America’s Favorite Houseguest is Big Brother’s viewer-voted season-end award. The public chooses one houseguest from that season, and the recipient takes a cash prize announced during the live finale. It does not decide who wins Big Brother — that is the jury’s vote between the final two.
- Chosen by: The viewing public, not the jury.
- Announced: Live on finale night, after the winner of the game.
- Prize now: $50,000. It was $25,000 through Big Brother 22.
- Under this name since: Big Brother 11, in 2009.
- Before that: A jury-only viewer prize in Big Brother 7, 9 and 10.
- Never awarded: Big Brother 1 through 6, and Big Brother 8.
- Effect on the game: None. It is a recognition prize with cash attached.
The award changes no nominations, no vetoes and no ballots. Audience votes that do move the game — America’s Vote and America’s Choice — are a different mechanic entirely, and they run during the season rather than at the end of it.
How does America’s Favorite Houseguest voting work?
The eligible houseguest with the most public votes wins. Voting runs online through CBS.com, it is free, and the window opens in the closing stretch of the season and shuts on finale morning.
- Where: Online at CBS.com.
- Cost: Free. A Paramount+ subscription has not been required.
- Opens: Roughly a week to ten days before the finale.
- Closes: 9:00 a.m. Pacific on finale day — the same close time in Big Brother 24, 25 and 27.
- How it is decided: Highest vote total. No ranked or weighted system has ever been used.
- Revealed: By the host, live, after the winner of the game.
The cap on how many times one person can vote has moved. Big Brother 24 through Big Brother 26 ran at roughly ten votes per account for the whole window. Big Brother 27 split it: five votes free, and five more unlocked by watching an advertisement, with the bonus five unable to go entirely to the same houseguest as the first five.
No tie-break rule has ever been published, and no tie has been recorded.
Who can win America’s Favorite Houseguest?
Almost anybody from the season. Eligibility is era-dependent, though, and it has not always been the whole cast.
- Jurors: Eligible, and most recipients have been jurors.
- Pre-jury houseguests: Eligible in the modern era. Tucker took it in Big Brother 26 without ever reaching the jury.
- Finalists: Eligible. Tyler won it as the Big Brother 20 runner-up.
- The season winner: Eligible. Taylor won Big Brother 24 and the favorite prize in the same night.
- Voluntary exits: Excluded.
- Expelled houseguests: Excluded.
The exclusion has real names attached to it. Chima was ruled out of the Big Brother 11 vote after being expelled. Willie was ruled out in Big Brother 14 on the same grounds. Megan was left off the Big Brother 19 ballot after withdrawing on day eight, Paloma off the Big Brother 24 ballot after withdrawing, and Luke off the Big Brother 25 ballot after being expelled.
An ordinary early eviction is a different thing and carries no penalty. Nor does a twist elimination — a Battle Back, a Camp Comeback, a special format. Those are not voluntary departures and they are not rule violations. For the full record of exits that did not happen through a house vote, see Big Brother’s expelled and self-evicted houseguests.
How much money does America’s Favorite Houseguest win?
$50,000 since Big Brother 23. Before that it was $25,000, going all the way back to the award’s first appearance.
- Big Brother 7: $25,000, jury-only.
- Big Brother 8: no favorite prize at all.
- Big Brother 9 and 10: $25,000, still jury-only.
- Big Brother 11 to 22: $25,000, open to the whole cast.
- Big Brother 23 onward: $50,000.
It is separate from placement money and stacks on top of it. Tyler collected the runner-up prize and the favorite prize on the same night in Big Brother 20. Taylor collected the grand prize and the favorite prize in Big Brother 24, for $800,000 across the two.
The jump to $50,000 landed in the same season the grand prize went from $500,000 to $750,000 and the runner-up prize went from $50,000 to $75,000. Production has never explained why all three moved together.
When did America’s Favorite Houseguest start?
The name starts with Big Brother 11 in 2009. The prize itself is older, and for its first three outings it was not open to the whole house.
What came before America’s Favorite Houseguest?
Big Brother 1 through 6 had no season-end favorite prize. The first season let the public pick the winner of the game outright, which is a different thing entirely.
Big Brother 7 introduced it: $25,000, restricted to the jury, announced on finale night. Janelle received it. Recaps written that same week in 2006 report the prize being announced on air as America’s Choice; the name America’s Favorite Juror came into use later. Either way it was the jury-only version, and it should not be back-labelled as America’s Favorite Houseguest.
Big Brother 8 skipped it. That season ran America’s Player instead, with viewers assigning tasks to Eric during the game for cash. A different mechanic, and not a favorite award.
