Big Brother 16 is the sixteenth season of the American reality television series Big Brother. The season premiered on June 25, 2014, with a two-night premiere with the following episode airing on June 26, 2014, broadcast on CBS in the United States and Global in Canada, and ended with a 90-minute season finale on September 24, 2014, after 97 days of competition. Julie Chen returned as host. On September 24, 2014, Derrick Levasseur was crowned the winner defeating Cody Calafiore in a 7–2 jury vote. Donny Thompson was voted as the season's America's Favorite HouseGuest.

Format

The format has changed slightly 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 (HoH) competition, who was formerly guaranteed safety, can now be overthrown due to a new competition called the "Battle of the Block." The two winners of the HoH competition each week will pick two nominees, who then go head-to-head in this competition. The winning team is guaranteed a week of safety and overthrows the HoH who nominated them. The HouseGuests nominated for eviction by the other HoH then become the official nominees for the week. The Battle of the Block twist was retired after Week 8, with only one HouseGuest being awarded HoH and two nominees at all times. The reigning HoH also earns the right to name the "Have-Nots" for the week, forcing the chosen HouseGuests to eat solely "Big Brother slop" along with a weekly food restriction (chosen by the viewing public), take cold showers and sleep on cold beds in a freezer-like bedroom.

Each week, six HouseGuests are selected to compete in the Power of Veto competition: the reigning HoH, their two nominees, and three HouseGuests selected by random draw. The winner of the POV competition wins the right to either revoke the nomination of one of the nominated HouseGuests or leave them as is; if the Veto winner uses this power, the HoH must immediately nominate another HouseGuest for eviction.

On eviction night, all HouseGuests except for the HoH (who is only allowed to vote in the event of a tie and must announce it in front of the other HouseGuests) and the nominees vote to evict one of the two nominees. This compulsory vote is conducted in the privacy of the Diary Room by the host Julie Chen. 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, 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, with the most recent case in Big Brother 14. The last nine evicted HouseGuests 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.

Format changes and additions Battle of the Block In comparison to previous seasons of Big Brother which featured a single Head of Household, this season would involve two Heads of Household throughout part of the season. Each HoH would nominate two other HouseGuests for eviction, totaling four nominees. The two pairs of nominees would then compete in a new competition titled "Battle of the Block". The winning pair would be removed from the block, with the HoH who nominated them dethroned. The dethroned HoH would later be eligible to be nominated after the Power of Veto has been used, while the Battle of the Block winners are safe for the rest of the week. The rest of the cycle would continue as per usual, with the remaining HoH retaining immunity for the week, and the two nominees being eligible for safety through the Power of Veto.

Team America Host Julie Chen introduced "Team America" during the first premiere show. This twist involved three HouseGuests, chosen by public vote, who would form a secret alliance in the house and work together to perform secret missions throughout the season. For every successfully completed mission, each member of the team would receive $5,000. Before the season began, fans were asked to vote for which HouseGuest they would want to form an alliance with, based on short biographies written by the HouseGuests themselves. The HouseGuests with the most votes would become the first member of "Team America," with the winners of this poll being revealed to the viewers on the second night premiere show. Team America was adapted from the "America's Player" twist from Big Brother 8 and Big Brother 10.

On the second night premiere show, Julie announced that Joey was voted by the viewers as the first member of Team America, and that the second member would be revealed on the first live show. On that live show, Joey was evicted and Donny was revealed as the new member of Team America. On the July 9, 2014 episode, it was announced that Derrick and Frankie would join Donny to complete the Team America trio. Throughout the season, the viewing audience was asked to vote between two tasks, one of which would be given to Team America.

It was later revealed that if a member of Team America won the game (in addition to the $500,000 prize), they would receive a bonus $50,000 in addition to their Team America winnings, which was achieved by member Derrick Levasseur, totalling his winnings to $575,000, which included the $5,000 in the Sloppy the Snowman competition where he opted for the 5,000 dollas and 5,000 hollas prize instead of winning the competition.

HouseGuests

Name Age on entry Occupation Residence Day entered Result 30 Police sergeant Providence, Rhode Island1 WinnerDay 97 23 Sales account executive Howell, New Jersey Day 97 22 Photographer Weston, Florida 26 Adventure hunting guide Hopkinsville, Kentucky 31 YouTube personality New York, New York 23 Barista Tucson, Arizona 21Nursing graduateUbly, Michigan 63 1 42 Groundskeeper Albemarle, North Carolina 23 Unemployed Palm Beach, Florida 21 Pedicab driver Long Beach, California 33 Minister Lovejoy, Georgia 26 Esthetician North Hollywood, California 29 Event coordinator Torrance, California 26 Motorcycle sales manager San Antonio, Texas 27 DJ Astoria, New York 27 Make-up artist Seattle, Washington

Future appearances In 2015, Caleb Reynolds made an appearance on Big Brother 17 to host the final Power of Veto competition.

