Big Brother 20

Kaycee won Big Brother 20, beating Tyler by a 5–4 jury vote after a summer built around razor-thin blindsides, two rival sides of the house and a Level 6 alliance that kept finding votes even when it did not hold the Head of Household. JC finished third. What looked from the outside like a Level 6 steamroll was stranger on the live feeds: Steve left 7–6, Winston 6–5 and Rachel 5–4 while the other side repeatedly tried to work out who had betrayed them.

• Aired: Summer 2018.
• Premiere: 27 June 2018.
• Finale: 26 September 2018.
• Winner: Kaycee.
• Runner-up: Tyler.
• Third place: JC.
• Final vote: 5–4.
• Houseguests: 16, all new players.
• America’s Favorite: Tyler.
• Major twists: BB App Store, the Hacker and Jury Battle Back.

Who won Big Brother 20?

Kaycee won Big Brother 20 on 26 September 2018, beating Tyler 5–4.

Sam, Scottie, Fessy, Rockstar and Bayleigh voted for Kaycee. JC, Angela, Brett and Haleigh voted for Tyler.

The reveal made the result look even closer. Tyler went ahead 4–1 as the first five keys were read. The final four votes all went to Kaycee.

Kaycee had reached the end with a late-game competition run that included five veto wins, the Week 11 HOH and Parts 2 and 3 of the final Head of Household. Tyler had spent more of the summer at the center of overlapping deals and information, but several of those relationships ended with jurors discovering that Tyler had been playing more sides than they knew.

Four of Kaycee’s five votes came from the Hive side of the house. Sam supplied the fifth. OBB also recorded a Hive jury-pact discussion and documented some of Tyler’s jury-management problems, especially with Scottie, but the archive does not establish one shared motive for all five Kaycee voters. Calling the result simply a “bitter jury” goes further than the contemporary evidence does.

Kaycee won the final HOH, evicted JC and kept her long-running Final 2 with Tyler.

Read the original Big Brother 20 finale results.

Kaycee and Tyler at the Big Brother 20 finale.

Who was in the Big Brother 20 cast?

Big Brother 20 started with sixteen new houseguests and no returning players. Scottie appears once below at his permanent placement; he was evicted in Week 8, won Jury Battle Back and then returned long enough to be evicted a second time.

See the original Big Brother 20 cast reveal.

• 1st — Kaycee. Winner, 5–4. Won five vetoes and the final HOH.
• 2nd — Tyler. Runner-up by one vote and America’s Favorite.
• 3rd — JC. Evicted by Kaycee after she won the final HOH.
• 4th — Angela. Evicted on Kaycee’s sole vote after Kaycee won the Final 4 veto.
• 5th — Sam. Evicted 2–0 at Final 5.
• 6th — Brett. Backdoored and evicted 3–0 during the double eviction.
• 7th — Haleigh. Evicted 4–0 in the first half of the double eviction.
• 8th — Scottie. Evicted 6–0, returned through Jury Battle Back, then was evicted again 5–0.
• 9th — Fessy. Evicted 4–1.
• 10th — Rockstar. Evicted 5–1 during the second Hacker week.
• 11th — Bayleigh. Evicted 6–1 after one vote was cancelled by the Hacker. First juror.
• 12th — Rachel. Blindsided 5–4 during Bayleigh’s HOH.
• 13th — Kaitlyn. Evicted 9–1, then failed the Bonus Life return puzzle.
• 14th — Winston. Evicted 6–5 over fellow Level 6 member Brett.
• 15th — Swaggy C. Backdoored in Week 2 and evicted 8–4.
• 16th — Steve. First evicted, 7–6 over Sam.

Who were Level 6?

Level 6’s original members were Tyler, Kaycee, Angela, Brett, Rachel and Winston.

JC was not a member. Sam was not a member either. Both became important outside votes, and Tyler maintained a separate working relationship with JC, but OBB’s Week 1 alliance map keeps them outside the formal six.

That distinction matters because Level 6 did not simply march through the season with six guaranteed votes. Its early advantage came from relationships outside the alliance.

Winston left in Week 3. Rachel followed in Week 5. The surviving Tyler/Kaycee/Angela/Brett group was sometimes called Level 4 on the feeds, but the old Level 6 name did not disappear. OBB records both names being used, including the surviving group still talking about Level 6 late in the season.

The alliance finally ate itself during the double eviction. Brett had begun exploring an endgame that cut Angela and Kaycee. Tyler passed that information back, and Tyler/Kaycee/Angela decided Brett needed to go first.

Tyler won the compressed HOH. Angela won the veto and took JC down. Brett went up and left 3–0.

That was the end of Level 6 as a functioning alliance.

Read OBB’s late-season Level 6 feed update.

Tyler, Kaycee, Angela and Brett — the four surviving Level 6 members.

FOUTTE collapsed, then the Hive replaced it

OBB’s opening alliance map lists the original FOUTTE group as Swaggy C, Bayleigh, Fessy, Rockstar and Haleigh.

Kaitlyn was close to that side but was not one of those original five. That distinction became important immediately: she supplied the Week 1 vote that sent Steve home, then won the next HOH.

Kaitlyn wanted to make a move against Swaggy C. Tyler actively encouraged it and then supplied the veto that made it possible. Kaitlyn nominated Winston and Scottie, Tyler won the veto and saved Scottie, and Swaggy C became the replacement nominee.

Swaggy C left 8–4.

By Bayleigh’s HOH, OBB was writing that FOUTTE had disbanded and a revised group called the Hive had formed around Bayleigh, Rockstar, Haleigh, Fessy and Scottie. Scottie was finally inside the named group, but the trust problem never disappeared.

