Big Brother

"I don't watch Big Brother to see people cleaning their teeth or having a shower. I watch Big Brother to see George Galloway pretending to be a cat. That is funny."
—Guy on the One Show.


The show started in the Netherlands in 1999, and has since spread around the world -- there have been versions in the United States, Brazil, Australia, the Middle East (where it was canceled after ten days due to religious protests), Africa (where it caused a constitutional crisis in Malawi), throughout Europe, and (in Asia) India, briefly Thailand and the Philippines. However, by far the most famous version of the show is the British version, which was so popular that a Celebrity Edition was made. The 2007 version of Celebrity Big Brother set the UK record for most complaints about a TV programme, mostly due to the Shilpa Shetty racism row.

The premise is simple: lock several "ordinary" people in house, ply them with alcohol, and watch the results on omnipresent cameras. Viewers can watch the edited highlights in the evening, or watch it live on cable or the Internet. The public then proceed to vote them out every so often.

The US version notably abandoned the public-voting-out after the first season and went to a more Survivor-like system where the house guests vote each other out. However, they must vote out one of two contestants nominated by a third contestant who won the "Head of Household" title that week. Therefore, there is less safety in the large, unconcealed alliances you see on Survivor. The change also meant that the show didn't have to manufacture drama purely by casting the looniest people alive.

A common twist is a "Big Brother goes evil" or "Hell" twist, where Big Brother is psychologically abusive to the houseguests or where they are put in a bad environment.

Homaged by the Doctor Who episode "Bad Wolf", with a dystopian future version where the contestants are disintegrated when they're voted out. This is often assumed to be a parody or a Take That against B.B. and shows like it, but Word of God confirms it as a tribute. Includes the voice of an android Davina McCall.

It's often actually turned into Machinima, see SBB Brothers for just one example.

Not to be confused with George Orwell's classic work Nineteen Eighty-Four, in which Big Brother represents the totalitarian Party that treats free thought as a crime. Its name is, however, based on the fact that in the book cameras are everywhere, with everyone being watched by "Big Brother", which is about all most people (think they) know about it. For information on that trope, see Big Brother Is Watching.

Tropes used in Big Brother include:
  • Action Girl: Janelle Pierzina and Daniele Donato both won plenty of competitions in their respective seasons.
    • Not to mention in Big Brother 12, Britney managed to toss Veto back and forth with Brendon for a couple weeks before winning it twice in a show. Some people did think she was the next Janelle or Daniele.
    • In Big Brother Australia, season 8 had fitness freak Alice, who spent so much time on the treadmill a fight broke out when the other housemates tried to trade it to Big Brother for toilet paper, and who during the fake snap eviction in the final week jogged up and down the holding room (the 'plane') after she was evicted so she wouldn't cry.
    • Rachel Reilly from the American version deserves mention. She's very good at thinking challenges and puzzles.
      • During Season 12, she won 2 of the 3 HOH competitions she was eligible for. If she had stayed after her second HOH week, it's possible she could have won it even more.
      • Rachel was the most frequent HOH winner of Season 13 with four wins; combined with her two veto wins, it makes her the most decorated houseguest of the season total. By winning her fourth HOH, she is now on par with Drew and Janelle (from BB 5 and BB 7 respectively), sharing a record for four HOH wins in one season. Even nomination-wise, she bests everybody else; she was nominated 5 different times during the season!
  • A House Divided: A quite literal example occurs in Big Brother 6. After Kaysar's friend Michael was evicted, he forms a counter alliance made up of everyone in the house who's not already in the Friendship alliance: Janelle, Howie, Rachel, James and Sarah. Following Eric/Cappy's eviction, the HOH flips week to week between the Friendship and Kaysar's alliance (dubbed the Sovereign Six), and no one except for James ever even attempts to make a deal with a member from the other side following Kaysar's second eviction. You could taste the vitriol the two opposing alliances had for each other.
    • Possibly the most famous instance was in Big Brother 2002 UK when the house was divided into two, the Rich Side and the Poor Side, with live tasks determining who would live on which side for a week.
      • This made somewhat of a comeback in Big Brother 2008 UK, when there was a "Heaven" and a "Hell" side of the house.
      • It was also seen in Big Brother 2006 UK during the Prison task, when the Prison wardens lived in the main house whilst the prisoners moved next door into a prison cell. Unbeknownst to the wardens, the prisoners were given instructions on how to find the secret hideaway.
      • In the Celebrity version of the UK series in 2007, Jade Goody, her mother and her boyfriend entered the main house, and all bar Shilpa Shetty, Jermaine Jackson and Ken Russell moved into the servants quarters, as part of a Masters and Servants task which involved the servants waiting hand and foot on the Goody clan and the remaining celebrities in the main house, much to Donny Tourrete's dismay.
      • Big Brother 13 had the veteran players go up against the newbies. While the veterans were in power for a few weeks, had newbie allies and were in control of the first three evictions, Daniele double-crossed the veterans and started her own alliance with Kalia, Lawon, and later Porsche and Shelly who turned on the veterans as well. They took control of the house for the next three weeks and even though they lost Lawon and then their leader, Daniele, they took control of the house again after evicting the veteran alliance's leader, Jeff, and after a member of the alliance became the Head of Household.
      • The UK series usually has two main warring factions. One made up of the "underdogs", the other made up of "populars". Notable examples are Team Richard vs The Plastics (BB 7), B Block vs The Whisper Club (BB 9).
  • Ad Nauseam: Within the show, nonetheless. In the more recent editions of Big Brother Brasil, the Brazilian version, every competition for leadership or immunity is themed with a certain brand. Say the characters need to grab the highest amount of Brand X objects. The whole scenario will be covered with ads of the brand, the host will repeat the brand name every time it refers to the object, there will be massive close-ups on the objects in case, and when counting the amount of objects grabbed, the characters must say the brand name for each object they grabbed. Taking batteries for example, if they got 15 batteries, they will say the brand and the specific type of battery 15 times.
    • The last five series of Big Brother Australia (2004-08) were sponsored by KFC, to the extent that Friday Night Live had the KFC Twister Instant Replay, and in-store promotions were available with Big Brother-branded items.
  • Adult Child: Many contestants seem this way, with Howie Gordon from Seasons 6 and 7 being the textbook example.
  • Affably Evil: Dr Will so much.
  • Arch Enemy: Danielle to Rachel and Brendon in Season 13, moreso Brendon because Danielle was the one who put him out. Twice.