Big Brother 9 and 10 brought the jury-only $25,000 prize back as America’s Favorite Juror. James took it in Big Brother 9, Keesha in Big Brother 10. Big Brother 10 is the last season where only jurors could win.
Big Brother 11 renamed it and opened the ballot past the jury, including to the eventual winner of the game. Jeff received the first one under the modern name.
One more naming note. America’s Favorite Player is the same modern award under a different name — OBB’s own finale posts have used it for years, and so has much of the press. It is not a separate era and it has never had different rules. It is also not America’s Player, the Big Brother 8 twist.
Who has won America’s Favorite Houseguest?
The predecessor seasons are listed on their own so they are not quietly folded into the modern award. Where the show named the other top vote-getters on finale night, they are included.
The jury-only prize
- Big Brother 7 — Janelle: juror, third place · $25,000 · the first year the prize ran.
- Big Brother 8: no favorite prize.
- Big Brother 9 — James: juror · $25,000.
- Big Brother 10 — Keesha: juror · $25,000 · the last jury-only vote.
America’s Favorite Houseguest — the $25,000 years
- Big Brother 11 — Jeff: juror · first under the modern name.
- Big Brother 12 — Britney: fourth place.
- Big Brother 13 — Jeff: juror, seventh evicted · his second.
- Big Brother 14 — Frank: juror.
- Big Brother 15 — Elissa: fifth place · Judd and Howard took the next-most votes.
- Big Brother 16 — Donny: juror.
- Big Brother 17 — James: ninth place · Johnnymac and Jason rounded out the top three.
- Big Brother 18 — Victor: third place · re-entered the game after an earlier eviction.
- Big Brother 19 — Cody: seventh place · evicted, returned, evicted again.
- Big Brother 20 — Tyler: runner-up · the only time it has gone to second place.
- Big Brother 21 — Nicole A: third place.
- Big Brother 22 — Da’Vonne: seventh place · Tyler was next closest · the last year at $25,000.
America’s Favorite Houseguest — the $50,000 years
- Big Brother 23 — Tiffany: fourth place · the first year at the higher amount · Derek X was runner-up.
- Big Brother 24 — Taylor: winner of the season · Michael and Kyle were the other two named.
- Big Brother 25 — Cameron: not a finalist · Cirie and Matt were the other two named.
- Big Brother 26 — Tucker: pre-jury · Angela and Quinn were next · the first recipient never to reach the jury.
- Big Brother 27 — Keanu: juror · more than 65% of the vote · Rachel and Will were the other two named.
The America’s Favorite Houseguest records
It has gone to every tier of the game, from a houseguest evicted before jury to the person who won the whole season.
- Only repeat recipient: Jeff, in Big Brother 11 and again in Big Brother 13.
- Only season winner to take both: Taylor, Big Brother 24, for $800,000 across the two prizes.
- Only runner-up to take it: Tyler, Big Brother 20.
- Third-place recipients: Victor in Big Brother 18 and Nicole A in Big Brother 21. Janelle was third when she took the jury-only prize in Big Brother 7.
- First pre-jury recipient: Tucker, Big Brother 26.
- Only vote share ever disclosed: Keanu’s, announced on air at more than 65% in Big Brother 27.
Most finales name a top two or a top three and stop there. Runner-up percentages are not released, so no season can honestly be called the closest favorite vote ever. Big Brother 23 was described on the night as very close between Tiffany and Derek X, but that is a description and not a count.
Is America’s Favorite Houseguest the same as America’s Vote?
No. America’s Favorite Houseguest is one retrospective vote, revealed after the game is decided, with money attached and no power. America’s Vote and America’s Choice are in-season audience twists — a returnee, a care package, Have-Not food, a player taking orders. They change the week they run. This one does not change anything.
Big Brother 7 is where the two get blurred, and understandably so: that summer used America’s Vote language for more than one audience beat, and the jury cash prize was announced under a name of the same family. The modern title from Big Brother 11 onward is the clean one.
Is America’s Favorite Houseguest chosen by the jury?
No. The public chooses it. The jury has a different job entirely — deciding which of the final two wins Big Brother.
The early seasons are the reason people ask. Big Brother 7, 9 and 10 limited the candidates to jurors, which is not the same as letting the jury vote. The voters were the public throughout.
On a modern finale the order runs: jury questions, jury vote, winner of the game, then the favorite prize. The favorite result cannot move ballots the jury has already cast.
Does America’s Favorite Houseguest affect the game?
No. It grants no safety, no veto and no vote, and it is announced once the season is already over. Houseguests talk about it on the feeds anyway, because $50,000 is real money and everybody in that house knows it — but the talk is not a rule, and campaigning for it has never been shown to move it.
For the people who won the game itself, see Big Brother past winners. The favorite prize is read out on finale night alongside that result, never instead of it.