In 2016, Nicole Franzel returned to compete as one of "four stowaways" on Big Brother 18. That same year, Frankie Grande went on to become a housemate on Celebrity Big Brother 18 in the UK.

In 2017, Nicole Franzel hosted the first Head of Household competition on Big Brother 19. Derrick Levasseur also returned that season to host an HOH competition.

In 2018, Nicole Franzel appeared on Big Brother 20, to be surprised by fellow Big Brother 18 HouseGuest Victor Arroyo with a marriage proposal, which she accepted, and then celebrated her engagement along with Derrick Levasseur and other alumni from the show; Derrick would appear again that season to share his thoughts.

In 2020, both Nicole Franzel and Cody Calafiore returned to compete on Big Brother: All-Stars.

In 2023, Frankie Grande made brief appearances in the premiere and finale episodes of Big Brother 25. Later that year, Grande competed with Cody Calafiore & Nicole Franzel on the holiday spinoff, Big Brother Reindeer Games.

In 2024, Derrick Levasseur made an appearance on Big Brother 26 to broadcast messages to the final three houseguests.

In 2025, Grande made an appearance on Big Brother 27.

Outside Big Brother Caleb Reynolds competed on Survivor: Kaôh Rōng and Survivor: Game Changers.

In 2018, Caleb Reynolds appeared on MTV's Fear Factor with Cody Calafiore & Zach Rance.

In 2019, Nicole Franzel competed on The Amazing Race 31 with Victor Arroyo from big brother season 18.

In 2021, Amber Borzotra started competing on The Challenge, appearing on Double Agents, Spies, Lies, & Allies, and Ride or Dies.

In 2023, Cody Calafiore competed on the first season of Peacock's reality TV series The Traitors. Later that year, Amber Borzotra competed on The Challenge: World Championship.

In 2025, Derrick Levasseur competed on the third season of The Traitors. Later that year, Amber Borzotra competed on the fifth season of The Challenge: All Stars.

Summary Day 1, Julie introduced eight of the sixteen HouseGuests who moved into the house first. They were Paola, Donny, Cody, Frankie, Amber, Nicole, Devin, and Joey. Paola and Devin made an eight-person alliance called "The Crazy 8's" against the others who would enter soon. Paola flirted with Cody to get him as an ally. Devin made a side alliance with Donny, calling themselves the "Double-Ds." The four girls formed an "El Cuatro" alliance after Amber and Paola were adamant about a female winning this season. Later, the eight HouseGuests competed in the first HoH competition: Go Fly a Kite. The goal was to balance on a rotating log while trying to keep a kite from crushing a sand castle. Frankie won and became the first HoH. Julie told the first eight HouseGuests that when the other eight arrived, another HoH would also reign and that neither HoH would be safe yet. Following this announcement, Julie informed the viewing public that three HouseGuests ("Team America") would be chosen by poll and given tasks by the American public. Upon the successful completion of each task, the Team America members would receive $5,000 apiece.

Later on Day 1, the remaining eight HouseGuests moved in. These were Victoria, Caleb, Brittany, Christine, Derrick, Zach, Jocasta, and Hayden. The second group's HoH competition was Over the Coals. The goal was to be the last one to hold on to a large rotating stiff. The girls quickly fell, with Zach and Derrick soon following. Caleb won and became the second HoH. Julie informed the HouseGuests of how the dual-HoH twist would work: Frankie and Caleb would make separate nominations, meaning a total of four nominees on the block. Following the nominations, those four would compete as duos in the Battle of the Block competition. The duo that won the competition would be removed from the block and immune from being named the replacement nominee, while the HoH who nominated them would be dethroned and eligible to be the replacement nominee; meaning that the outgoing HOH could go from being HOH to being evicted within a week for the first time ever.

After the HoH rooms were revealed, Caleb and Frankie strategized. They decided to form an all-guy alliance with Devin, Derrick, Cody, and Zach called the "Bomb Squad." Elsewhere, Christine and Nicole hit it off and formed an alliance of their own. Wanting to balance out the all-male alliance and have the numbers on their side, Devin told Amber and Christine about the Bomb Squad and, without the alliance's supervision, made them members of the alliance, making his allies skeptical of his gameplay. They were also concerned with Devin's paranoia after he suggested that Donny was an intimidating force to be reckoned with. Frankie thought it would be best to nominate the people who fell off first during the HoH competitions. Caleb and Frankie agreed to each nominate two people from the group they did not enter with to avoid bringing attention to themselves. Caleb made his nominations first: Donny and Paola. Despite having formed a bond with Victoria, Frankie nominated her along with Brittany for being the first two who fell during their HoH competition.