Big Brother 19 is the nineteenth season of the American reality television series Big Brother. The season featured a temptation theme. It premiered on June 28, 2017, with a 2-hour season premiere, broadcast on CBS in the United States and Global in Canada, and ended with a 2-hour season finale on September 20, 2017, after 92 days of competition. Julie Chen returned as host. On September 20, 2017, Josh Martinez was crowned the winner defeating season 18 runner-up Paul Abrahamian in a 5-4 jury vote, earning the latter the distinction of being the first person to receive the runner-up prize two years consecutively. Cody Nickson was voted as the season's America's Favorite HouseGuest.
The season received negative reviews and sparked numerous controversies over bullying, racism, rape jokes, transphobia, and inappropriate behavior exhibited by a few of the HouseGuests. It is considered to be one of the worst seasons in the show's history.
Format Big Brother follows a group of contestants, known as HouseGuests, who live inside a custom-built house outfitted with cameras and microphones recording their every move 24 hours a day. The HouseGuests are sequestered with no contact with the outside world. During their stay, the HouseGuests share their thoughts on their day-to-day lives inside the house in a private room known as the Diary Room. Each week, the HouseGuests compete in competitions in order to win power and safety inside the house. At the start of each week, the HouseGuests compete in a Head of Household (abbreviated as "HOH") competition. The winner of the HoH competition is immune from eviction and selects two HouseGuests to be nominated for eviction. Six HouseGuests are then selected to compete in the Power of Veto (abbreviated as "PoV") competition: the reigning HoH, the nominees, and three other HouseGuests chosen by random draw. The winner of the PoV competition has 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. The PoV winner is also immune from being named as the replacement nominee. On eviction night, all HouseGuests vote to evict one of the nominees, though the Head of Household and the nominees are not allowed to vote. This vote is conducted in the privacy of the Diary Room. In the event of a tie, the Head of Household casts the tie-breaking vote. The nominee with the most votes is evicted from the house. The last nine evicted HouseGuests comprise the Jury and are sequestered in a separate location following their eviction and ultimately decide the winner of the season. The Jury is only allowed to see the competitions and ceremonies that include all of the remaining HouseGuests; they are not shown any interviews or other footage that might include strategy or details regarding nominations. The viewing public is able to award an additional prize of by choosing "America's Favorite HouseGuest". All evicted HouseGuests are eligible to win this award except for those who either voluntarily leave or are forcibly removed for rule violations.
Format changes and additions Changes to the main format known as twists occur during the course of the season that will impact the lives of the House Guests during their time in the House. The twists for this season center around the theme of temptation where the House Guests will be tempted with money, power or safety during their stay. Each temptation however will come with a consequence that will impact the entire House. The overall main twist is being billed by the program as "The Summer of Temptation" for this reason.
Standard Temptations During the season premiere the House Guests were presented with the first temptation of the season, in which each new House Guest had a chance to secretly win $25,000. Kevin Schlehuber was the quickest to claim the monetary prize, resulting in two different consequences. The first consequence was personal: Kevin was not allowed to win the first Head of Household competition; to keep his winning a secret, he had to throw (intentionally lose) the competition.
The second consequence unleashed a major twist on the House called the "BB Swap." This resulted in Paul Abrahamian, runner-up from the previous season, entering the House as a full House Guest eligible to win by taking the place of an original House Guest. Shortly after entering Paul was given nine friendship bracelets which gave immunity from the first eviction. Paul was instructed to take one for themselves and give the remaining eight friendship bracelets to the House Guests that did a good job tempting them. The remaining eight House Guests took part in a competition for safety which resulted in Cameron, Christmas, and Jillian being nominated for eviction. The three nominees were given the power to choose how their fate would be determined. The nominees had a choice of a competition or a house eviction vote. Only Cameron chose to have a competition; shortly after, the House Guests voted to evict Cameron from the House.
The following temptation would be during the second Week 1 HOH competition. During the competition, a golden apple appeared that would guarantee safety for the person who grabbed it, but would eliminate the team from the competition. Josh took the temptation, eliminating his team from the HOH competition. In the Week 1 Power of Veto competition, the first House Guest to find a gold starfish and place it on their shelf would earn a Never-Not pass, meaning they cannot be a Have-Not for the rest of the season with the consequence of eliminating themselves from the competition. Raven took the temptation.
