Big Brother 19

Josh won Big Brother 19, beating returning BB18 runner-up Paul by a 5–4 jury vote. Christmas finished third. The season started with Paul entering the house as part of the opening temptation, spent most of the summer with Paul sitting in the middle of almost every important decision, and ended with the jury giving him the same result he had received one year earlier: second place by one vote.

• Aired: Summer 2017.
• Premiere: 28 June 2017.
• Finale: 20 September 2017.
• Winner: Josh.
• Runner-up: Paul.
• Third place: Christmas.
• Final vote: 5–4.
• Houseguests: 17 total — 16 new players plus returning BB18 runner-up Paul.
• America’s Favorite: Cody.
• Theme: Summer of Temptation.
• Major twists: Den of Temptation, Battle Back Showdown and the Temptation Competition.

Who won Big Brother 19?

Josh won Big Brother 19 on 20 September 2017, beating Paul 5–4.

Alex, Jason, Mark, Elena and Cody voted for Josh. Christmas, Kevin, Raven and Matt voted for Paul.

Paul had controlled more of the summer. The problem showed up when the jury started asking questions. Alex challenged the promises made under the banner of “friendship.” Jason went directly at Paul’s jury management. Paul argued that the betrayals had been house decisions rather than his alone.

That did not work. Paul lost 5–4 for the second season in a row.

Josh had already started recognizing the danger late in the game. During his Final 5 Head of Household he talked openly on the feeds about Paul being the person he would eventually need to beat. Then Josh won Parts 2 and 3 of the final Head of Household, evicted Christmas and did the thing the finale audience initially thought was insane: he took Paul with him.

He was right about the jury.

Read the original Big Brother 19 finale results.

Josh, Christmas and Paul before the finale.

Who was in the Big Brother 19 cast?

Sixteen new houseguests entered the season. Paul then returned from Big Brother 18 during the premiere, bringing the total number of people who played BB19 to seventeen.

See the original Big Brother 19 cast reveal.

• 1st — Josh. Winner, 5–4.
• 2nd — Paul. Runner-up for the second consecutive season.
• 3rd — Christmas. Evicted by Josh after he won the final HOH.
• 4th — Kevin. Evicted at Final 4 on Christmas’s sole vote.
• 5th — Alex. Evicted after a 1–1 tie that HOH Josh broke.
• 6th — Raven. Evicted 2–1 in the second half of the Week 10 double eviction.
• 7th — Jason. Evicted after a 2–2 tie that HOH Christmas broke.
• 8th — Matt. Evicted during Week 9. His total included a penalty vote for breaking Have-Not rules.
• 9th — Mark. Evicted 4–2.
• 10th — Elena. Evicted 6–1 in the second half of the first double eviction.
• 11th — Cody. Evicted for the second and final time, 7–0. First member of the jury.
• 12th — Jessica. Evicted 7–1.
• 13th — Ramses. Evicted 7–3.
• 14th — Dominique. Evicted 10–0.
• 15th — Jillian. Evicted 8–4.
• 16th — Megan. Quit during the opening week, before the live feeds began.
• 17th — Cameron. Eliminated on opening night before the first normal HOH week began.

How did Paul return for Big Brother 19?

The first temptation changed the season before the normal game had even started.

Kevin accepted $25,000 during the premiere. The consequence was the arrival of Paul, the runner-up from Big Brother 18. Paul then handed out eight friendship bracelets that protected their recipients from the opening elimination sequence.

Cameron was the casualty. He left on opening night. Cody then won the first Head of Household.

Paul did not return empty-handed for long. America sent him into the Den of Temptation, where he accepted the Pendant of Protection. That gave him safety through the first three evictions.

It mattered immediately.

Cody tried to take out Paul in Week 1

Cody started BB19 with an aggressive first HOH. He nominated Jillian and Megan. Megan left the game before the feeds began, forcing Cody to add Alex. Alex then won the Power of Veto and saved herself.

Cody’s replacement target was Paul.

The Pendant of Protection stopped him. Paul revealed that he was immune, so Cody had to nominate somebody else. He put up Christmas instead.

That one ceremony broke apart the large group Cody had started the week with. Paul and Christmas scrambled for votes, Cody and Jessica became isolated, and Jillian went home 8–4.

Paul won the next HOH.

Read OBB’s Week 1 recap and eviction results.

Christmas during the Week 1 live show.

Paul became the center of the BB19 house

Week 2 is where the season found its shape. Paul was HOH, nominated Alex and Josh, then Ramses became the third nominee through his curse. Paul won the veto, took Josh down and put Cody up.

Cody left 7–3–0.

From there, Paul sat in the middle of overlapping pairs and alliances for most of the summer. OBB’s live-feed coverage repeatedly showed houseguests discussing plans with Paul, throwing competitions that suited those plans, and targeting people in an order that had often been discussed well in advance.

