julie chen

Big Brother Winners- From Worst To Best

Season 17 of Big Brother concluded last week with uber fan Steve Moses winning by a vote of 6-3 over Liz Nolan. It is hard to believe that this show has been around for 15 years now since it premiered in the summer of 2000, and what’s even harder to believe is that it was widely considered to not be renewed after an insanely lackluster first season. However, the show found a format that worked for its audience, and it has done a good job somewhat at maintaining that strategy since 2001 and keeping a loyal fan base throughout.

The show has had seventeen seasons, so of course it has had seventeen winners. Many of the winners have played a “snake in the grass” strategy where other ones have been brazen and bold since walking into the house on day one. Some have even done a good mixture of both. Question is, who did the best, and who did the worst? I am ranking the winners from worst to best, and you may be surprised to know who I think is the best in the end. Keep in mind that I am taking what happened outside of the game (Adam Jasinski, ahem) and just focusing on the game itself. Sound off on what you think fellow BB historians!

17. Lisa Donahue- Big Brother 3

Lisa was the antithesis to Will Kirby the summer before, and is part of the reason why she won the game overall as it was proven a nice person could win this thing. Problem is that Lisa didn’t deserve a goddamn vote from anyone on that jury. Yes she played a good game in terms of alignment and all of that, but when you are sitting next to arguably the best person to never win BB (Danielle Reyes) it is hard as a fan to understand what made Lisa’s game even a fraction better than Danielle’s. It was a hella bitter jury that was angry at Danielle due to her playing each and every one of them and that is why Lisa won. So in my eyes, Lisa didn’t win anything because of what she did, she won because of what Danielle did.

16. Hayden Moss- Big Brother 12

Hayden, just like Lisa, was a very likable player (even more so when he played Survivor). I just find that his win to be somewhat of a foregone conclusion as he really didn’t have a strategy at all besides aligning with three other dudes that dominated. I like my winners to have individual strategy, which neither him or runner up Lane seemed to possess. That is why he ranks low on my list.

15. Adam Jasinski- Big Brother 9

I hated this season for so many reasons (read here), but Adam just kept finding himself in the right place at the right time and really didn’t have any clout as to why he won in the end. Now he’s not winning in life at all.

14. Jordan Lloyd- Big Brother 11

YJordan’s strategy was to be nice and sweet. That’s it. It was hilarious watching her answer the jury questions which really was just talking in circles to where i couldn’t even figure out what she was saying. I hated Natalie but at least she had a cohesive strategy to get to the end. It was a bit Lisa/Danielle again with these two and that’s why Jordan won.

13. Steve Moses- Big Brother 17

I gotta give credit to Steve as making it past 16 other players is incredible in the first place. He just made so many bad moves to get to the end that it’s hard to figure out how he really made it there. During the live double eviction, he put up Meg and Jackie, which made virtually no sense. Him and Johnny had ample opportunities to get rid of Austwins and Austin, and they just kept them in the game. I just feel if you are a BB historian and things are that blatantly obvious, you should go after a visible alliance and get rid of them. That simple. Kudos however for getting rid of Vanessa in the end.

12. Eddie McGee- Big Brother 1

Yes this season was forgettable and was such a different format compared to what it is now. Eddie did a great job though of getting the American public to like him and that is why he won in the end. Also, with a group of people in the end who were just nice and plain people, Eddie had a fire and bold personality that at least made it semi interesting to watch.

11. Andy Herren- Big Brother 15

This season was filled with scummy people. Andy wasn’t one of them, thank god. Andy’s likability helped him win in the end, like Lisa and Jordan, and he won due to his great ability of floating. His best move in the game was creating The Exterminators and convincing McCrae that Elissa voted out Amanda during the double eviction when it was really him. He ranks low on my list though as I for one have never been the biggest fan of blatant floaters winning this game.