  • Ascended Meme: Jessie "Mr. Pectacular" Godderz. Where do we begin...
    • He was originally a houseguest during Season 10, who then came back (by unpopular demand) for Season 11, who then was a suggested possibly-returning houseguest for Season 13.
    • As well, he's made the most amount of (consecutive) in-house seasonal appearances of any Big Brother houseguest; not only on the US edition, but over every international edition of the show. He's basically a horror movie villain; you can't kill him.
      • Weeks after being evicted during Season 10, he was brought for a few hours back to pester the remaining houseguests... in a gorilla costume.
      • He has also appeared as part of the Pandora's Box twist for two consecutive seasons (during Seasons 12 and 13) in which Britney Haynes and Rachel Reilly respectively were locked in a room with him, while the the other houseguests received some sort of luxury prize.
  • Audience Participation: Obviously it's a public vote.
    • The American version minimized it after season one. Partly because in season one, people organized huge efforts to slant the game in their favour. Normally it is "Who may/will re-enter the house?", "What will the have-nots eat?". but when they affect gameplay, such as the Coup'de'Tat? People botted the site.
      • Season 8 and 10 featured one called "America's Player". In season 8, it was all season long where the audience would vote for what America's Player would do. Originally, they didn't really know what to do, and at first tried to sabotage Eric by making him vote against the house, even saving the Fan Favourite player. However later on, they begun to tell Eric to vote and act in ways that would help him get further in the game, or provide a bit of entertainment for the viewers. In season 10, Dan was chosen as America's Player and this only lasted a week. Season 12 had the Saboteur twist where people would send in suggestions for pranks to pull. The original Saboteur (Annie) was evicted week 1 and the replacement saboteur (Ragan) did his job and nobody figured him out.
  • Ax Crazy: Contestants have, in rare cases, been ejected for violent behavior, including one who held a knife to a housemate's throat, and another who threatened to have people killed for nominating them.
  • Berserk Button: Chima's the Head Of Household, and she puts Russell up for nomination because she wants him evicted. You'd better not use that mysterious power to mess with her nominations...
  • Big Brother Is Watching - Inverted. We're watching Big Brother.
  • Black Dude Dies First: Will "Mega", the very first evictee on the US version.
    • Keith from season 13 arguably counts as well. Despite being the second to leave the house, he was the first to actually be evicted. Subverted in that that season has two other black houseguests.
  • Born Lucky: The veterans in this season. They come back knowing the game from the first time they played. Then they manage to get a bunch of competitions thrown at them that they've already done before. Rachel and Jordan are probably the luckiest. When things look bad for them, Pandora's Box conveniently saves them both as the veto is a competition that Rachel had literally won the first week of the season. Then Rachel talks about a have not challenge she did very good at last year and a couple days later, a similar challenge is the next head of household. That's some amazing luck.
  • Brainless Beauty: Many of both genders.
  • Call Back: Episodes will frequently feature flashbacks not only to past episodes but even past seasons.
    • Not in the British version. The British version is musicless and it's very "real" compared to other ones.
  • Camp Gay: Ragan in US S12; Dicesar and Serginho in BR S10; Daniel and Lucival in BR S11.
    • The Camp Gay is a mandatory member in every BR season from 10 onwards (probably since Jean managed to avoid elimination in the first week by playing the "just because I'm gay" card in season 9 or something). Season 13 features a two-for-one minority who's both gay and black.
    • Marco, Kemal, Shahbaz and Dennis in the UK series. You could also make a case for Craig from the 2005 series.
  • Cash Cow Franchise: It made its creator (who was, admittedly, fortunated to begin with) rich enough to launch his own TV station in the Netherlands
  • Catch Phrase: Quite a few during the Brazilian version. In fact, at one point the most noteworthy S9 catchphrases were mashed all into a song. Also, not really a phrase, but one season of the same version had a fairly popular Mondegreenified rendition of "We Are the World" called "Iarnuou", sung by one of the contestants.
    • "I'd do that for a dollar!" Invoked in season 8 (US)
    • "But First" from the American version. Particularly because Julie Chen has a tendency to say "But first" all of the times...sometimes making the exact same movements as she did before, a common meme is to call her the "Chenbot" and make a compilation of her saying "But First" - it's amazing how she does this so perfectly!
      • The contestants and Chen are actually aware of this, and have called her the "Chenbot". Heck, official videos from CBS had "Chenbot" in the keywords!
    • The UK version: "Big Brother house, this is Davina. You are live on channel 4. Please do not swear!" or "You have 30 seconds to say your goodbyes. I'm coming to get you!"
    • Also "Dear 25 in tha Big Brutha howse, an Dearvid is summoned to the diary room." Not so much a Catch Phrase as a Catch Accent. Marcus Bentley's (natural) County Durham accent is such an iconic element of the series that he's been known to exaggerate it for effect.
    • Season one of Big Brother Australia had a rule that the audience were not to cheer during evictions, so that the housemates didn't know there was a live eviction audience. This led to host Gretel Killeen repeatedly reminding the audience “quiet as a mouse while we cross to the House”.
    • Also from Big Brother Australia, whenever the host crossed to the house: 'Hello house!'
    • The second season of the french version gave us immortal lines which are still quoted ten years later, even by people who never watched the show. Among the best:
      • A mispronunciation of "thyme" followed by the candidate's explanation that he'd never seen the word written down before.
      • A conversation on whether the word "ingenue" exists and an argument on whether it's the same as "a genius".
      • And the classic "Je t'emmerde avec un grand A!", which literally means "Well, fuck you with a capital P!" No, that wasn't a joke. The candidate spelt the word "emmerde" with a capital a and the sound-bite was used over and over in commercials for the show.
    • Rachel from US Season 12 wants you to know that "Nobody gets between me and my man!"
      • Or her "Tequila!"
      • "I am Vegas, Brendan."
    • "AWK-WAAAARRRRD!"
    • Again from the Brazillian version, this time from S11, is Igor's Verbal Tic of "Tá ligado?" (translating to something akin to "Get it?").
  • Chapstick Lesbian: Diana, BR S11.
  • Character Shilling: The veterans in U.S. season 13. Where to begin..
    • Jordan was apparently supposed to be a better competitor than the "newbies". She somehow managed to win less competitions than people flagged as "floaters" by the fanbase did, and wouldn't win competitions that were clearly slanted for her or Rachel.
