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About The Game

Big Brother is a reality television show in which a group of people live together in a large house, isolated from the outside world but continuously watched by television cameras. Each series lasts for around three months, and there are 10-17 participants. The housemates try to win a cash prize by avoiding periodic evictions from the house.

Beginning on its second season, Big Brother US deviated from its original format and introduced a new form of game mechanics that focuses more on gameplay, strategy and competition rather than organic relationships and authenticity. This format has been in use since and has developed over time. In this new format, the American public's power over the house has been transferred to the houseguests themselves as they are now responsible for evicting their fellow houseguests. Because of this drastic change, the housemates are now allowed to influence other houseguests and strategize on who to evict, resulting to the creation of alliances. Further, a various special powers have been added into the game, namely Head of Household and Power of Veto, thus changing the gameplay of the American version completely different to that of its international counterparts.

Head of Household

Every week, the houseguests compete in a Head of Household competition wherein the winner will be named as the Head of Household. The HoH gains safety for the week along with its perks such as having his/her own private suite and gifts/photos from home. However, the HoH also gains the responsibility to name two nominees that will face eviction.

Nominations

In the nomination ceremony, the Head of Household must announce his/her nominees to the rest of the houseguests and must state valid reasons for their nomination often through a speech. Throughout the week, the nominees are allowed secure their safety by encouraging and influencing other houseguests to save them against their fellow nominee.

Power of Veto

Since Big Brother 3 (US), a special power called Power of Veto has been in play, giving the nominees a chance to remove themselves off the block. In Big Brother 3 and Big Brother 4 (US), all houseguests are allowed to compete in a Power of Veto competition and the winner will have the power to save a nominee, prompting the Head of Household to replace a nominee. If the Power of Veto holder decides not to use the veto, the nominations will remain the same. In Big Brother 5 (US) and Big Brother 6 (US), only six players were allowed to compete in the veto competition, with the Head of Household and the two Nominees each selecting one houseguest to compete. Since Big Brother 7 (US), the other three houseguests competing are selected by random draw.

Alliances

As the format allows housemates to strategize, the most of the housemates have formed alliances during their time in the house to further themselves in the game. An alliance is a group of housemates that are considered loyal to each other by working together throughout the game.

Eviction

During the live eviction, the houseguests must individually go to the Diary Room to cast their eviction vote and the nominee with the highest amount of votes will be evicted. In addition, the Head of Household is not allowed to cast a vote, unless there has been a tie.

Jury

The Jury is a council usually consisting of 7 to 9 houseguests that have been evicted out of the game, and they have the responsibility to select the winner at the end of the season.

Finale

As of Big Brother 11 (US), only three houseguests are allowed to reach the live finale, but only two houseguests will remain for the Jury vote. The two remaining houseguests must persuade the Jury via speech to vote them as their winner. At the end of their speech, the jury will individually cast their vote live and the finalist with the most jury votes will be named the winner. Prior to season 11, the third place finisher was determined days earlier, leaving only the final two to reach finale and thus the Jury vote.