Big Brother 7, also known as Big Brother: All-Stars, is the seventh season of the American reality television series Big Brother. The season premiered on CBS on July 6, 2006, and lasted eleven weeks until the live finale on September 12, 2006. The seventh season saw a moderate increase in ratings, though they generally remained the same when compared to previous editions. The season premiered to a total of 7.69 million viewers, the lowest premiere numbers for any season at the time. The season finale had a total of 8.14 million viewers. In total, the series averaged 7.56 million viewers. Big Brother: All-Stars featured a total of 14 HouseGuests, the same number that was featured in the previous season. The majority of the cast was selected by viewers, though producers did select some HouseGuests; it is composed entirely of HouseGuests from the first six seasons. The series ended after 72 days, in which HouseGuest Mike "Boogie" Malin was crowned the Winner, and Erika Landin the Runner-up.
Format
The format remains largely unchanged from previous seasons. 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 immune from nominations and must nominate 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 also take part in competitions to earn food for the week. The losing team will be forced to eat Big Brother Slop for the week. This was the first season to feature Slop as the punishment food, as it was originally peanut butter and jelly. The winner of the Power of Veto competition wins the right to save one of the nominated HouseGuests from eviction. If the Veto winner exercises the power, the Head of Household must then nominate another HouseGuest for eviction.
On eviction night, all HouseGuests except for the Head of Household and the two 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. In the event of a tie, the Head of Household must cast the deciding vote, announcing it in front of the other HouseGuests. Unlike other versions of Big Brother, the HouseGuests may discuss the nomination and eviction process openly and freely. The nominee with the greater number of votes will be evicted from the House on the live Thursday broadcast, exiting to an adjacent studio to be interviewed by Chen. 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 seven 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 include strategy or details regarding nominations.
Though the majority of the format stayed the same for Big Brother: All Stars, there were some differences from previous seasons. One of the main changes was the departure of the peanut butter and jelly diet that had been used since Big Brother 2. In its place, the contestants who lost the food competition would be required to eat Big Brother Slop for the week, which has an oatmeal like texture to it. Big Brother Slop has been used in all subsequent seasons following its debut. Additionally, the player selection for the Power of Veto competition changed from the Head of Household and the two nominees being able to choose anyone they wanted to compete to a random draw occurring to decide the other three competitors. A third twist occurred in which a new special power was brought into the game. The HouseGuests were given clues to a secret phrase that referenced the game of Big Brother. The first clue was of a sheep, and the second was an oversized needle and thread being found in the house. The final clue was a grim reaper. The correct answer was the phrase "You reap what you sew", and Mike was the first person to correctly guess it in the Diary Room. He therefore won the Coup d'État, giving him the ability to overturn the Head of Household's nominations and replace them with two HouseGuests of his choosing. He could not nominate the reigning Head of Household or the Power of Veto winner during the week he decided to use it. If the power was used, that week's Head of Household would be allowed to compete in the following Head of Household competition. Ultimately, Mike chose not to use the power. The Coup d'État was later brought into the game during Big Brother 11, in which viewers chose one HouseGuest to obtain the power.
HouseGuests
Twenty potential candidates were revealed on June 21, 2006, on a special telecast on CBS. After the special aired, the public were invited to vote for their favorite former HouseGuest to return to the House. Originally, twelve HouseGuests would have competed: the top three male and female candidates who received the highest number of public votes would become HouseGuests, while the production team chose the remaining six HouseGuests. During the season premiere, Julie Chen revealed that due to the high volume of votes received, there would be fourteen HouseGuests: the top four male and female candidates from the public vote, and six HouseGuests chosen by the producers.
Name AgeHometownChoice Result Big Brother 2 35 Concord, New Hampshire Production WinnerDay 72 Big Brother 4 36 Chicago, Illinois Public Day 72 Big Brother 6 26 Grand Rapids, Minnesota Public Big Brother 2 33 Miami, Florida Production Big Brother 1 47 Rockford, Illinois Production Big Brother 3 34 Vacaville, California Production Big Brother 6 30 Miami, Florida Public Big Brother 6 35 Chicago, Illinois Public Big Brother 3 36 South Shore, Illinois Production Big Brother 6 25 Irvine, California Public Big Brother 5 24 Cincinnati, Ohio Public Big Brother 5 30 Taylorville, Illinois Public Big Brother 5 23 San Antonio, Texas Public Big Brother 4 25 Meadville, Pennsylvania Production
Candidates Out of the twenty candidates selected to participate in the all stars show, six former HouseGuests were not chosen by the public or the producers to enter the House.