  • The Chessmaster: Kaysar Ridha from Big Brother 6 and 7 tried very hard to be this, but never even reached the jury. He should have taken lessons from Will Kirby, who is still generally regarded as the most evil and manipulative house guest ever, in any of the Big Brother series around the world. Not only did the man manipulate his way into winning the US Season 2, he engineered a win for his friend and business partner, Mike "Boogie" Malin, in the American All Stars season.
    • Sarcastic Confession: The best part of "Evil Doctor Will" being The Chessmaster is that at the beginning of Season 2, Will literally told everyone else in the house that he was going to lie, cheat, and steal in order to win, and that none of them, not even his friend Mike, should trust him as far as they could comfortably spit the Chrysler Building, and that he would betray any so-called "alliance" the moment he saw profit in it. They all thought he was being funny... except that's precisely what he did in order to walk away with the prize.
      • Other examples include Danielle from Big Brother 3, Maggie from Big Brother 6, Dan from Big Brother 10, Natalie and Kevin from Big Brother 11 (only near the end), and The Brigade from Big Brother 12 (mainly Matt and Enzo).
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Easier to pull off in the US show than in Survivor, due to its structure.
    • James Rhine may be the king of this trope when it comes to Big Brother. The man couldn't go two weeks without trying to backstab his alliance.
    • Noirin and Bea from the tenth UK series surely qualify. By the time each were evicted, they had succeeded in alienating the vast majority of their housemates. They just had no concept of loyalty ... to ANYONE!
      • And no, this shared trait didn't help them bond. They hated each other just as much as everyone else, coming close to a full-on bitchfight once.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Nobbi from Big Brother Australia 2008 was so unhappy at housemate Terri's re-entry to the house that the live broadcast was interrupted by, according to Big Mouth host Tony Squires, “about thirty seconds of continual bleeping”.
  • Crazy Enough to Work: Some of the plans pulled off in past seasons of the US show (Nakomis's five-fingered plan, for example).
    • Which later turned into an often used strategy itself, called "Backdooring."
    • The Evil Doctor Will openly told people from the start that a) they could not trust him and b) he would lie, cheat, and steal to win. Apparently no one thought he'd do that after telling them he'd do that, but he did. And it worked.
  • The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Natalie, a Tae Kwon Do Champion who did terribly at physical challenges.
  • Completely Missing the Point: BR calls the participants "brothers" and "sisters", sometimes prefaced with the adjective "Big" (Gratuitous English at its best), ignoring completely that the titular Big Brother was supposed to be the viewer. Or the director.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass:
    • Season 11: Jordan spends the entire season riding on Jeff's coattails and her one head of household victory was handed to her. Then in the final three, she competes in the final head of household round with Kevin and...wins. See the Moment of Awesome page.
      • From the same season, Kevin. Had it not been for Jordan's own Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass, Kevin would have won that season. He basically spent the entire season hiding behind bigger targets in his alliance like Jessie and Ronnie, manipulating others' perceptions into thinking he was worthless, so they would target Lydia (who had not won a single non-food competition) over him. When Jeff finally set his sights on Kevin and he failed to win veto, Kevin walked right up to Jeff, suggested that Russell was a bigger threat because he was more likely to flip. He then persuaded Jeff to backdoor Russell, and he even used the veto on Kevin, no doubt. This forced Jeff's alliance into having a roughly 50/50 shot in the next head of household challenge.
    • Season 13: Shelly, Kalia, and Porsche were thought of as "floaters" despite Kalia's Head of Household win that was not given to her. Shelly then realizes that nobody is playing a game for themselves and obviously producer's pet Jeff & Jordan. Kalia then wins head of household AGAIN and then Porsche, accused of being a floater, wins veto AND a Head of Household after she slips through by not being perceived as a threat. Even Adam got this when he wins a crucial veto to keep himself off the block in the final five, and then proceeds to get all six questions right in the penultimate head of household.
    • Bonnie Holt, from the UK version, but then disappeared.
  • Cult: The Friendship/Nerd Herd from Season 6.
    • Jeff and Jordan almost kept the newbies like this.
  • Determinator: Several. From the American version:
    • In Big Brother 6, the houseguests were in an endurance competition called the pressure cooker that was not physically challenging; but they all lasted at least six hours. This wasn't how long the competition lasted - that was how long it took before the first person was eliminated. By the time the competition finished? It was the early morning. The next day. Even if it wasn't physically taxing, that's some epic willpower.
    • Diane and Jase in Big Brother 5 for how long they were on the challenge.
    • Evel Dick and Zach had cold water poured on them for about eight hours before dropping out of an endurance competition.
    • Several houseguests such as Ragan, Kail, Kevin, and Adam applied numerous times. In Adam's case; he even lost a hundred pounds in the process of getting on Big Brother. That really shows how determined he is.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Rachel doesn't like a comment that Cassi says about Porsche in an off-hand comment. Rachel then campaigns to get Cassi evicted from the house.
  • Double Standard: Why does nobody like Craig from BB6 UK? Because A) he's gay and B) he cried. Even if women are the target audience.
    • I think it was more to do with the fact that he was obsessed with Anthony, the straight male housemate who went on to win, and was disturbingly possessive of him, to the point of throwing hissy fits if he thought Anthony was spending too much time with anyone else.
    • The US version switched away from public voting after Season 1 because the JerkAsses were getting voted out early, leaving the less entertaining contestants (Sans George) behind. [1]
    • Emily Parr and the whole N-Word Privileges. Nobody raised a fuss about Charley using the N-Word, but Emily said it?!? KICK HER OUT OF THE HOUSE!!!!
      • If it wasn't for the Celebrity edition scandal a mere four months earlier, Emily most likely would have got away with a formal warning. They were terrified of another backlash. Ironically, the only backlash was anger against Emily's unfair explulsion!
    • A common one from the American series: "It's alright for me to nominate you because I see you as a threat, but you nominate me for the same reasons?! How dare you!
      • Very commonly, people gloat in the diary room to the Confession Cam about how good their game is and how good they are when things are going their way and they're making smart moves by evicting certain players. However, if another player makes a smart move and it doesn't benefit them, they get all pissy about it and oftentimes insult the player in question. Especially if they are doing something to make themselves huge targets in the game like Rachel, Kaysar, James, Jeff....
      • Brendon and Rachel and most recently Jeff and Jordan thanks to their influence complain about people who float along or hide in the numbers so that they are not perceived as a threat and targeted by whoever is in power. One could wonder if they'd consider Jun&Alison, Sharon, Dr. Will, and Kevin terrible gameplayers because getting people to not perceive you as a threat is what keeps you in the game. (Jeff also doesn't seem to have a problem with Jordan, who won one head of household by herself in both seasons and has relied on Jeff and the rest of her alliance to carry her.)