Drew Daniel, one of the houseguests on BIG BROTHER 5. Photo: Tony Esparza/CBS ©2004 CBS BROADCASTING INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. — Credit to: Tony Esparza/CBS

10. Drew Daniel- Big Brother 5

Drew did a great job at winning competitions and screwing over his girlfriend in the end. He barely beat Michael though, something that he would’ve had the same problem doing with Diane. Had it been him and Nakomis in the end, he wouldn’t have had a snowflakes chance in hell of winning. That is why he ranks low on this list as he didn’t really have that much of a cohesive strategy to win this thing with a majority.

Rachel Reilly, Manhattan Digest, Big Brother — Credit to: Cartermatt.com

9. Rachel Reilly- Big Brother 13

I will say that I loved Rachel in her original season, and had her and Brendan not made themselves such outsiders and tried to form an alliance with the rest of the house to take The Brigade out, she would’ve had a very good shot at winning BB12. However I really think Rachel won BB13 because she proved that she could be a great gamer without her boyfriend there, and was a much better strategist than Porsche to win in the end.

8. Mike “Boogie” Malin- Big Brother 7 All Stars

Mike was the second to last choice to be in the BB7 house and I think he was planted there to resurrect the Chilltown alliance which he did a very good job in doing so. Many people see Will as doing the majority of the work however Mike did an amazing job at playing literally everyone in that jury (more than anyone Erika) and won the game in doing so.

7. Maggie Ausburn- Big Brother 6

Everyone hated Maggie and her alliance. I personally couldn’t stand the 4 others in that alliance but the one person I thought was playing a great game was Maggie. Maggie simply won because it took her 15 minutes to convince Howie to nominate James and Sarah which for the most part kept The Friendship alliance having power until the end of the game. She easily manipulated April and Ivette in the end to have them fight with each other and she just sat back and watch it implode. And she developed great bonds with people like Ivette so when it came time to decide who to take to the end, Ivette chose her over Janelle (which was an insanely stupid decision). That is why Maggie ranks so high on my list as she really was an insanely smart strategist.

6. Dick Donato- Big Brother 8

Big Brother 8 was hard to watch sometime due to the antics of Dick, however I watched that season over recently and kind of understand what he was trying to do. You are literally in a hamster wheel for three months and he was doing whatever it took to get into the minds of these people and mess with them to where their insecurities was ever present and thus so became weaker and weaker in the game. He also did great in competitions and aligned with his daughter the whole game to get himself to the end and win.

Jun Song, Big Brother, Manhattan Digest — Credit to: Gold Derby

5. Jun Song- Big Brother 4

Jun played an absolutely outstanding game in Big Brother 4. She masterfully manipulated her ex Je and then when the time came she got rid of him as he was a huge threat to win this game in the end. Knowing this to be true, she aligned with the most hated person in the house (Alison) and watch Allie take person after person out including Robert in the end. Alison had so much blood on her hands, that Jun was clearly viewed as the lesser of two evils and won the game (rightfully so). Using something as simple as cooking is incredible and played a big part of her winning as well. I think Jun’s win is very underestimated and she played a much better game than anyone else in that house.

Ian Terry, Manhattan Digest, Big Brother — Credit to: Wikia

4. Ian Terry- Big Brother 14

I had a hunch that Ian had this game on lock from a very early stage. He was really the only person to see how Dan was operating in the game, which is why he focused on aligning with him to the end where several jury members were bitter and angry towards the BB10 winner. Now usually I can’t stand when the jury angrily votes for the lesser of two people to win a game (See: Lisa), however Ian really did play such an amazing strategic, mental and physical game that it made sense for him to win in the end. He went from student to master in a matter of two months. That my friends, is amazing.

Derrick Levasseur, Manhattan Digest, Big Brother — Credit to: fansofrealitytv.com

3. Derrick LeVasseur- Big Brother 16

I wasn’t really a fan of BB16 as it was full of a bunch of people who really didn’t understand how to play the game. Derrick however, was not one of those people. Derrick brilliantly made it through to the end of the game by forming The Hitmen alliance that brutally took each and every person out of the game, and just like Maggie did to Ivette, he had Cody take out the last remaining player in Victoria which rode him to victory. The fact that he made it that far in the game to final three and was never on the nomination block is a testament to how amazing he played the game.

