Big Brother 16 (American season)

Big Brother 16 is the sixteenth season of the American reality television series Big Brother. The new season premiered on June 25, 2014 on CBS making it the earliest premiere date for a summer season Big Brother in the U.S. It is the first season to be broadcast in high definition, the final television series to do so among the major broadcast networks (as Let's Make a Deal on CBS Daytime switched earlier for tapings beginning June 2014). The season premiere will be a two-night event, with the premiere episode airing on June 25 and the next episode airing on June 26.

Development

Big Brother 16 was officially announced on September 12, 2013, a week before the finale of the previous season. In March 2014, casting began with applicants being to able to apply online or attend open casting calls throughout the country.

On May 19, 2014, CBS released a teaser commercial for Season 16 including small clips from past seasons, including diary room moments saying Big Brother famous phrases such as "Expect the Unexpected". A new commercial was released teasing a 2-night "move-in event."

On June 6, 2014, CBS announced that both Big Brother 16 and Let's Make a Deal, the last two CBS shows that were not in high-definition, woue the switch for their upcoming seasons (the latter started taping June 4 in high-definition). It is a move CBS has been trying to do for three years but was unable to do so until this year.

Website The Hollywood Reporter interviewed house designer Scott Storey who revealed that the theme was "Urban Treehouse" saying: "This year’s theme is urban treehouse. A note from the network was that they wanted it to feel urban, young and playful and urban treehouse seemed like a perfect place to start".

Press interviews were filmed on June 17 and the cast was announced on June 19. The HouseGuests moved into the house on June 21, 2014. The show premiered in two parts in two nights on June 25 and June 26, 2014. Eight of the sixteen houseguests - Amber, Cody, Devin, Donny, Frankie, Joey, Nicole and Paola - were introduced, shown entering the house and took part in the first Head of Household competition of the season.

Twists

Battle of the Block

On June 18, 2014, Julie Chen announced a few twists on The Talk. In comparison to previous seasons of Big Brother which featured a single Head of Household, this season would involve two Heads of Household. Each HoH would have their own suite. Each Head of Household would nominate two other housemates, which also increases the total nominees to four, two more nominees than the majority of other seasons. However, both Heads of Household would not be safe. A new competition entitled "Battle of the Block" features both pairs of nominees competing to win safety. The winning pair would be removed from the block, with the Head of Household who nominated them dethroned. The dethroned Head of Household would later be eligible to be nominated after the Power of Veto has been used.

Team America

During the first premiere show, host Julie Chen further explained a twist called "Team America", which she had mentioned beforehand on The Talk. This twist involves the public voting and choosing three houseguests who would form an alliance in the house (unbeknownst to the other houseguests) and would work together to change the game and perform secret missions throughout the season. Fans had previously been asked to vote for which houseguest they would want to form an alliance with, based off of short biographies given by the houseguests themselves. Fans were able to vote a maximum of 20 times on the official Big Brother 16 website. The houseguests with the most amount of votes would become the first member of "Team America." The winner of this poll would be revealed in the second premiere show. On the second premiere show, Julie announced that Joey was voted by America as the first member of Team America, it was announced that the second member would be announced on the next live show.

Summary

On Day 1, Julie introduced eight of the sixteen HouseGuests who are moving in first. Amongst the eight were two former pro athletes, a recent nursing grad, a make-up artist, a school groundskeeper, a model, a DJ, and the older brother of a pop star. They immediately suspected a twist once only half of them were standing on Day 1. Once entering the house Paola and Devin then saw an opportunity to make an eight person alliance against the others who will be entering on Day 2, which later became "The Crazy 8's". Afterwards, Paola started to flirt with Cody to get him as an ally. Devin made a side alliance with Donny calling themselves the "Double D's". The four girls later formed an "El Cuatro" alliance after Amber and Paola were adamant about a female winning this season. Later on, the eight HouseGuests competed in the first HoH competition: Go Fly a Kite. The goal was to hold your balance on the rotating log while trying to keep your kite from crushing the sand castle. Frankie won and became the first HoH. Afterwards, Julie told the eight that when the other eight arrive, another HoH would reign and that neither HoH would be safe just yet. Following this announcement, Julie informed the public that they would be select three people to form an alliance called "Team America". Those three will be chosen by poll and will be given tasks by the American public. Upon successful completion, each HouseGuest would receive $5,000.

