2013, broadcast on CBS and Global in Canada, and ended with a 90-minute season finale on September 18, 2013, after 90 days of competition. Julie Chen returned as host. On September 18, 2013, Andy Herren was crowned the winner defeating GinaMarie Zimmerman in a 7-2 jury vote. Elissa Slater was voted as the season's America's Favorite HouseGuest.
This season was the last to be broadcast on 4:3 standard definition and would be broadcast on high-definition television in the future.
Format
The format remains largely unchanged from previous seasons. The contestants, who are referred to as "HouseGuests", are sequestered in the Big Brother House with no contact to or from the outside world. Each week, the HouseGuests take part in several compulsory challenges that determine who will win food, luxuries, and power in the House. The winner of the weekly Head of Household competition is guaranteed a week of safety and nominates two fellow HouseGuests for eviction. After a HouseGuest becomes Head of Household, he or she is ineligible to take part in the next Head of Household competition. HouseGuests usually also take part in weekly Have vs. Have-Not competitions in which they are divided into either the "Haves" or the "Have-Nots" depending on their performance in the competition. HouseGuests that become "Have-Nots" for the week have to eat "Big Brother slop" along with a weekly food restriction (chosen by the viewing public), take cold showers, and sleep on beds that look like airplane seats. The winner of the Power of Veto competition wins the right to revoke the nomination of one of the nominated HouseGuests. If the Veto winner uses this power, the person (Head of Household or M.V.P.) who nominated the vetoed player must immediately nominate another HouseGuest for eviction.
On eviction night, all HouseGuests except for the Head of Household and the nominees vote to evict one of the three nominees. This compulsory vote is conducted in the privacy of the Diary Room by the host Julie Chen. In the event of a tie, the Head of Household casts the deciding vote, announcing it in front of the other HouseGuests. Unlike most other versions of Big Brother, the HouseGuests may discuss the nomination and eviction process openly and freely. The nominee with the greatest number of votes will be evicted from the House on the weekly live broadcast, exiting to an adjacent studio to be interviewed by Chen, after which the cycle begins again. HouseGuests may voluntarily leave the House at any time and those who break the rules may be expelled from the house by Big Brother. The final nine HouseGuests evicted during the season will vote for the winner on the season finale. These "Jury Members" will be sequestered in a separate house and will not be allowed to watch the show except for competitions and ceremonies that include all of the remaining HouseGuests. The jury members will not be shown any Diary Room interviews or any footage that may include strategy or details regarding nominations. Whereas in past seasons, the Jury consisted of the last seven evicted HouseGuests, this season increased the number of jurors to nine.
In a twist this season, one HouseGuest each week (ostensibly the one who is playing the "best game") is secretly chosen by the viewing public to be the "Big Brother M.V.P.". In the privacy of the Diary Room, this person nominates a third person to face eviction for the week; the choice is revealed to the remaining HouseGuests just prior to choosing players for the upcoming Veto competition. The identity of the week's M.V.P. is not told to the remaining HouseGuests; it is up to the M.V.P. to decide whether or not to divulge this information. In a further twist and unbeknownst to the HouseGuests, during weeks four, five, and six, the viewers chose the third nominee.
HouseGuests
Name Age on entry Occupation Residence Day entered Result 26 Professor Chicago, Illinois1 WinnerDay 90 32 Pageant coordinator New Dorp, New York Day 90 31 Train conductor Conway, Arkansas 23 Pizza delivery boy Oak Grove, Minnesota 26Property appraiserEtowah, Tennessee 63 1 27 Nutritionist Kannapolis, North Carolina 28 Real estate broker Boynton Beach, Florida 22 College student San Marcos, Texas 37 Political consultant Chicago, Illinois 25 Unemployed San Antonio, Texas 29 Pediatric speech therapist Houston, Texas 29 Youth counselor Hattiesburg, Mississippi 23 Bartender Minneapolis, Minnesota 23 Boat shop associate Katy, Texas 28 Entrepreneur New York, New York 25 Lifeguard San Diego, California
Future appearances Nick Uhas appeared on season 12 of America's Got Talent. He advanced past the initial audition stage, but was ultimately eliminated before the live shows. In 2019, Uhas became the host of the Netflix reality series Blown Away. Elissa Slater competed on The Amazing Race 31 alongside her sister (and former Big Brother winner) Rachel Reilly.
