Big Brother 5 is the fifth season of the American reality television series Big Brother. It is based upon the Dutch series of the same name, which gained notoriety in 1999 and 2000. The season premiered on CBS on July 6, 2004, and lasted eleven weeks until the live finale on September 21, 2004. This season was the first to be accompanied by the House Calls: The Big Brother Talk Show spin-off series, which was viewable online and discussed the events of the game. The fifth season continued to have the ratings success of the previous season, averaging more than eight million viewers per episode. The Big Brother 5 premiere garnered 9.55 million viewers, almost matching that of the previous season's launch night. Ratings stayed gradually the same, with the finale receiving more than 10 million viewers. The season premiere currently has the third highest ratings for a premiere episode, only behind Big Brother 1 and Big Brother 4. Big Brother 5 featured a total of 14 HouseGuests, an increase from previous editions. The series ended after 82 days, in which HouseGuest Drew Daniel was crowned the Winner, and Michael Ellis the Runner-Up.

Format The format remained largely unchanged from previous seasons. HouseGuests were sequestered in the Big Brother House with no contact to and from the outside world. Each week, the HouseGuests took part in several compulsory challenges that determined who would win food, luxuries, and power in the House. The winner of the Head of Household competition was immune from nominations and was instructed to nominate two fellow HouseGuests for eviction. After a HouseGuest became Head of Household he or she was ineligible to take part in the next Head of Household competition. HouseGuests also took part in a weekly food competition, with the losing team being placed on the peanut butter and jelly diet for a week. Some competitions allowed all HouseGuests to earn food for the week, while others cause them all to lose food for the week. The winner of the Power of Veto competition won the right to save one of the nominated HouseGuests from eviction. If the Veto winner exercised the power, the Head of Household then had to nominate another HouseGuest for eviction.

On eviction night all HouseGuests except for the Head of Household and the two nominees voted to evict one of the two nominees. Before the voting began the nominees had the chance to record a final message to their fellow HouseGuests. This compulsory vote was conducted in the privacy of the Diary Room by the host Julie Chen. In the event of a tie, the Head of Household would break the tie and reveal their vote in front of the other HouseGuests. Unlike other versions of Big Brother, the HouseGuests could discuss the nomination and eviction process open and freely. The nominee with the most votes from the other HouseGuests was evicted from the House on Thursday and interviewed by Julie Chen. HouseGuests could voluntarily leave the House at any time and those who broke the rules were expelled by Big Brother. The last seven evictees of the season, known as the jury members, voted for the winner on the season finale. The jury members were sequestered in a separate house and were not allowed to watch the show except for segments that included all of the HouseGuests. The jury members were not shown any Diary Room interviews or any footage that included strategy or details regarding nominations.

The season's main theme was titled "Project Do Not Assume", or "Project DNA" for short, and was incorporated through two twists. The first of these twists were that HouseGuests Michael "Cowboy" Ellis and Jennifer "Nakomis" Dedmon were, unbeknownst to them, half-siblings. The two share the same father, whom Ellis had never met. Ellis quickly figured out the twist, and Big Brother later gave the two letters from home explaining the situation. This twist had no impact on the format of the game, other than the personal implications that arise with the situation. The second twist was that a set of twins were switching spots in the house, with the goal of making it to the fifth week. If they succeeded this without getting caught, they would both be eligible to play as individuals. The twins, Adria and Natalie, both played as Adria, and would switch places at various times in the Diary Room. The sisters succeeded in the task, and Natalie entered the game on Day 35. This twist was later implemented in Big Brother 17. This was also the first season to feature a Fast Forward Week (later seasons were called "double eviction" week), where two HouseGuests were evicted in the span of one week with a second HoH and Veto competitions played concurrently during the remainder of the live show. Additionally, this is the first season in which only six people participated in the Power of Veto Competition: the Head Of Household, the two nominees, and three other players selected by the previously mentioned three's choosing.

HouseGuests

Name Age Occupation Residence Entry Result 22 College graduate Urbana, Ohio Day 1 WinnerDay 82 23 Security officer Durant, Oklahoma Day 82 22 Cocktail waitress Burlington, Kentucky 21 Waitress San Antonio, Texas 30 Portrait artist Saddle Brook, New Jersey 36 Mortician Conway, South Carolina 30 Fitness professional Birmingham, Alabama 30 Fitness professional Birmingham, Alabama 25 Registered nurse Tupelo, Mississippi Day 1 28 Volunteer firefighter Decatur, Illinois 24 Sales representative Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 26 Model Los Angeles, California 26 Yoga instructor Boston, Massachusetts 41 Painter Eastpointe, Michigan

Future appearances Holly King appeared on Big Brother 6 to host a Power of Veto competition. Diane Henry, Jennifer "Nakomis" Dedmon, and Jase Wirey all returned to compete on Big Brother: All-Stars in 2006. Michael "Cowboy" Ellis was a candidate to return for Big Brother: All Stars, but ultimately was not chosen. Marvin Latimer and Scott Long returned to Big Brother: All Stars to participate in various competitions as well. Jase later made an appearance on Big Brother 10 to participate in a food competition. Michael was also a candidate to return for Big Brother 11 in 2009, but ultimately did not enter the game. Jase Wirey was one of four international Big Brother alumni up for a public vote to compete in the fourth season of Big Brother Canada but was not selected.