      • And likewise, fans seem to be saying it was perfectly alright for someone playing the game...but if they're female, they're called a "Bitch" or a "hag" amongst other things. Only if your boyfriend is Mr. Fanservice do you get away with it.
    • Someone gets far by lying, backstabbing, and coasting through and not winning competitions? FLOATER! Terrible player! Dr. Will gets far and even wins once by doing just that? Best player ever. Why is Dr. Will allowed to get away with it? Three words: Mr. Fanservice.
    • Anyone who claims that if you don't win competitions you are a floater and are a terrible gameplayer. This counts for Kalia, Porsche, and Adam despite that they've all won two to three game-changing competitions each, while Kalia and Porsche got the biggest threat (Jeff) out. Jordan's contribution to the game was one head of household win, one luxury competition win, and being a vote/decoy for the Veterans side. Evidently; she is not bad at gameplay despite winning a total of one competition that actually affected the game. The fans don't even seem to realize that Jordan has won about as many game-changing competitions as Natalie from Season 11.
  • Dr. Jerk: "Evil Dr. Will," an American fan favorite, who may also be considered a Magnificent Bastard and Mr. Fanservice.
  • Dumb Blonde: There's usually one. In Britain, Helen Adams (BB2) and Jade Goody BB3 became iconic (but not in a good way, at least in Goody's case).
    • Jordan of S11 US won the whole game. At least she was really nice. (She and Jeff even admit they're pretty stupid, several times on the Amazing Race they were laughing at their own stupidity)
    • Averted hard with Janelle from S6 US; while she appeared that way at first glance, she soon proved herself to be one of the smartest, most ruthless players the game had ever (and, at the rate it's going, will ever) seen.
    • Also averted with Britney, but not to the level of Janelle.
    • Porsche in the current season, full stop. Just to give you an example of how moronic she can be: One luxury competition involved guessing a celebrity who would visit the house. Porsche guessed... Michael Jackson. Even if he was willing to appear on a show like this, there's the whole "dead" thing getting in the way!
  • Dysfunctional Family: The fifth US season included identical twins playing one and half-siblings who didn't know each other existed until after the show started (Squick thankfully averted). And in Season Eight US, there was the estranged father and daughter that grew close and went on to win the two prizes.
  • Entitled Bastard: Rachel would regularly insult people and play the game very personally, then wondered why a bunch of people hated her and couldn't stand her.
    • Jeff also would regularly insult the newbies and walked in claiming he deserved to win...and was dumbfounded when they went after him.
  • Executive Meddling: Producers have the power to slant the show via Obvious Rule Patch, such as evacuating the houseguests if they are injured or if something happens, showing that it is not a bad thing.
    • Fans suspect that the producers interfere with on-line fan polls and in the game itself for ratings. Season 13 has so far been a hotbed of suspicion--Brendon, a Creator's Pet, beat out Keith, Cassi and Dominic (the latter two very popular with fans) in America's Vote to come back into the house after being evicted, and the challenge where he had to face the fifth evictee Lawon in to get back in was a physical challenge, which Brendon is excellent at and especially that kind. During the teacup challenge, they seemed to have been dumping a lot more soap suds over some lanes, with Jordan, Porsche and Adam getting it the worst and Shelly and Rachel getting it the least. Then, Jeff appeared to be drawn for literally every veto whether he was on the block or not; fans have suspected this wasn't just darn luck. Several Feed watchers have apparently overheard Rachel claim that the producers promised they (The veterans) would all make Jury. Later, a feature called "Pandora's Box" returned, allowed Porsche to get 5000 dollars but at the cost of an unknown twist being introduced--the twist turned out to be pairing up the houseguests for that week only, and by pairing up Rachel and Jordan which Porsche had no hand in, it was ensured that if either of them won the Veto then both of them stayed for that week, since the HoH's two nominees for eviction have to be a pair. Given that Rachel and Jordan are the only two Vets left in the house, the timely introduction of this twist when their enemy Porsche was HoH has saved them both. Conveniently; the veto competition was an endurance challenge...and almost literally the same endurance challenge that Rachel won first in the season. Even former player Matt joked that Pandora's Box was just Executive Meddling, calling it "Producers Box", and Porsche has even confirmed on the feeds that she was forced to open it.
      • Fans have even been suspecting them of intentionally casting players to be living props, (since it worked so well in Survivor's 22nd season) knowing that they wouldn't be mourning the newbies if they were evicted since they wanted to see their old favourites - and if they stood against the veterans? Zero percent approval rating. Add in a bit of Manipulative Editing to portray them as a villain, and voila.
    • Fans also suggest executive meddling by producers turning a blind eye to rule violations or equipment malfunctions. Key examples being Jeff in the teacup challenge somehow getting away with using his hands to hold soap and not just cover it, and Dick and Daniele supposedly not being penalizd at for violating slop restrictions, as well as Dick not getting yelled at for burning Jen with the cigarette or not getting yelled at for having a code written by his son in a letter from home. Jameka evidently had an equipment failure in Season 8; but this has neither been confirmed or denied. (The other main equipment failure was very obvious since buttons wouldn't work for a couple players; requiring them to reshoot the challenge.)
  • Fan Service: A lot of people watch it just because they are waiting for someone to take a shower. And the sole purpose of some challenges seems to be to get the contestants to show some skin. Wet T-Shirt contest in Big Brother Czech, anyone?
    • Big Brother Brasil inserts more of this each year, to the point of suggesting oral sex under the couches. And there always will be a girl who "accidentally" exposes a critical area every now and then.
    • Averted in one season of Big Brother Australia; one contestant insisted on wearing a bikini while bathing. So much so that "Jemma in the shower" became somewhat of a IRL Meme.
    • The Dutch version contestants were Genre Savvy enough to see this coming, and spent the first episode having a hot tub orgy. Really.
  • Fatal Flaw: Jeff in season 13's biggest downfall was that he didn't win the veto competition that he could have saved himself, and got Rachel out instead. In this competition, houseguests had to find two yellow clown shoes in a ball pit, and Jeff accidentally threw his out of the pit.
  • Flanderization: Competitions were important in the early seasons of the U.S. season; but the social game was what won you the game over somebody else. People used to throw competitions all the time and nobody cared or batted an eyelash. Nowadays with how many people complain about "Floaters" or people who try to play the social game moreso than the competition game, you'd wonder if this was derived from The Amazing Race instead of Survivor.