Summary On Day 1, the original sixteen HouseGuests entered the house. Shortly after introductions, Howard, Jeremy, and Spencer quickly formed the first alliance of the season. Jeremy also formed an alliance with David and Jessie minutes later. The HouseGuests were later called to the living room, and learned that there would be a total of three nominations each week, though it was confirmed that the Head of Household would only nominate two of these nominees for eviction. Following this news, HouseGuests competed in the "Popsicle Factory" Head of Household competition. For this competition, the HouseGuests hung onto a fake Popsicle suspended in the air while being sprayed with colored water; the last HouseGuest remaining would be the first Head of Household. McCrae was the winner. Jeremy accepted a "temptation" to leave the Head of Household competition, winning a "Never-Not pass" that guarantees he will never be a "Have-Not" while in the game. Nick, the last HouseGuest remaining in the competition with McCrae, made a deal with McCrae for safety in exchange for dropping out of the Head of Household competition; McCrae agreed to the deal. Returning inside, the HouseGuests learned of the M.V.P. twist, in which, each week, the viewers would vote to give one HouseGuest a special power of selecting the third nominee. The winner of this power could choose to share it with their fellow HouseGuests or leave it a secret.
Following these events, Howard, Jeremy, McCrae, Nick, and Spencer formed the "Moving Company" alliance. HouseGuests later split into three teams to compete in the "Cooler and the Gang" Have-Not competition. For this competition, HouseGuests were required to swim across the backyard and grab cans in an attempt to stack them in the shape of a pyramid; while a HouseGuest was doing this, their teammates were required to hold the cans up on a stand, and were required to start over if their pyramid fell. The team of Andy, Elissa, Helen, Howard, and Judd were the Have-Nots for the week. On Day 5, McCrae nominated Candice and Jessie for eviction, feeling as though they were the least liked people in the house. Despite this, McCrae and his alliance hoped to backdoor Elissa, fearing her due to her relation to Rachel Reilly. Elissa later became the first "Big Brother M.V.P." of the season. On Day 7, Elissa nominated David for eviction. When picking players for the Power of Veto competition, Elissa and Howard were selected to compete. That night, HouseGuests competed in the "Big Brother Baking Competition" Power of Veto competition. For this competition, HouseGuests were required to crawl through a pool of honey to get to various blueberries. HouseGuests had to pop the blueberries to find the letters inside, and then attempted to spell the biggest word with the letters they found; the HouseGuest with the longest, correctly spelled word would win the Power of Veto. McCrae was the winner of the Power of Veto. On Day 9, McCrae used the Power of Veto to remove Candice from the block, and chose to nominate Elissa in her place. Despite this, a plan was set in motion by Amanda, McCrae, Andy, Judd, Spencer, Helen, Nick, and Howard to keep Elissa in the game and evict David. On Day 13, David became the first HouseGuest to be evicted from the house when he received a total of seven eviction votes (7-5-0).
Following David's eviction, HouseGuests competed in the "Big Brother BBQ" Head of Household competition. For this competition, HouseGuests competed as partners to transfer barbecue sauce from one side of the backyard to the other in an attempt to fill up a bowl and retrieve a ball inside; the first duo to retrieve their ball would be the winners, and would decide which of the pair would be the Head of Household. Aaryn and Jeremy were the winning couple, choosing Aaryn as the new Head of Household. She immediately had to choose four HouseGuests to be the Have-Nots for the week: Andy, Candice, Elissa, and Helen. On Day 15, Aaryn nominated Elissa and Helen for eviction, with Elissa being her main target. Elissa later learned that she had been selected to be the "M.V.P." for the second week in a row. On Day 16, Elissa nominated Jeremy for eviction. When picking players for the Power of Veto competition, Amanda and Nick were selected to compete; GinaMarie was selected to host. That night, HouseGuests competed in the "In the Balance" Power of Veto competition. Jeremy was the winner of the Power of Veto. On Day 18, Jeremy used the Power of Veto on himself, with Elissa nominating Nick in his place. Following this, Amanda and Helen campaigned to save Elissa, opting rather to evict Nick. McCrae, upset with the Moving Company alliance for attempting to turn him against Amanda, later agreed to keep Elissa in the house. On Day 21, the HouseGuests evicted Nick by a vote of 7–4–0.