Summary On Day 1, the original thirteen HouseGuests entered the house. That same night, the HouseGuests competed as a group in the "Hungry Hungry Helix" food competition. For this competition, HouseGuests had 75 seconds to crawl through a rotating helix DNA strand with small yellow balls attached to it. Each ball had the name of a food item on it, and each ball they managed to get across the helix would serve as an eatable food for that week; everyone except Holly successfully earned food for the group. During the competition, Lori obtained the "lobster tail" ball, which she was later instructed to keep. For finding this ball, Lori was offered $10,000 in exchange for putting the house on the peanut butter and jelly diet for the week; she accepted this offer, earning the prize. On Day 2, Drew, Jase, Michael, and Scott formed the "Four Hoursemen" alliance. That same day, Karen, Lori, and Will formed an alliance as they feared Jase and Scott as a duo. Michael later discovered that Nakomis was his sister, but chose not to reveal this to anyone yet. That night, HouseGuests competed in the "Treadmills of Terror" Head of Household competition. HouseGuests paired up, with one member of the team answering questions while the other walked on a treadmill. Each question that a HouseGuest's partner missed caused their treadmill to speed up, and the last pair remaining would be finalists for the title. Due to an uneven number of HouseGuests, Will chose to sit out from the competition. Jase and Scott were the finalists, and it was then revealed that Will would ask them a tie-breaker question to determine the winner; Jase correctly answered, and became the first Head of Household of the season.

Shortly after the competition, Michael revealed to Jase and Scott that Nakomis was his sister, and they convinced him to tell her. Big Brother revealed the twist to all of the HouseGuests later that night. On Day 4, the HouseGuests competed in the "Margarita Madness" luxury competition, in which they competed for the hot tub. HouseGuests worked together to build an oversized margarita, and if they completed the task within ten minutes they would earn the hot tub and a margarita party; they were successful, and earned both luxuries. Mike later began attempting to form an alliance to "protect themselves" from the stronger players. On Day 6, Jase chose to nominate Mike and Nakomis for eviction, with Mike as his main target. On Day 8, the HouseGuests competed in the Power of Veto competition; Jase chose Scott to play in the competition, with Mike and Nakomis choosing Holly and Drew respectively. In the "Flaringo Toss" Power of Veto competition, HouseGuests attempted to make their hoola hoops land on a decorative flamingo in the backyard. They would then receive a score depending on the area where their flamingo landed. The thrower would then challenge another player. If that player got a higher score, the challenger was eliminated, and if they failed to match the score, they were eliminated. If the two tied, both remained in the game. Ultimately, Scott won the Power of Veto. On Day 10, he chose to leave nominations intact. On Day 14, Mike became the first HouseGuest to be evicted from the house in a unanimous vote of ten to zero.

Following Mike's eviction, HouseGuests competed in the "Majority Rules" Head of Household competition. For this competition, players had to answer questions while attempting to remain in the majority. If they answered outside of the majority, they were eliminated. When it came down to Holly, Lori, Marvin, and Michael, Marvin correctly answered the tie-breaker question, thus became the new Head of Household. On Day 15, HouseGuests competed in the "Catapoultry" food competition. For this competition, HouseGuests found the backyard had been turned into a barnyard. They would try and shoot rubber chickens into various "nests" representing food items lined up on the wall. If a chicken landed in a nest, they would earn those food items for the week. There was also a space, the "bad egg", in which landing a chicken in it would result in the house losing all of the obtained food items. Will landed a chicken in this spot, though they managed to gain some food back. Later that day, Marvin chose to nominate Holly and Lori for eviction, citing them as two of the most influential players in the game. Following these nominations, Lori's allies secured the five votes they needed for her to stay in the game. When picking players for the Veto, Marvin chose Drew, Holly chose Jase, and Lori chose Karen. The group then competed in the "Snag the Veto" Power of Veto competition. For this competition, HouseGuests had to untangle a rope and successfully pull a Veto symbol out of the tangled rope. Jase was the first to complete the task, narrowly beating Lori, and he earned the Power of Veto for the week. On Day 18, Jase chose to use the Power of Veto on Holly, with Karen being nominated in her place. On Day 21, Lori became the second HouseGuest to be evicted from the house in a vote of seven to two.