Big Brother 3 aired on CBS in the summer of 2002, from 10 July to 25 September, and was won by Lisa over Danielle by a jury vote of 9–1. It is the most consequential season the show has ever produced: the Power of Veto was invented here, the jury house exists because of what went wrong here, and the single most famous mistake in Big Brother history was made here.
- Winner: Lisa, 9–1 over Danielle. $500,000.
- Runner-up: Danielle, $50,000.
- Aired: 10 July to 25 September 2002. 32 episodes.
- First for the franchise: the Power of Veto.
- Also first: “Expect the Unexpected”, and an evicted houseguest voted back into the game.
- Jury: every evicted houseguest voted. The last season run that way.
- Why it matters: the veto and the sequestered jury both trace back to this season.
Who won Big Brother 3?
Lisa won Big Brother 3, taking $500,000 and beating Danielle 9–1 in the final vote. Danielle took the $50,000 runner-up prize.
She got there through the three-part final Head of Household, winning the first part, losing the second to Jason, and taking the third to claim the last eviction of the season.
Nine votes to one is the second most lopsided finale in the show’s history, and it is the result that changed how Big Brother is played. Not because of anything Lisa did — because of what had happened to Danielle.
Why did Danielle lose 9–1?
Danielle played the better game of the two and lost almost unanimously, and the reason is the single biggest structural lesson Big Brother has ever learned about itself: in 2002 the jury was not sequestered.
Evicted houseguests went home. They watched the broadcast like anybody else — including the Diary Room sessions, where Danielle had spent the season explaining exactly what she thought of each of them and how she was managing them. Then they came back and voted.
Production began sequestering that season’s jury partway through, after the damage was done. By Big Brother 4 the jury house ran from the start of the jury phase, and it has every season since.
So the jury house exists because of Big Brother 3. Every sequestered juror since 2003 is there because of what happened to Danielle.
Was Big Brother 3 the first season with the Power of Veto?
Yes — Big Brother 3 introduced the Power of Veto in 2002, and it did not work the way it does now.
The veto winner could not use it on themselves. You could save one of the two nominees, and if you were a nominee yourself, that was somebody else’s problem to solve. The veto was a favour you did for another player, not a shield.
That changed in the final week, when the Golden Power of Veto was introduced and self-saving became possible for the first time. The golden version is what every season since has used, and the original one-year-only rule is why Big Brother 3’s veto weeks read so strangely against any other season.
Every element of the modern week — nominations, a veto competition, a veto ceremony, a replacement nominee — starts here.
Why didn’t Marcellas use the veto?
Marcellas did not use the Big Brother 3 veto because he believed he did not need to, and it cost him the game. It is still called the worst move in Big Brother history.
Week 9. Jason was Head of Household and had nominated Marcellas and Amy. Marcellas then won the Golden Power of Veto — the version that could be used on yourself, available for the first and only time that season.
He did not use it. He believed he had a deal with Danielle.
The vote came back 1–1. Danielle had voted to evict him. Jason, as Head of Household, broke the tie and sent him out — telling him, in the moment, that he should have used the veto.
It followed both of them for years. When Marcellas and Danielle were cast together again on Big Brother 7 All-Stars, four years later, he still found it hard to talk to her. They eventually put it behind them.
What was the Big Brother 3 return twist?
Big Brother 3 was the first season to vote an evicted houseguest back into the game, and the way it chose the candidate was an auction.
The first four evicted — Eric, Amy, Tonya and Lori — were asked how much of the $500,000 grand prize they would give up for the chance to return. Three said half. Lori offered $50,000 and was eliminated on the spot.
The remaining three were then asked how many of the days left in the game they would spend eating peanut butter and jelly. Eric and Amy said all of them. Tonya said half, and was out.
The house voted between Eric and Amy, and chose Amy — intending to evict her again immediately. She won Head of Household instead.
This is also the season that coined “Expect the Unexpected”, a phrase the show has not stopped using since.
Big Brother 3 week by week
Big Brother 3 ran ten eviction weeks before the final three. Every week had a Head of Household competition, a food competition and a veto.
- Week 1. Lisa won Wheel of First Impressions and nominated Lori and Marcellas. Gerry won the Saving Face veto and used it on Marcellas; Amy went up. Lori evicted 5–4.
- Week 2. Marcellas won In the House and nominated Tonya and Josh. Danielle won the veto and did not use it. Tonya evicted 5–3.
- Week 3. Roddy won One Step Beyond and nominated Amy and Marcellas. Eric won Pool Sharks and did not use it. Amy evicted 7–0.
- Week 4. Gerry won Face Off and nominated Lisa and Eric. Chiara won Turnover and did not use it. The vote tied 3–3 and Gerry broke it. Eric evicted.
- Week 5. Chiara won Gutter Ball and nominated Josh and Roddy. Lisa won Clockwork and did not use it. Josh evicted 5–0. The return twist was announced this week.
- Week 6. Amy returned and immediately won House Guest Soup, nominating Roddy and Chiara. Gerry won the veto and did not use it. Chiara evicted 4–1. The house won a private Sheryl Crow concert.
- Week 7. Jason won Who Said It? and nominated Amy and Gerry. Jason also won the Gnome Drop veto and did not use it. Gerry evicted 4–0.
- Week 8. Marcellas won Evicted Statements and nominated Amy and Roddy. Amy won Big Brother Charm School and did not use it. Roddy evicted 3–0.
- Week 9. Jason won Freeze Frame and nominated Amy and Marcellas. Marcellas won the Golden Power of Veto and did not use it. The vote tied 1–1 and Jason broke it. Marcellas evicted.
- Week 10. Danielle won …And Then There Were Four and nominated Amy and Lisa. Amy evicted 1–0.
The final Head of Household ran in three parts. Lisa won part one, Jason won part two, and Lisa won part three — then took Danielle to the end rather than Jason.
Why does Big Brother 3 matter?
Big Brother 3 is the season the modern game was built in, and two of its three foundations are still running twenty-four years later.
The Power of Veto was invented here. Every nomination week since 2002 has a veto in it.
The sequestered jury exists because of here. Danielle losing 9–1 to a jury that had watched her Diary Rooms is why no jury has been allowed to watch the show since.
And the show learned what its own audience was for. “Expect the Unexpected” started here, and so did the idea that a season could reach outside the house — an evicted player bidding part of the prize to come back, and the house voting on whether to let them.
Most seasons are remembered for who won them. Big Brother 3 is remembered for the rules it left behind.