  • Follow the Leader: Glass House in the U.S. uses a similar format to the original Big Brother season. CBS did not take kindly to this.
    • What's also rather funny is that roughly eighteen staff members from Big Brother US are now working on this show. One of the executive producers from Big Brother US was a former producer of Big Brother US.
  • Fun with Subtitles: In season 6 (US), there was a part where Ivette was in the diary room and the subtitle said, "She's gay".
    • And another time, Britney is in the diary room with Brendon handcuffed to him via a veto. Brendon is talking about having to take a chum bath, and you can see Britney mouthing, "Help me". They even subtitled it.
  • Gay Cowboy: Big Brother 10 (US) had Steven Daigle, a self proclaimed "gay rodeo star," who has recently gone on to gay pornography.
    • However, he doesn't really seem that gay if you watch it - Memphis actually has more stereotypical gay traits in terms of his clothing!
  • Genius Bruiser: Brendon is good at physical challenges (Being a swim coach) and is really book smart. He won't let you forget that he is a PhD student.
    • Evel Dick is the Gameplay version. He was able to win physical challenges, and knew the game. Russell as well; since he is a mixed martial arts fighter.
  • Gossipy Hens: Daniel and Lucival in BR S11, whose gossiping are nicknamed "Tricotando com DaLu" ("Knitting with DaLu").
  • Guide Dang It:
    • In Big Brother 9 (US), there was a head of household challenge where Julie Chen asked "True or false: There were more than two existing relationships in the house". There actually were only two existing relationships (Jacob and Sharon and Jen and Ryan) but anyone who said "False" was counted wrong...because the guinea pigs apparently were the third existing couple! This screwed Sharon over majorly, and may count as Executive Meddling (apparently, Chen paused before giving the answer because she was being given it herself).
    • One could also argue that Pandora's Box applies; given that it very commonly gives very vague words as to what the consequence or even the reward is.
    • A recent Head of Household competition was this; however it was moreso to the viewers rather than the players. The night before the head of household challenge, the fortune teller begun to spout predictions about what houseguests would do after the show for them to memorize. What was actually shown on the highlights show were a couple; and what Julie chen actually asked weren't shown. Basically; players didn't really know this given that these were played at 4 AM.
  • Hypocrite: Rachel in Season 13 has put people up on the block and had them evicted for stuff she does to other people. For a specific example, in week two she campaigned to get Cassi out because she didn't like what Cassi said about Porche in a single off-hand remark. Then in the veto competition Jeff got mad at Rachel for a snide remark she made towards his girlfriend Jordan. This prompted her to question "Why is he so mad over a single comment?" Not to mention, Rachel spent half the week wangsting about how Brendon was evicted, then she says "Oh suck it up" to Kalia, who cried because she lost a challenge that more or less sealed her fate.
    • In the same season, Danielle warned Porcshe that Brendon and Rachel will lie and backstab anyone they have to in order to win. Lying, backstabbing and manipulation is par for the course in the game, so the same could be said of pretty much any other contestant in the history of the show. This includes Danielle herself--the reason she split off from the veteran alliance is that they found out she was trying to get Jeff evicted.
      • To be fair, it was probalby a better idea to be in an alliance with Daniele than Brendon&Rachel and Jeff&Jordan....whose alliance(s) were pretty much set in stone from before the show even started. You would have had a much better chance in an alliance of three or four with less concrete bonds to each other.
    • In the american version, people often complain about being backstabbed after they backstabbed their own alliance members.
  • Iconic Logo: The British version's eye.
  • Informed Ability / Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: We're told houseguests are good at stuff and are told their jobs but we rarely see them do it in-game. Justifiable in that we're not following them on their jobs.
    • This was what sealed Natalie's fate in Big Brother 11. She was supposedly a huge competitor yet lost just about every individual competition she played in and made people wonder if she was even trying.
    • Jeff&Jordan and Brendon&Rachel are apparently very good game-players. Both times Jeff played, he overstepped himself and got evicted. Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass moment aside, Jordan was somehow unable to win a single competition without having someone give it to her. Liekwise, Brendon and Rachel apparently are good at the game yet they were somehow unable to do so without alienating half the house. And all four somehow couldn't manage to win without blatant Executive Meddling helping them.
  • Informed Flaw: The editors don't know who some players are, yet it becomes weird when they start winning competitions or actually doing well. Porsche in season 13 did not do poorly in the competitions she needed to win, but got ultimately outplayed. (She finished in second quite a bit, even in the teacup competition) Rachel even said Porsche is not bad at competitions, or questions for that matter. Finally, she won two competitions that she really really needed to win.
  • In-Series Nickname: The Brazilian version has its name officially shortened as "BBB", and the contestants were occasionally nicknamed as "brothers" and "sisters". During the first season of this version, a contestant named the elimination process "Paredão" (literally "big wall" in Brazilian Portuguese, meaning the place where people are taken to be shot by a firing squad), which eventually became the official name.
  • Incompatible Orientation: In US S12, Ragan was obviously crushing on Matt. Who was straight. And married.
    • Untrue. Matt isn't his type by self-admission; they think of each other like brothers. Ragan stated in the first episode of the season that, as he is the brains in relationships, his partner must be the brawn. (He only ever showed romantic interest in Brendan of all people.)
  • Irish Names: The most recent UK series has an Irish housemate named 'Caoimhe'. An utterly unremarkable female name in Ireland, it is brain breakingly difficult to spell and pronounce in Britain. Cue mass bafflement.
  • It's Personal: A lot of players play personally. Among them, Rachel, Lydia, Amber.
  • Jerkass: Most of the contestants, and most of the US winners. Not only that, but douchebags are often prized by the BB fandom (Chill Town and Evel Dick come to mind.) The only people that played the game well, won, and weren't jerks about it were Drew from Season 5, Dan from season 10, and Jordan from season 11.
    • Plenty in BBUK too. Due to the vote to evict, they usually bit the dust as soon as they were on the block. Now the voting system has changed to "vote to save", controversial characters (such as The Shannon Twins) manage to survive longer (even make the final). But, in the end, good usually wins.
      • Of course, that depends on who you view as "good", as the majority have "jerkass" moments now and again.
  • Karmic Eviction: Jeff in Season 13 won HoH, put up Kalia and Porche, then won the Veto and removed Porche in favor of his primary target Danielle, who was evicted. However, it was a double eviction night--Kalia won HoH, put up Jeff and Rachel, and Porsche won the Veto and kept the nominations the same, resulting in a tied vote which Kalia broke, voting out Jeff. To drive the point home, Porsche was heard saying "It's what Danielle wanted".