The strangest part was how long people continued to trust him while acknowledging that he was dangerous.

Jason repeatedly took doubts about Paul’s plans to Alex. Alex repeatedly came back to trusting Paul. Late in the season Alex was still describing Paul as her ride-or-die. Josh eventually became the one person inside Paul’s endgame group who started openly questioning whether Paul’s moves were helping anybody except Paul.

Cody came back — and Jessica stopped an eviction

Cody’s first eviction was not permanent.

The Battle Back Showdown brought Cameron, Jillian, Cody and Dominique back to compete for a return. Cody survived the elimination rounds and then had to beat a challenger selected by the house. The house picked Paul. Cody beat him and returned.

See the original Battle Back results.

Cameron, Jillian, Cody and Dominique in the Battle Back Showdown.

Jessica was HOH when Cody came back. She nominated Josh and Ramses, won the veto herself and left the nominations unchanged. The house blindsided her by evicting Ramses 7–3.

Paul won HOH again and nominated Cody and Jessica. Mark had won safety in the new Temptation Competition; Jason finished last and became the third nominee. Paul won the veto and removed Jason.

The final nominees were Cody and Jessica. Then Jessica used the Halting Hex.

Read the Halting Hex week recap.

What were the Big Brother 19 twists?

The Den of Temptation

America chose a houseguest to enter the Den and accept a power. Every temptation came with a consequence.

• Paul — Pendant of Protection. Safety for the first three evictions. The curse forced Ramses to become a third nominee during one of those weeks.
• Christmas — Ring of Replacement. Allowed Christmas to replace a randomly selected veto player with herself. She eventually used it during Josh’s HOH.
• Jessica — Halting Hex. Allowed her to cancel one eviction. She used it to save herself and Cody during Paul’s Week 5 HOH.

The Temptation Competition

For three weeks, houseguests could choose whether to enter an extra competition. First place received safety. Last place became a third nominee.

• Week 5: Mark won safety; Jason became the third nominee.
• Week 6: Cody won safety; Jessica became the third nominee.
• Week 7: Mark won safety; Matt became the third nominee.

The Battle Back Showdown

Cameron, Jillian, Cody and Dominique competed for a chance to return. Cody won, then defeated Paul in the final showdown and re-entered the house.

Christmas broke her foot and stayed in the game

Christmas suffered a serious foot injury during the first week after a backyard accident with Jason. She remained in the house, underwent treatment while the season was still running and continued playing despite being unable to take part normally in some physical competitions.

The injury became part of the season rather than the end of her season. Christmas eventually reached the Final 3.

Why was Big Brother 19 so confrontational?

BB19’s live feeds were unusually personal. Arguments did not stay at nominations and votes. Houseguests repeatedly tried to provoke targets, followed them through the house and turned game disputes into personal confrontations.

Josh’s pots and pans became the visual shorthand for it. He used them first against Mark and later against Cody. The Cody/Jessica-versus-Josh fights escalated far enough that production eventually told the house the pots and pans had to stop.

The hostility did not belong to one side. OBB’s feeds recorded personal attacks going back and forth between the people being targeted and the group targeting them. That atmosphere is as much a part of BB19’s record as the competition results.

Who won each HOH, veto and eviction in Big Brother 19?

The season had two double evictions, one cancelled eviction and one returning player. Cody therefore appears twice in the chronology.

The Week 10 double eviction took out Jason and Raven.

Who won America’s Favorite on Big Brother 19?

Cody won America’s Favorite. OBB’s finale coverage called the award America’s Favorite player and reported roughly 15 million votes. The three names announced at the top of the vote were Kevin, Cody and Jason.

For a season in which Cody spent most of his game fighting against the house majority, that result was a pretty clear final message from the audience.

What is Big Brother 19 remembered for?

• Paul controlling the center of the house for most of the season while pairs around him believed he was loyal to them.
• Cody trying to nominate Paul in Week 1 and discovering the Pendant of Protection.
• Cody being evicted, winning Battle Back and returning.
• Jessica’s Halting Hex cancelling Paul’s Week 5 eviction completely.
• Christmas breaking her foot in Week 1 and still reaching the Final 3.
• Josh’s pots and pans and an unusually hostile summer of live-feed confrontations.
• Two double evictions — Cody/Elena and Jason/Raven.
• Paul losing 5–4 for the second year in a row.
• Cody winning America’s Favorite after being the first juror.

Big Brother 19 live-feed archive

OnlineBigBrother covered BB19 throughout the summer of 2017. The original posts preserve the nomination results, veto competitions, house arguments, alliances and feed conversations that never made the broadcast.

Browse the complete Big Brother 19 OnlineBigBrother archive.