Battle Back Showdown Instead of permanent eviction, the first four evicted House Guests received a chance to return to the game. Unlike last season, this showdown was done in playoff style. They will participate in a 3-Round-Battle in order to gain their spot back in the house. The first competition "Maze Race" will eliminate the bottom two finishers, permanently eliminating them from the game. Dominique and Jillian lost the competition to Cody and Cameron respectively; The second Competition between Cody and Cameron determined which of the first four evicted House Guests will be the last one standing and battle one of the House Guests in the house for a chance to get back to the house. If the evicted House Guest wins against the current House Guest, the remaining evictee will have a second chance to re-enter the house. However, if the current House Guest defeats the returning evictee, no one will be returning to the house effectively blocking the Battle Back. The House Guests unanimously voted to choose Paul to battle Cody in the final competition. Cody chose "Maze Race" as the final competition. Cody won and re-entered the house on Day 30. All three duels aired in a special episode on July 21. Round Winner(s) Loser(s) 1 Cody, Cameron Dominique, Jillian 2 Cody Cameron 3 Cody Paul
Den of Temptation During the first three weeks of the season, the viewing public voted for a HouseGuest to secretly enter a room called the Den of Temptation. The temptation inside could provide an advantage in the game, but also came with a consequence. The public's chosen HouseGuest could choose to accept the temptation or reject it completely. Each HouseGuest could only be chosen to enter the Den once during their time in the House.
No. Temptation Consequence HouseGuest Consequence Recipient Result 1 Pendant of ProtectionThe HouseGuest will be immune from the next three evictions. The HouseGuest must pick a poison that is tied to another HouseGuest. The HouseGuest whose poison was chosen is now "cursed" and must volunteer to be a third nominee for eviction once over the next three weeks. Paul Ramses Accepted 2 Ring of ReplacementThe HouseGuest will have the power to swap with one of the randomly drawn players in the Power of Veto competition and take their place. The HouseGuest must choose three HouseGuests to wear "Ve-Toad" costumes for the rest of the week.ChristmasCody,Jason,Jessica Accepted 3 Halting HexThe HouseGuest will have the power to cancel one of the next four evictions. The Temptation Competition will be unleashed over the next three weeks. Jessica All HouseGuests Accepted
Temptation Competition Due to Jessica accepting the final temptation, the Temptation Competition was unleashed over the next three weeks. Prior to nominations, HouseGuests (except for the current Head of Household) could decide if they wanted to compete in this competition or not. The winner of the Temptation Competition would receive immunity for the week; however, the HouseGuest who finished last in the competition would automatically become a 3rd nominee. Week Competitors Winner Loser 5 Alex, Jason, Mark, Matt Mark Jason 6 Alex, Cody, Elena, Jason, Jessica, Kevin, Mark, Matt, Paul, Raven Cody Jessica 7 Cody, Elena, Jason, Josh, Kevin, Mark, Matt, Paul, Raven Mark Matt
Tree of Temptation After Cody and Elena's eviction, Julie revealed a new twist into the game, unleashing five possible temptations for HouseGuests to select over the next three weeks. These temptations included powers and punishments. When the apple tree turned red, the first HouseGuest to enter the Diary Room got to claim a temptation from the apple tree. Once a HouseGuest claimed an apple, they were not eligible for another temptation.
The 5 available temptations were Save a Friend, Can't Play in Next HOH, Second Veto, Bounty on Your Head, and Eliminate two Eviction Votes.
Week Name Description Picker Result 8 The holder can award immunity to another HouseGuest for the week. Mark Paul 9 10
HouseGuests
The House Guests were announced on Monday, June 19 at 6 AM PDT through the CBS website. Interviews with the cast were released at 8 AM PDT on CBS All Access. The cast includes season 18 HouseGuest Paul Abrahamian. Name Age on entry Occupation Residence Day entered Result 23 Haircare sales Homestead, Florida 1 WinnerDay 92 Big Brother 18 24 Clothing designer Tarzana, California Day 92 35 Fitness superstar Raleigh, North Carolina 55 Stay-at-home dad Boston, Massachusetts 28 Eco-friendly marketing representative Camarillo, California 23 Dance teacher 37 Rodeo clown Humeston, Iowa 33 Renovation consultant Arlington, Virginia 26 Personal trainer Grand Island, New York 26 Radio personality Dallas, Texas 32 Construction sales representative Plano, Texas 30 1 26 VIP concierge Los Angeles, California 21 Cosplay artist 30 Government engineer Woodbridge, Virginia 24 Timeshare sales representative Las Vegas, Nevada 28 Dog walker Phoenix, Arizona WalkedDay 8 24 Microbiologist Woodridge, Illinois
Future appearances In 2018, Jessica Graf and Cody Nickson competed on The Amazing Race 30. Shortly after, Paul Abrahamian also appeared alongside Graf and Nickson in a cameo appearance on the series premiere of Celebrity Big Brother during the first HoH competition of the season. Graf and Nickson appeared on Big Brother 20 to host a Power of Veto competition. Abrahamian also appeared alongside Josh Martinez to celebrate Nicole Franzel and Victor Arroyo's engagement. Graf, Martinez, and Nickson all made an appearance in the fifth episode of Off the Block with Ross and Marissa.
In 2019, Josh Martinez competed on The Challenge: War of the Worlds and The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2. Elena Davies and Mark Jansen appeared on the third season of Ex on the Beach.
In 2020, Martinez competed on The Challenge: Total Madness and The Challenge: Double Agents. Christmas Abbott returned to compete for a second time on Big Brother: All-Stars.
In 2021, Martinez competed on The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies, thus being the first contestant from Big Brother to compete on five consecutive seasons of The Challenge.