Big Brother 9 aired from 12 February to 27 April 2008 and was won by Adam over Ryan by a jury vote of 6–1. It is the only season the show has ever run in winter, it made houseguests play in pairs, and it remains the most controversial season CBS has produced.
- Winner: Adam, 6–1 over Ryan. $500,000.
- Runner-up: Ryan, $50,000.
- America’s Favorite: James, $25,000.
- Aired: 12 February to 27 April 2008. The only winter season.
- Houseguests: 16 — the biggest cast to that point.
- Twist: soulmates. Paired houseguests shared power and were evicted together.
- Returns: two houseguests came back — Sharon and James.
Who won Big Brother 9?
Adam won Big Brother 9 by a jury vote of 6–1, taking $500,000. Ryan finished second with $50,000, and James took America’s Favorite Player and the $25,000 that came with it.
The way the final two was decided is worth pausing on. The three-part Head of Household went to Ryan — he won part one, lost part two to Adam, then took part three. Ryan chose to sit beside Adam.
He then lost six votes to one.
Why did Big Brother 9 air in winter?
Big Brother 9 aired in February because of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. With scripted programming unavailable, CBS needed something to fill a winter schedule, and Big Brother was a format that could be produced without writers.
It is the only time in the show’s history that has happened. Every other season has been a summer season.
The rush shows in the branding too. Big Brother 9 was the first season promoted without a year or a season number attached — just Big Brother.
What was the Big Brother 9 soulmates twist?
Big Brother 9 paired every houseguest with a soulmate and made them play the game as a unit. Pairs won Head of Household together, held the Power of Veto together, voted together, and were evicted together.
What made it unusual was what happened when a pair disagreed, because the rules punished indecision rather than resolving it:
- If the Head of Household pair could not agree on nominations, they were nominated themselves — and the runner-up pair became the new Head of Household.
- If the veto pair could not agree on whether to use it, it went unused.
- If a pair could not agree who to evict, that pair was evicted instead.
The pairs format ran for the first three weeks, after which the game became individual.
Who returned to the Big Brother 9 house?
Two houseguests re-entered Big Brother 9, and they got there by completely different routes.
Sharon came back as a replacement. Neil left the house voluntarily over an urgent personal matter, and rather than carry on a player short, production brought Sharon in to fill the gap.
James came back by vote. On Day 35 the houseguests were given the choice of returning one of the players evicted in the first four weeks, and they chose him over Alex, 5–3. He went on to win America’s Favorite Player.
He is the only houseguest in Big Brother 9 to be evicted twice — Week 4, back on Day 35, and out again in Week 8.
Big Brother 9 eviction order
Big Brother 9 ran eleven evictions, and the first three removed two houseguests at a time under the pairs rules.
- Week 1 — Jen and Parker, 3–1, evicted as a couple. Amanda and Alex were co-Heads of Household; Allison and Ryan were the other pair on the block.
- Week 2 — Alex and Amanda, 3–0, evicted as a couple. James and Chelsia held the power.
- Week 3 — Allison. The strangest eviction of the season. Ryan and Allison were voted out as a couple 2–0, then the pairs twist ended mid-eviction and the house voted again — 6–0 to send Allison out and keep Ryan.
- Week 4 — James, 5–1. HOH Ryan. He came back on Day 35.
- Week 5 — Matt. HOH James used the veto on Sheila and put Matt up in her place. The vote tied 3–3 and James broke it himself.
- Week 6 — Chelsia, 5–0. HOH Adam.
- Week 7 — Joshuah, 3–1. HOH Natalie.
- Week 8 — James again, 3–0. HOH Adam.
- Week 9 — Natalie. Another 1–1 tie, broken by HOH Sheila.
- Week 10 — Sharon, on Adam’s sole vote. HOH Ryan.
- Week 11 — Sheila, evicted by Ryan after he won the final Head of Household.
Sharon’s run is the one the order does not convey. She was on the block in Weeks 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 — five consecutive weeks as a nominee — and survived every one of them before going out at the final four.
What did houseguests win in Big Brother 9?
Big Brother 9 handed out more cash and prizes inside the game than most seasons, on top of the $500,000.
- Parker and Jen won $10,000 in the Week 1 pairs competition, Falling For You.
- Ryan won $10,000 and Adam won a motorcycle in the Colour of Veto competition.
- Chelsia found a golden ticket in a popcorn bucket on Day 45 and won a $21,000 VIP trip to Las Vegas.
- Sharon, Chelsia, Sheila and Joshua won a screening of the film 21 on Day 43.
- Sharon and Ryan won an advance screening of What Happens in Vegas, a meeting with the cast and a Hollywood shopping spree on Day 71.
The best prize of the season went to somebody who was not playing. On Day 44, Evel Dick returned from Big Brother 8 to host a veto competition called Club Evel: beat the score of 33 he had set on his own season and win a Gibson Les Paul and an amplifier. Nobody did. Dick kept the guitar.
Why was Big Brother 9 controversial?
Big Brother 9 produced more public complaint than any season before it, and one incident reached the show’s advertisers.
In the second episode, Adam — who worked for an autism foundation — said that if he won he would spend part of the money on a hair salon, using a slur to describe the people who would use it. Sheila objected in the room. He answered that he could call them whatever he wanted because he worked with them all day.
The response was immediate and external. Autism United wrote to CBS demanding action and accusing the network of airing the remark for its own benefit. The organisation contacted the show’s advertisers and called for cancellation. Lowe’s pulled its advertising from future episodes. The foundation Adam worked for issued an apology and said his employment had been terminated. After the season he said he would donate $100,000 to it.
Separately, Matt used a racial slur about another houseguest, which aired on the live feeds and on Big Brother After Dark.
A third complaint was about the game itself. A Head of Household competition asked how many pre-existing relationships were in the house. The answer was three — Ryan and Jen, Sharon and Jacob, and the two guinea pigs. Sharon answered wrong, and her eviction followed. Viewers argued the question had been unfair.
What happened to the Big Brother 9 winner?
Adam was arrested in October 2009, eighteen months after winning Big Brother 9, for possession of 2,000 oxycodone pills with intent to distribute. He later acknowledged that he had used his Big Brother winnings to fund the operation. The charges carried a maximum of twenty years and a $1 million fine.
The $100,000 he had promised the autism foundation was never donated.
Sheila, who had voted for him partly on the strength of that promise, said afterwards that she felt betrayed. Allison said she hoped he would get the maximum sentence.
Was Big Brother After Dark on during Big Brother 9?
Big Brother After Dark did run during Big Brother 9, seven nights a week on Showtime 2 — the overnight feed broadcast that carried the house uncut while the network episodes were still three days behind.
It is also where one of the season’s controversies played out. Matt’s slur aired there and on the live feeds rather than on the broadcast, which is the distinction that defined how this season was discussed at the time.