Name Age Hometown Big Brother 2 42 Harrisburg, North Carolina Big Brother 4 31 Bayside, New York Big Brother 6 26 Miami Beach, Florida Big Brother 3 30 Rochester, New York Big Brother 5 25 Durant, Oklahoma Big Brother 2 45 Bedford-Stuyvesant, New York
Future Appearances Janelle Pierzina and Mike "Boogie" Malin returned for season 14 as coaches guiding the new HouseGuests, later entering to play the game themselves. Janelle and Kaysar Ridha also returned for season 22.
George Boswell, Jason "Jase" Wirey, and Janelle Pierzina returned in season 10 to host a food competition along with other Big Brother alumni. Danielle Reyes also made a brief appearance on season 11 to share her thoughts on the season. Janelle Pierzina also made future appearances on season 8 and season 11. Kaysar returned to host a competition during season 25.
George Boswell, Bill "Bunky" Miller, Danielle Reyes, Lisa Donahue, Erika Landin, Michael "Cowboy" Ellis, and Kaysar Ridha attended the premiere of season 20.
Will Kirby continues to regularly host the jury roundtables, starting with season 15. He also appeared during season 22 in "Neighbour's Week", where he would tempt the HouseGuests with power and prizes. and infomem the viers of the Triple Eviction
Janelle Pierzina and Will Kirby also appeared on a special edition of The Price Is Right, competing with other past Big Brother players. Will emerged as the winner, donating his $51,030 cash prize to charity.
Danielle Reyes competed on the first edition of Big Brother Reindeer Games, a competition themed holiday spin-off. Despite being the third to be eliminated, she won a $5,000 cash prize.
Outside Big Brother, Janelle Pierzina competed with season 12 HouseGuest Britney Haynes on The Amazing Race 31. She also appeared as a contestant on the USA Network reality competition series, Snake in the Grass. She competed on the second season of The Traitors, in which Will Kirby guest starred. In 2025, Danielle Reyes competed on the third season of the Peacock reality TV series The Traitors.
Guests In addition to the All-Star HouseGuests, other HouseGuests from past seasons returned in a guest capacity.
Name Day Reason Big Brother 2 Day 40 Judged the "Big Brother Bakery" food competition Day 41 Hosted the "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Veto" PoV competition Big Brother 2 Day 41 Participated in the "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Veto" PoV competition Big Brother 2 Day 39 Appeared as an image for "The Ghosts of Big Brother Past" HoH competition Big Brother 3 Day 38 Appeared as an image for "The Ghosts of Big Brother Past" HoH competition Big Brother 4 Day 41 Participated in the "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Veto" PoV competition Big Brother 4 Day 40 Judged the "Big Brother Bakery" food competition Big Brother 5 Day 40 Judged the "Big Brother Bakery" food competition Big Brother 5 Day 38 Appeared as an image for "The Ghosts of Big Brother Past" HoH competition Big Brother 5 Day 41 Participated in the "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Veto" PoV competition Big Brother 6 Day 38 Appeared as an image for "The Ghosts of Big Brother Past" HoH competition Big Brother 6 Day 41 Participated in the "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Veto" PoV competition
Summary On Day 1, the fourteen HouseGuests entered the house for a second chance at winning the game. Following their entrance, HouseGuests competed in the "Falling Stars" Head of Household competition. For this competition, HouseGuests competed in two groups. One group, consisting of seven HouseGuests, stood on a spinning platform, while the other group threw an over-sized boulder at them in an attempt to knock them off of the platform. When only one remained on the platform, the groups switched places. The process was then repeated until only one remained from the second group. This competition resulted in two people winning the title of Head of Household, those being the two people not to be knocked off; Janelle and Jase became joint Head of Household. They learned that if they failed to agree on whom to nominate, then they would become the nominees themselves. Due to Janelle's position of power and their large numbers, Howie, James, Janelle, and Kaysar became quick targets for the others. This led Alison and Danielle to come up with a plan to evict Janelle from the house, in which they wanted Jase to disagree with her nominations and thus nominating both himself and Janelle; this would ensure Janelle's eviction. Despite this plan, Jase and the "Season Six" alliance later discussed the plan with one another, and he agreed to help them out in the game. On Day 3, Jase and Janelle chose to nominate Alison and Danielle for eviction. This made it the first time Danielle had been nominated for eviction, as she had never been nominated in her previous season.