    • James in Big Brother 9. He is constantly targeted, but then one by one, his alliance goes. Finally, he fails to win veto to remove himself and is then evicted over Sharon, nominated again.
    • Marcellas in season 3 who had the opportunity to get himself guaranteed safety to the final four. But he doesn't use the veto on the one time he could use it on himself and is promptly evicted, in what's seen as the original "Stupidest move in the game."
  • Kick the Dog: Rachel's farewell messages to Danielle and Shelly after they've been evicted have been very mean. YMMV if it crosses into Kick the Son of a Bitch, depending on how you see the three of them.
  • Literary Allusion Title
  • Live but Delayed: To keep excited contestants' swearing out of the mix on live eviction shows. One live episode in Season 11 had to be taped because Chima threatened to go ballistic if Russell wasn't evicted. She would be expelled from the game a few days later, but only because she damaged studio equipment by throwing a microphone into the pool.
    • Chima also went on quite a racist tirade on the first live eviction, which was silenced out. And most recently, there was a blurb of silence in a live competition followed by Julie Chen telling Rachel to keep it civil.
    • Season 13 has featured a lot of swearing on live shows. There was a blurb of silence when Rachel was eliminated from a live competition, and in the double eviction episode, even more random blurbs of silence.
  • The Load: There're some.
  • Loophole Abuse: Combined with Fridge Brilliance. In season five, Marvin and Nakomis set up a plan where they would nominate two people they have no intention of evicting. For the veto, they pick players who would either use the veto anyways or are in on the plan and would use it. Then at the veto meeting, whoever won the veto used it and then the Head of Household put up the real target. This strategy is called "backdooring", and it influenced how the game was played. Later seasons made it a little harder to do, as players were picked through the veto by a random draw, although there is still a "player's choice" option that can be drawn.
    • When Rachel returned to the house as a guest in Big Brother 12, there apparently Aint No Rule that says she couldn't leave a message to Brendon spelled out in pretzels. ("I <3 you | Matt")
    • evidently, it's not classified as a "Game show" by the FCC. Thus, they're able to pull off Ratings Stunt like borderline scripting the show.
  • Manipulative Editing: A lot of the stuff that happens in the house doesn't make it to the highlights show. Even then you don't see everything unless you watch all of the live feeds. This sometimes portrays a different character.
    • It can be shocking to watch the feeds and find that someone who's edited to be mouthy on the show is actually quite silent on the feeds. (Daniele, Ragan.) Or how someone who appears to be quite innocent is quite a cusser (Jeff).
    • What's probably the worst case was in week 5 of season 13. It was actually Shelly who approached Kalia with the idea to backdoor Porsche so that Jeff, Jordan, and Rachel would forgive Kalia and it would get her further in the game. Then that's when Daniele got upset with Kalia in the HOH room in that last part of the episode. However, the editors made it seem like Rachel did all the work and gave Shelly no credit whatsoever. Not to mention, Jeff made homophobic comments regarding Harry Potter. Did you know he did that? Well they certainly didn't want you to - they know the fanbase consists of people who are very anti-homophobe, and that Jeff, as a producer's pet....
  • Media Watchdog: Since the beginning, but especially after Evel Dick raised hell, the racist incident(s) in Celebrity Big Brother.
  • Moral Myopia: James during Big Brother: All Stars has too many examples to list, but the gist of the story is that he wanted Janelle to make the nominations that HE wanted when she was HOH in week four, and when she didn't comply, he got all pissy at her for the entirety of the game. This happened in spite of James' multiple betrayals to the Sovereigns.
  • Ms. Fanservice: In the UK at least one every year. Usually ends up on Nuts magazine.
  • Neon Sign Hideout: When Aisleyne was "evicted" to the secret House Next Door in Big Brother UK Series 7, the housemates could hear noises from where the House Next Door was located and sussed that there was a secret place.
    • In fact, the "sent next door" twist had been done so many times that in the 12th UK series, nominees Anton and Jay were secretly moved to the Big Brother Crypt, as they were "dead to the housemates". Despite the others being told that they had been evicted from the house they managed to suss that they were in fact living in a secret room.
  • No Damage Run: There were houseguests who managed to make it to the finale without being nominated or receiving very few nominations. Amanda&Sam in Big Brother 2007 UK received no nomination votes, while Josie in Big Brother 2010 never faced the public vote until the end.
    • The American version also has Danielle, Jun, Alison, Drew, Mike/Boogie, Daniele (8), Adam, Dan, and Lane, who made it to the final two without having an eviction vote cast against them. Alison probably fits closest to this trope, since she was never even nominated!
  • No Indoor Voice: Anamara in the tenth edition of the Brazillian version. And she's she used to be a police officer.
    • Also, Hayden and Rachel from season 12 of the US version.
  • Non Gameplay Elimination: Happens quite a bit, house guests either break rules (Fight Night in UK Version, N-Word Privileges, Turkey Slapping in Australia, the "Knife incident" & "Hirochima" in America come to mind) and get kicked out, or decide to leave (Sometimes due to family emergencies, injuries like Rima in Australia or Keeley in 2010, or just not wanting to play the game).
    • Interestingly, there have actually been a lot less house guests walking or being ejected in the US version. Only two house guests ever left the show (Neil in Season 9, who left because of a family emergency, Dick who also had a family emergency), while three were ejected. (Two of 'em being within the first week) In the recent UK season, four people walked.
    • Non Gameplay Elimination is even less common in the Brazilian Big Brother, wherein there have been no ejections and only three people leaving the show out of their own free will.
  • Noodle Incident: Sometimes, houseguests talk about incidents and events that happened in the house but were not shown on the show.
    • Sometimes; there is actually controversy around what happens on the live feeds that's not shown on the main show. Among these include comments and behaviour of Evel Dick that were not shown on the highlights, N-Word Privileges, Adam's comments towards Autistic people calling them "Retards", Jeff's homophobic comments towards Harry Potter (Especially worse since the movie had just been released around the time), and a LOT of Chima's house-deeds.
      • Averted when Chima was ejected from the house, though - before her outbursts, we had seen her make a racist tirade that was censored and...that's just about it, outside of verbally abusing Russell. However; the houseguests mention that Chima has broken rules from day one, but we hadn't seen any of this. Cue a flashback montage of Chima doing stuff like refusing to come to the diary room when called, covering cameras with blankets, and saying that she was going to say a bunch of terrible stuff on live television.
