Big Brother 6 is the sixth 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 7, 2005, and lasted eleven weeks until the live finale on September 20, 2005. This season was the second 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 sixth season saw a moderate decline in ratings. The season premiered to a total of 8.47 million viewers, the lowest premiere numbers since 2001. Though the finale had a total of ten million viewers, the series averaged 7.24 million viewers, a series low at the time. Big Brother 6 featured a total of 14 HouseGuests, the same number that was featured in the previous season. This was the highest number of initial HouseGuests to enter the house, due to the twin twist the previous season. The series ended after 80 days, in which HouseGuest Maggie Ausburn was crowned the Winner, and Ivette Corredero 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. In a minor format twist exclusive to this season, the HouseGuests were told that some Veto Competitions would possibly result in no winner, and no veto power being held. This did not eventuate in an impactful way, as all Veto Competitions were won.https://youtube.com/WwsUvV3E3dU?feature=shared&t=1579
On eviction night, all HouseGuests except for the Head of Household and the two nominees voted to evict one of the two nominees. This compulsory vote was conducted in the privacy of the Diary Room. 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.
Aside from the usual format, various changes were made for Big Brother 6. The main change was that each HouseGuest had a secret partner in the game. Unlike in Big Brother 9, the partners each competed as individuals, were nominated as individuals, and were evicted as individuals. The partners in the game had pre-existing relationships. April and Jennifer were sorority sisters, Ashlea and Janelle were former roommates, Beau and Ivette were former co-workers, Eric and Maggie are friends, as are Howie and Rachel, and Kaysar and Michael are neighbors.http://www.realityreel.net/news-realitytv-article-1310.htm James was originally supposed to bring his friend Mike into the house as his secret partner, but Mike dropped out last minute without even telling James. James then picked his girlfriend, Sarah, to be his secret partner. Initially, each secret pair thought that they were the only secret pair. If both members of a secret pair reached the final two, the game's winner would receive a prize of $1 million, while the runner-up would receive $250,000. Despite this, the HouseGuests quickly figured it out, and host Julie Chen officially confirmed the twist minutes after the third live eviction.
HouseGuests Name Age Occupation Residence Secretpartner Entry Result 26 Emergency room nurse Las Vegas, Nevada Eric Day 1 WinnerDay 80 25 Waitress Miami, Florida Beau Day 80 25 VIP cocktail waitress Miami Beach, Florida Ashlea 30 Pharmaceutical sales representative Dallas, Texas Jennifer 34 Meteorology student Chicago, Illinois Rachel 25 Personal shopper Pembroke Pines, Florida Ivette 29 Loss prevention manager Miami, Florida Sarah 33 Horse breeder Parker, Colorado Howie 27 Arena football league dancer Plano, Texas April 24Graphic designerIrvine, CaliforniaMichael Day 1 23 Retail manager Chicago, Illinois James 36 Firefighter Boston, Massachusetts Maggie 28 Artist Orange County, California Kaysar 22 Fashion design student Plantation, Florida Janelle
Future appearances Janelle Pierzina, James Rhine, Howie Gordon, and Kaysar Ridha returned to compete on Big Brother: All-Stars in 2006. Ivette Corredero was a candidate to return for that season, but ultimately was not selected. April Lewis and Eric Littman also made appearances that season during competitions. Janelle went on to make brief appearances in seasons eight, ten, and eleven. Janelle returned as a coach in 2012 for Big Brother 14. Janelle competed on The Amazing Race 31 with Britney Haynes Godwin (from Big Brother 12). In 2020, Janelle and Kaysar returned to compete on Big Brother 22. In 2022, Janelle was a contestant on the USA Network reality competition series, Snake in the Grass. She also went to compete on the second season of The Traitors.
Summary On Day 1, the original fourteen HouseGuests entered the house. This season featured a total of eight women and six men, making it the only season to feature more female than male HouseGuests. That same night, the HouseGuests competed in the "Wipe Out" food competition. For this competition, HouseGuests split into two groups of seven, with each team standing on a surfboard in the center of a large pool. The people in the back of the surfboard were required to grab coconuts and get them to the front, while the person in the front attempts to throw the coconuts into a goal. The team with the most points at the end of the competition would be the winners, and would advance to the Head of Household competition. The team of Ashlea, Beau, Eric, Ivette, Jennifer, Kaysar, and Michael were placed on the peanut butter and jelly diet, and were not eligible to compete for Head of Household. The winning team then learned they would compete for the title of Head of Household by standing on their surfboard for the longest time. HouseGuests were not permitted to step off of the surfboard for any reason, otherwise they would be eliminated from the competition. While on the board, the seven players made a deal to not nominate one another. Ultimately, the group allowed Rachel to become the first Head of Household of the season after a two and a half hour competition. Shortly afterwards, Eric, James, Kaysar, and Michael made a deal to keep each other safe due to the larger number of women than men in the house.
On Day 3, Rachel chose to nominate Ashlea and Kaysar for eviction. While looking at the spy screen in the Head of Household bedroom, Rachel discovered that there was a secret room in the house. Following an extensive search with numerous hints, Rachel found the new bedroom, which included a key to the hot tub. Also included were three locked safes, which the HouseGuests did not have a key for yet. When picking players for the Power of Veto competition, Rachel selected Maggie, while Kaysar selected Eric and Ashlea chose Howie; Ivette was selected to host the competition. On Day 7, the HouseGuests competed in the "Rec-Tangled" Power of Veto competition. For this competition, HouseGuests were teamed up with the HouseGuest they selected to participate, and had to unravel a Power of Veto symbol from a string of tangled knots. The first member of the team to grab the Veto symbol and place it on a pole would be the winner of the competition. Ultimately, Rachel was the winner of the Power of Veto. When she found Jennifer in her bedroom, Rachel debated removing Ashlea from the block and replacing her with Jennifer; however, she ultimately chose to leave the nominations intact. On Day 12, Ashlea became the first HouseGuest to be evicted from the house in a vote of nine to two.
Following Ashlea's eviction, HouseGuests competed in the "Fast & Easy" Head of Household competition. For this competition, HouseGuests attempted to answer a question without being the last one to do so. Being the last to answer resulted in eliminated, while an incorrect answer would also lead to elimination. Ultimately, Eric was the winner of the competition. On Day 13, HouseGuests competed in the "Snack Shack from Hell" food competition. For this competition, HouseGuests partnered up and were required to eat various disgusting foods. Each pair represented a food group, and successfully finishing their meal would earn the HouseGuests the food group for the week. That same day, Eric chose to go back on his deal with the men of the house by nominating Janelle and Michael for eviction, with Michael being his main target. These nominations, along with Michael speaking badly of Eric, led to an altercation in the backyard between Eric and Michael that required production to intervene; minutes later, production also had to separate Kaysar and Ivette. When picking players for the Power of Veto competition, Eric chose James to compete, while Janelle chose Rachel and Michael chose Howie; Beau was selected to host the competition. On Day 14, HouseGuests competed in the "High and Dry" Power of Veto competition. For this competition, HouseGuests played against the person they selected, and were required to transport cups of water across the backyard on a zipline. They would use the cups of water to fill a box in the backyard, and the first HouseGuest to retrieve the ball out of their box would be the winner. Ultimately, James was the winner of the competition. James later decided to leave Janelle and Michael nominated, choosing not to use the Power of Veto. On Day 19, Michael became the second HouseGuest to be evicted from the house in a vote of nine to one.