Dan Gheesling, Manhattan Digest, Big Brother — Credit to: Wikia

2. Dan Gheesling- Big Brother 10

I find that every generation of Big Brother has its legendary winners. The first was someone who I will be writing about shortly, the latter is Derrick and in the middle we have Dan Gheesling. Dan could’ve easily been second out in BB10 after his alliance member Brian got the boot in week one. However Dan took that downfall and completely reversed it for himself by allowing the rest of the houseguests to implode on each other and take each other out each week. He aligned with Memphis all the way to the end where he won the game easily as people saw Dan’s game as superior over Memphis. Job well done.

Manhattan Digest, Will Kirby, Big Brother — Credit to: Wikia

1. Will Kirby- Big Brother 2

The Michael Jordan of Big Brother. Don’t need to write much here. If you have watched since the beginning, you know why Will is viewed as the best player to ever play this game, and how he should be the only two time winner besides Dan for his amazing effort in BB All Stars. Legend.

Big Brother 15- The Season That Could’ve Been

by Ryan Shea

Every season lately I go into Big Brother thinking it will be somewhat reminiscent of the older seasons, when real fans of the show were picked and not aspiring actors/models/douchebags and people voted on who THEY wanted out and not vote in a group consensus which equals to being a complete coward. This season was quite possibly the worst season of BB with the exception of the oft forgotten Season 9 (You know how the guy that won ran into a zillion drug problems with the law and another guy went to jail for beating up his pregnant girlfriend. Keep it classy). Even with the cast being as bad as it was, this season had so many problems from the get go that even an avid BB fan that i am didn’t really watch it in the beginning. I started truly watching when Aryan, oh wait I’m sorry Aaryn, received a ton of media attention for her lovely racist ways and it brought me back to see what had really developed on the show. Since that time, I have been watching it non stop and have come to several conclusions on what went wrong with this season, and ultimately how each houseguest performed in their stay. Here is how I viewed things-

MVP Epic Fail- When Julie Chen announced the first twist on her show “The Talk”, I really thought it was an innovative way to keep this show fresh and new. That was, until I saw that Elissa was a part of this cast and had the feeling that because of the whole “Brenchel” army thing that she was going to get the MVP every week. It was very frustrating because there were so many ways that they could’ve made this MVP thing more fun. For instance- take the top 3 America voted that week and then have the houseguests themselves vote on who the MVP would be. America/the producers tend to rig things so if the houseguests voted that would make the paranoia, alliances and everything else that much more on a heightened level and therefore enjoyable. But all we saw was Elissa be in control and then Amanda be on the block every week because America despised her/Aaryn wasn’t eligible.

16 PEOPLE!!- I’m all for a bigger cast each year, but 16 became kind of a bit much. Plus this was an extended season so the usual 70-75 days they spend in the BB house became 90 days. It just felt like it went on for a while and because there weren’t that many likable people in the game it just felt like it dragged on (and still feels like that). When the four jury members came back into the game that one night, I was like- JESUS were are 70 days into this game and there are still like 11 people in the house. WTF. It just became exasperating and that is that.

Now onto how each player in eviction order-

David- You were the a typical “asshat” lifeguard who only came on the show to have a showmance with the racist. As Andy lovely put it, “You Won A Hamburger”. That’s all you put into this game. BAI.

Nick- Nick was really one of the only likable contestants I saw in the beginning, but Elissa made a very smart move in nominating him as MVP and then Helen doing all the work to get him out. As I’ve said recently regarding GM- run for the mother fucking hills dude.

Jeremy- Winegate. Rubbing your ass on other people’s clothes. Homophobia. Sexism. Putting people down. That’s all you, brah. What a great guy you are.

Kaitlin- Kaitlin at that point was viewed as the strongest of the “Mean Girls” alliance and the house was smart for getting her out. Looking back it should’ve been Aaryn that week due to that in the weeks after she became a beast of a competitor, but Kaitlin was the smart choice and she could’ve gone the distance I believe had she stayed.

