The Never Not Pass is a Big Brother prize that exempts the houseguest holding it from being a Have-Not for the rest of the season. Whoever has it cannot be put on slop or moved into the Have-Not room, however they finish a competition.
- What it does: Permanent exemption from being named a Have-Not.
- How long: The rest of the season.
- First one: Big Brother 15, June 2013.
- Held by: Four houseguests, four seasons.
- Offered and refused: Twice.
- Can it be traded: Nobody has ever established that it can.
There is nothing to play and nothing to activate. It applies on its own, every week: when the week’s Have-Nots are named, the holder is simply passed over.
It saves nobody from the block and wins nothing. What it removes is a whole category of risk — whether the week’s Have-Nots come out of a competition or straight off the Head of Household’s list, the holder is out of reach.
How the Never Not Pass Is Won
There is no single route in. Over sixteen years the show has put it into play six different ways, and twice nobody took it.
Hidden prize box
Buried in an opening Head of Household competition: drop out and take a one-in-two chance on a pair of sealed boxes, one holding the pass and one holding nothing.
Mid-competition trade-off
Stop and claim it, take the cash instead, or keep pushing for the Head of Household — with the whole thing ending the moment somebody claimed the win. One player took all three.
America’s Care Package
Viewers voted on which houseguest received it, and it was parachuted into the backyard.
Veto-point auction
Put up for sale against veto points, and left on the table.
A vote on the prize
Viewers were asked whether to offer the pass or offer cash. They picked the cash, so that season’s vote ended with nobody playing for it.
The Time Capsule
A fan vote sent one houseguest per round into the capsule to play for a power pulled from a past season. The pass was the last one out.
Every Never Not Pass in Big Brother
Won
- Big Brother 15 — Jeremy, 26 June 2013: won on the premiere. David dropped first and picked the empty box; Jeremy dropped next and picked the other one. Our post from that night.
- Big Brother 17 — Becky, 6 August 2015: claimed it mid-competition, then went back for the cash and the Head of Household too. Our live feed coverage of that competition.
- Big Brother 18 — Natalie, 29 July 2016: America’s first Care Package of the season. She had finished among that week’s four lowest scorers and was headed for the Have-Not room; the other three went without her. Our post the day it landed.
- Big Brother 28 — Drew: won the sixth and final round of the Time Capsule, and it runs the rest of the season.
Offered, but never won
- Big Brother 12, 2010: a summer-long pass offered during a veto competition for eight veto points. Nobody took it — though a houseguest said afterwards it was the one prize everybody should have known to grab.
- Big Brother 14, 2012: put to an audience vote as a straight choice against $10,000. The money won.