    • "Fibergate". Wherein Porsche put Fiber inside Muscle Milk. This wasn't aired on the live shows at all, yet people were talking about it on fan sites.
    • Jeff talking about his "Blow-up" with Shelly on live TV. This wasn't shown due to the Double Elimination show needing to be mostly filmed live, but houseguests had been talking about it during the live show.
    • On the UK version, Bonnie Holt's entire career as a social worker is one whole Noodle Incident in itself - making this trope merge with What Exactly Is His Job? in a way.
  • Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught: not exactly cheating, but actually playing the game(e.g., forming alliances, trying to gain popularity with the audience, scheming to eliminate strong participants) might actually make you an unpopular character... unless you manage to play so well no one realizes what you're doing.
  • Obfuscating Disability: Rachel Rice in the UK season apparently faked an illness to get off from work and get on the show. Sharon in the American season said that she had a bad back and this was why she couldn't win an endurance challenge. Later in the season, she said that her biggest lie in the game was that she had a bad back.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Bonnie Holt in the UK version
  • Obvious Rule Patch: US Season 4 switched to a Jury-of-7 vote with the jury sequestered after season 3, wherein Lisa won by a 9-1 vote to Danielle. most contestants changed their votes because of rude or insulting comments Danielle said about them in the dairy room.
    • After the five-fingered plan in Big Brother 5, a rule was added making the veto be a random draw. Some fans agree that this was a good idea since people who had watched the show would attempt to do this every year and reduce the power of "True" backdoors.
  • Odd Friendship: More prevalent in the American season where after the show, people became friends with their Sitcom Arch Nemesis. Key examples include Beau and Janelle and Ragan & Rachel.
    • Aisleyne and Imogen from the seventh UK series. Imogen's closest friend, Grace, HATED Aisleyne, and the feeling was mutual. Somehow, after Grace's eviction, Aisleyne and Imogen became close friends, and they still are to this day.
  • Once a Season: Certain shows have traditions, this show is no different.
  • Out of Focus: With editors picking their favourites and keeping them perpetually in focus, this sad fate is bound to happen to a couple houseguests.
  • Pixellation
  • Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Sovereign Six from Big Brother 6 and Big Brother: All Stars
    • Team Richard from Big Brother 7 UK, B Block from Big Brother 9 UK.
  • Ratings Stunt: Bringing back fan favourite duos, heavily slanting the season for them, casting new people as sacrificial lambs to be sent out while the returnees are promised jury, intentionally editing the newbies to be as Out of Focus as possible, introducing a twist to sabotage them when things start going against the veterans, this sounds terrible, doesn't it? sad thing is...it happened. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you...Season 13 US.
  • Reality Show Genre Blindness: Specific examples include:
    • In the UK version, about every year, people don't seem to remember that they aren't allowed to discuss nominations. This happens every year.
    • People who don't realize they'll be away from their families for awhile.
    • Common strategic blunders such as letting a deadly floater slip through.
    • Brendon telling Daniele that he and Rachel would win if they made it to the finals while trying to convince Daniele to not target them for eviction.
    • In the American version, people tend to make ballsy gameplay moves and are surprised that this winds up putting a target on their backs. Or if their alliance is targeted, are surprised that they get targeted, too. Really, this is why you want to be the middle man, since #2 is always the main target if #1 gets veto'd off the block.
      • Not to mention; winning competitions that aren't Luxury or Food competitions makes people perceive you as a threat and often gets you directly attacked or "backdoored". The show has a track record of people who don't really win that many competitions getting far in the game. (Ragan, Zach, Jameka, Sharon, Sheila, Kevin, Lane, "Chicken" George, Amy, Renny) Sometimes even winning. (Drew, Dan, Will, Lisa, Jordan, Maggie) And many times; they outlast "Power players" who win a bunch of competitions or try to be The Chessmaster but wind up being "Backdoored". (Jase, Kaysar, BB 6 Eric, BB 8 Eric, Jessica, Brian, Mike "The Don", BB 9 James, BB 10 April, BB 10 Michelle, Jessie, Brendon, Rachel, Jeff)
    • Volunteering to be nominated. On top of the counter-intuitive notion of immediately putting yourself at the mercy of your houseguests who can flip at the drop of a hat instead of getting guaranteed safety, especially in the early parts, this has proven to very rarely work.
      • And even though it worked for Evel Dick; he would have been the first member of the Jury had it not been for the tiebreaker being Eric, America's Player.
    • Opening Pandora's Box in the American version. In season 11, it seemed to give a bit of relatively harmless fun or catered to houseguests' greed. In season 12, it either stirred up drama in the house or affected the game (Diamond Power of veto, arguably Rachel coming in and leaving a message to evict Matt in Pretzels) However, in season 13, it basically threw a safety rope towards the Producers' Golden Girls and completely sabotaged the head of household week. One would wonder if it comes back again if people would even bother opening it!
      • Porsche actually confirmed on the feeds she was forced to open it. Most fans don't even think rejecting Pandora's Box is an option because every time it's been offered, it's been opened.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Brendon planned to do so after showmance partner Rachel was evicted.
    • On Season 6, Kaysar set up his own counter alliance against Eric/Cappy to avenge Michael's boot, and later in the season, Janelle uses her H.O.H win to avenge Kaysar's (second) boot.
    • In Season 13, Rachel intends to do this if Brendon is evicted.
  • Role-Ending Misdemeanor: Subverted. See here.
  • Scenery Porn: Some of the houses for these series have been very elaborate and very well-designed...only to be covered in a huge mess in a couple weeks.
  • Sdrawkcab Name: Several veto competitions have featured some kind of mascot or creature named "Otev".
  • The Snark Knight: Daniele Donato could be seen as this, especially during Season 13.
  • Spin-Off: Many, many type 9 spinoffs.
    • The UK series has most notably had: Big Brother's Little Brother, a BB news fanzine; Big Brother's Big Mouth, a BB public opinion/talk show; Big Brother Live, live streaming from the house; and Diary Room Uncut, in which notable Diary Room conversations were played in full. With the show's move to Channel 5, a new spinoff known as Big Brother's Bit on the Side exists: it functions similarly to BBLB and Big Mouth six days of the week, and on Sundays it's a quiz show.
    • The US version has Big Brother After Dark, a 3-hour block of live streaming from the house. Until Season 11 the US version also had House Calls, which was a talk show where viewers could call in questions.