Howard- I loved Howard for so many reasons besides the fact that he is beyond sexy. He was a true gentleman in the game and never raised his voice when he had ample opportunities to do so in regards to the insane racism that so many other things that happened. He protected Candice and was just an all around good guy. The problem he had was his physical stature and his lie to Helen regarding that ridiculous alliance he had in the beginning of the game. I hope he gets to play again in future seasons because I really think he wasn’t given a fair shot.

Candice- My boo. Although she got a little bat shit cray cray in the house, I really loved Candice because she was an expressive individual that unfortunately played with her emotions too much in this game and that is why she left. She was really smart as to be the first one in the house to try to get Amanda out but unfortunately it was to no avail. I think she is one of the only wildcard votes in the jury house also.

Jessie- Put it this way- sweet girl but had no power whatsoever in the game to do anything as she was always in the bottom end of the totem pole in both alliances she was in.

Helen- From week 2 I had Helen truly making the distance in this game. She reminded me of a lot of people that won this game in past years from Maggie to Dan in that she had a firm grip on her alliance and was a great leader that people listened to. She had one big problem- Andy, who I believe was the reason for her demise, not Amanda. Him swaying to the 4AM Alliance really helped him out for a while and that side was able to get out a truly great competitor. If they do All Stars again, I hope she is someone considered.

Aaryn- BOY OH BOY I CAN’T WAIT FOR WEDNESDAY! Why? For so many reasons. This is where I truly hope CBS gets really smart and shows EVERYTHING SHE SAID so that she can get a better idea of how much of a disgusting, vile piece of shit that she truly is. No, your mother can’t even help you out in this one girl. You did this yourself. As awesome as that eviction interview that Ms. Chen did it didn’t even scratch the mark in terms of all the nasty and putrid things you said in the game. Good luck in the future Aaryn with anything, you are royally screwed for life and if you would’ve just kept your damn mouth shut and faked it in this game we would’ve rooted for you because you were a badass competitor. Stupid.

Amanda- You are a scary girl. They gave you an amazing edit almost to the end but for everyone who watched the live feeds and saw who you really were really is why you were the one on the block every week thanks to MVP. Amanda really was a smart cookie in the game as she controlled a good amount of the evictions until Elissa won HOH and that’s when everything crumbled and her power was no more. I give GM a ton of credit for putting her McRanda on the block and sending her out of the game as she would’ve been a tough one to beat in the end. She is a mixture of Dr. Will in terms of gameplay and Evil Dick in terms of mouthiness. Yikes.

Elissa- So boring and forgetful I forgot to even include you in the original posting of this article. Wow. You played this game as such a polar opposite of Rachel in terms of how quiet and non-confrontational you were. That is all in fine, as Rachel got quite annoying in the game sometimes, but it took you almost 60 days to win a damn competition and do things. I do have to admit that you were pretty smart when it came to putting up the right people when you were MVP (David, Nick) but besides that you were just a wallflower that really wasn’t going to garner any votes in the end. Sorry/Not Sorry.

Judd- The Stud? Judd played a really great game originally and if Helen were to look back on things she would’ve convinced Aaryn to either A- keep the nominations of Spencer/Jessie the same, or B- get Amanda out that night. She went after the wrong person. As happy as I was for Judd to come back into the game, he really didn’t do much game play upon his arrival except for the whole “Exterminators” deal. The fellow 3 exterminators were smart to get rid of him yet I do wonder if he would’ve garnered any votes in the end of the game based off the idea that he got a 2nd chance to play.

McCrae- I had such high hopes for this guy originally in this game. He had the chance to be that Dan, Ian or Dr. Will and he blew it by hiding in Amanda’s panties the entire summer. Seriously. He won the first HOH and then after that had Amanda do all the dirty work while he slept all summer and didn’t socialize. The only vote he would’ve gotten in the end was Amanda’s, that’s it. He only has himself to blame for this one.

As for the remaining three, I will save that for a later article detailing who has the best chance to win in this game and ultimately how I think they made it to the end of the game. Needless to say, this wasn’t a good season of Big Brother at all and I hope in future seasons that the producers learn from their mistakes and just cast FANS of this game and not you know, racists. Check out the finale this Wednesday night at 9:30 pm Eastern on CBS.

julie chen

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