On Day 2, Julie introduced the remaining eight HouseGuests who had yet to move in. This included an event coordinator, a hunting guide, a photographer, a barista, a police officer, a minister, a pedicab driver, and a recent college graduate. Once everyone moved inside the house, the two groups begin to naturally coalesce, with Frankie even wanting Victoria on his side as an ally. Later on, Julie called everyone into the backyard for the second group's HoH competition: Over the Coal. The goal of this competition is that the HouseGuests must hold on to rotating stiff to be the last one standing and the second HoH. The girls quickly fell off one by one, with Zach and Derrick following suit afterwards. Caleb ultimately became the last man standing, becoming the second HoH. Soon after, Julie informed the HouseGuests about how the dual-HoH twist would work this summer; both Frankie and Caleb will make their own separate nominations, which means that a total of four nominees will be up on the block. Following the nominations, those four will compete as duos in the Battle of the Block competition, where they are given the opportunity to save themselves from pre-veto nomination. If that duo wins the competition, the HoH who nominated them will be dethroned and their nominations will be null and void. However, the former nominees (along with the dethroned HoH) will be eligible for post-veto nomination.

HouseGuests

Main article: List of Big Brother 16 HouseGuests (U.S.)

Name	Age on entry	Occupation	Residence
Amber Borzotra	26	Esthetician	North Hollywood, California
Brittany Martinez	29	Event coordinator	Torrance, California
Caleb Reynolds	26	Adventure hunting guide	Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Christine Brecht	23	Barista	Tucson, Arizona
Cody Calafiore	23	Sales account executive	Howell, New Jersey
Derrick Levasseur	30	Police officer	Providence, Rhode Island
Devin Shepherd	26	Motorcycle sales manager	San Antonio, Texas
Donny Thompson	42	Groundskeeper	Albemarle, North Carolina
Frankie Grande	31	YouTube personality	New York, New York
Hayden Voss	21	Pedicab driver	Long Beach, California
Jocasta Odom	33	Minister	Lovejoy, Georgia
Joey Van Pelt	27	Makeup Artist	Seattle, Washington
Nicole Franzel	21	Nursing graduate	Ubly, Michigan
Paola Shea	27	DJ	Astoria, New York
Victoria Rafaeli	22	Photographer	Weston, Florida
Zach Rance	23	College graduate	Palm Beach, Florida

Have-Nots

	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Week 10	Week 11	Week 12
Have-Nots	Cody Joey

Voting history

		Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Week 10	Week 11	Week 12		Eviction votes received
														Finale
Head(s) of Household		Frankie												(none)
		Caleb
Nominations (pre-veto)
Battle of the Block Winners
Veto Winner													(none)
Nominations (post-veto)
Amber
Brittany
Caleb		Head of Household
Christine
Cody
Derrick
Devin
Donny		Nominated
Frankie		Head of Household
Hayden
Jocasta
1	Joey
Nicole
Paola		Nominated
Victoria
Zach
Notes
Evicted

Notes

• ^Note 1 :   A member of "Team America"

Team America

The Team America was adapted from Big Brother 8's "America's Player. During the first 3 weeks America will vote for who they want to form an alliance with. As per the "America's Player" twist, these three houseguest that form of "Team America" will be given missions from the American Public.

Reception

Viewing figures

#	Air Date	United States					Source
		Households (rating/share)	18–49 (rating/share)	Viewers (millions)	Rank (timeslot)	Rank (night)
1	Wednesday, June 25	?	2.3/9	6.64	1	1

External links

• CBS Official Site
• Global TV Official Site
• Official Casting Website