    • The Australian version had: Live Nominations, which broadcast the housemates' nominations live; Uncut/Adults Only, which broadcast material that didn't fit the PG rating; UpLate, which was live streaming from the house late at night; and Friday Night Live, which had the housemates competing in a series of games for prizes (both gameplay bonuses and tangible prizes). In its final season, the Australian version adopted Big Mouth from the UK version.
  • Springtime for Hitler: When racing pundit John McCririck went into the house for Ultimate Big Brother, the UK edition's finale, he openly announced that he had gotten all of his friends and family to place large bets on him being the first to be evicted, and intended to behave in such a disgusting and offensive manner that he would definitely be the first person voted out. The trope was ultimately averted; despite an internet campaign to keep him in until at least the second eviction, McCririck was indeed the first person voted out (he wasn't the first person to leave, since Josie Gibson walked out the day before his eviction, but as McCririck himself pointed out, that wouldn't affect any bets on him being the first to be evicted by the public).
  • Stopped Numbering Sequels: The US version stopped numbering its seasons after 10.
  • Stupid Sexy Flanders: Matt not only found himself unwittingly in a homosexual showmance with Ragan, but near the end of his time in the house starting dreaming of shirtless Hayden.
  • Tall, Dark and Snarky: Dr. Will, Kaysar Ridha(occasionally filled this role), James Rhine(who doesn't have black hair, but fits the tall and snarky parts perfectly), Evel Dick, and Russell Kairouz.
  • The Bad Guy Wins: Will Kirby in US Season 2, Maggie Ausburn in US Season 6, Mike "Boogie" Malin in US Season 7 (All Stars) and "Evil" Dick Donato in US Season 8, Adam Jasinski in US Season 9 (he used his prize money to start a drug ring).
  • Transsexualism: This was featured in the Aussie version of Big Brother, where Miriam (of There's Something About Miriam fame) came on as a gag housemate. Famously featuring the line from hyperawareness-enabled housemate Ryan (Fitzy), "I see them frank-n-beans".
    • Also featured in the UK version with Nadia, who was revealed to be a male-to-female transsexual. She went on to be that year's winner.
    • The recent (2009-10) Philippine (Pinoy) version with Rica, who was evicted but returned as a housemate due to Kuya's (Big Brother's) request. She was in quite a feud with her father who didn't accept her change, but reconciled with him in the show.
    • The current Argentinian version has Alejandro, a female-to-male transsexual who entered the show expecting to obtain the money to pay for his sex change operation.
    • The current Brazillian version has Ariadna, a male-to-female transsexual hairdresser. Unlike Alejandro, she already made her sex change operation and is actually a pretty damn convincing female.
  • Turncoat
  • Twin Switch: This has been a common twist in the show. Averted by Big Brother 2007 UK wherein Amanda and Sam played separately; but later on played as one person.
    • Big Brother 5 US had this as one of the twists; and with a bit of Fridge Brilliance from the casting department. Adria and Natalie were the twins that were switching places...and several other contestants (Drew and Diane) had twins as well.
    • In one of the Australian editions; this worked for three weeks until one of the twins cut himself.
  • Unusual Euphemism: The Australian version's infamous "turkey-slapping"[2]. You can think the Australian media for that.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Brendan and Rachel in Season 13, mainly Rachel, whose had to have a psychiatrist called in to calm her down!
    • Chima's lead to her being the third houseguest to be forcefully ejected from the big brother house in the American series. During which, she threw her microphone into the hot tub.
    • Luke in BB 9 UK had one after his romantic interest Rebecca was evicted. His bitching went into total overdrive and he became noticeably more aggressive. He was evicted the following week, his final words being "watch your back in here, Lisa".
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: Hayden, US S12.
  • What Did I Do Last Night?: Quite common in the Norwegian and Brazillian versions.
  • Will They or Won't They?: For the couplings ("showmances") that sometimes happen on the show.
    • Happening in the Filipino version with Jason and Melissa, affectionately dubbed "Melason".
      • A more famous Filipino example: Kim and Gerald ("Kimerald") from Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition
    • Also occurring in Series 11 in the UK between chubby Bristolian Josie and Australian David Beckham lookalike John James. Unlikely to happen, but that doesn't stop the public from hoping.
    • Season 11 and 13 of BBUSA gave us Jeff and Jordan, the OTP of the Big Brother world...
      • ...While Season 12 and 13 gave us the Brenchel.
  • Writing Around Trademarks: Live feeds are cut off when contestants sing, except as part of a challenge, or mention trademarks.
    • If a contestant has a tattoo of something trademarked, it must be covered in a bandage or blurred out. (James in Big Brother 9.)
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Lawon thought he had figured out the twist and assumed it to be a mock eviction; and asked to be voted out because he assumed he'd re-enter the house with "Special powers", which he assumed to mean Coup de Tat, Diamond Power of Veto, or something else.
  • You Keep Using That Word: From the American Version:
    • Backdooring was used in Season 5 wherein through a play of Loophole Abuse (see Loophole Abuse) and Fridge Brilliance a player was put up on the block without even having a chance to defend himself. Nowadays, the term is essentially used for "evicting the Replacement Nominee". Nowadays; you can't really do true backdooring because a rule patch helped make it so that it wouldn't happen five or six times in a row every single year.
    • A Floater is a player who does not commit to any alliance except maybe one ally and only votes with the majority and goes to whichever alliance is Head of Household so they won't be targeted. They also do not try to win competitions that aren't food or luxury challenges until much later so they float under the radar. Brendon and Rachel appear to use the term "Floater" to describe anyone who is not aligned with them, or people who don't win competitions. (One can only wonder if they'd be calling Dr. Will a floater if he was playing with them, since his entire strategy was to not win a single competition that wasn't Luxury or food.)
  • Younger and Hipper: The days that a big fat slob like Chicken George Boswell could come within sniffing distance of being a contestant are way, way, way over.
    • Heck, even in other versions, the public normally keeps "interesting" houseguests in, which are often the neurotic ones or the eye-candy.
  1. ↑ Part of the reason they changed from it was because of George's hometown organized a mass callout to save him. Even in future seasons where viewers could impact the game, people attempted to do just that. In Season 11, Ronnie's wife posted instructions on how to bot the CBS website, and there were plenty of bots that countered the pro-Ronnie ones. When viewers sent saboteur suggestions in US Season 12, several of the messages were attempting to spoil secrets the saboteur(s) couldn't have known
  2. ↑ some guy teabagged a sleeping female housemate
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