That became the fatal flaw. The Hive could win power. What it struggled to do was identify the voting structure on the other side.

Read the Swaggy C backdoor recap.

The votes that made Big Brother 20 different

The opening game is easiest to understand through three numbers:

Steve — 7–6

Tyler was the first HOH and nominated Sam and Steve. Fessy won the veto and left the nominations unchanged.

The five Level 6 members who could vote backed Sam. JC joined them. The seventh vote came from Kaitlyn.

That made Kaitlyn the real defector from the side that believed it had Steve’s votes. Steve left 7–6, and the hunt for the mystery vote began immediately.

Tyler had also learned that Sam held the Bonus Life power. Keeping her preserved both an ally and a power that could matter later.

Read OBB’s Week 1 recap.

Winston — 6–5

Scottie won the Week 3 HOH and nominated Winston and Brett, putting two Level 6 founders against each other.

The alliance had to choose.

Rachel, Kaycee, Angela and Tyler voted to keep Brett. JC and Sam joined them. Winston went home 6–5.

Brett made the confusion worse with an eviction speech falsely accusing Rockstar of trying to flip. The argument that followed gave the losing side something else to fight about while the actual voting coalition stayed hidden.

Read the Winston eviction recap.

Winston after the 6–5 eviction that forced Level 6 to choose between two of its founders.

Rachel — 5–4

Bayleigh won Week 5 and nominated Brett and Rachel. Rachel believed she was the pawn. The Hive expected Brett to leave.

Instead, Angela, Kaycee and Tyler cut their own alliance member. JC and Sam completed the five votes.

Rachel left 5–4.

The aftermath may be the most BB20 part of BB20. The Hive started producing different theories about which of its own people had flipped while the actual five voters compared notes on the feeds.

Read the post-vote Level 4 feed discussion.

Kaitlyn was evicted — then lost the Bonus Life puzzle

Sam’s Week 4 HOH put Kaitlyn and Haleigh on the block. Fessy won the Power of Veto, saved Haleigh and forced Rockstar onto the block beside Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn was evicted 9–1.

But Sam’s unused Bonus Life power had reached its automatic week. The evicted houseguest received one chance to return by completing a timed puzzle.

Kaitlyn did not finish it.

The twist that had helped save Sam in the opening week finally activated — and still produced an eviction.

Read the Week 4 eviction and Bonus Life results.

Kaitlyn’s Bonus Life ended with a “GAME OVER” screen.

The Hacker twist hurt the Hive twice

The Hacker ran for two eviction cycles and could change one nominee, choose a veto player and cancel one eviction vote.

Haleigh wins the first Hacker

Angela was HOH and nominated Rockstar and Scottie. Haleigh secretly won the Hacker, removed Scottie and put Tyler on the block.

Then Angela won the veto.

She saved Tyler and named Bayleigh as the replacement nominee. Haleigh later admitted publicly that she had been the Hacker because Bayleigh was taking the blame for it.

It did not save Bayleigh. Haleigh cancelled Tyler’s vote, but Bayleigh still left 6–1.

Read OBB’s Hacker house-meeting coverage.

Kaycee wins the second Hacker

Haleigh won the next HOH and nominated Angela and Kaycee.

This time Kaycee became the Hacker.

Kaycee removed herself and put Rockstar on the block. Tyler then won the veto, saved Angela and forced Haleigh to put Kaycee back beside Rockstar. Kaycee also cancelled Fessy’s eviction vote.

Rockstar left 5–1.

Two consecutive weeks had given the Hive side significant power. Bayleigh and Rockstar still became the two people evicted.

Read the second Hacker week recap.

Fessy used his HOH to nominate Scottie

After Rockstar left, Fessy finally won HOH.

He nominated Brett and Scottie.

Scottie was supposed to be on his side.

Fessy’s reasoning included distrust over the previous votes and concern about Scottie’s loyalties. JC worked on that distrust, particularly after Brett won the veto, but the feeds do not support reducing the decision to “JC made Fessy do it.” Fessy had his own suspicions and made the nomination himself.

Brett saved himself. Kaycee went up. Scottie was evicted 6–0, including Haleigh’s vote.

By the next day, Fessy understood what had happened. OBB recorded him saying: “You sent home Rockstar & I sent home Scottie!”

The Hive had used its last HOH to remove one of the only people left who could still realistically work with it.

Read the original Fessy feed update.

Fessy and Scottie during the HOH that ended with Scottie leaving 6–0.

Scottie came back — and Tyler sent him straight back out

Angela won the next HOH and nominated Fessy and Haleigh. Kaycee won the veto and kept the nominations the same. Fessy left 4–1.

That opened the Jury Battle Back.

Bayleigh, Rockstar, Scottie and Fessy competed for one place back in the house. Scottie won.

Then Tyler won HOH.

Tyler nominated Haleigh and Scottie. OBB’s feeds recorded Scottie believing that Haleigh was the real target and that he was a safe pawn. Kaycee won the veto and left the nominations unchanged.

Scottie was evicted again, this time 5–0.

That week matters to the finale because Scottie went back to jury after being made to feel safer than he actually was. It is evidence of a jury-management problem for Tyler. It is not, by itself, proof of why Scottie ultimately voted for Kaycee.

Read the Jury Battle Back results.

How did Kaycee build the game that won BB20?

Kaycee’s winning game came in two very different halves.

For the opening weeks, she was protected inside Level 6 and stayed out of the center of the house’s arguments. She was not nominated until Haleigh’s Week 7 HOH.

Then the wins started.

• Week 7: won the Hacker and used it to remove herself, nominate Rockstar and cancel Fessy’s vote.
• Week 9: won the veto during Angela’s HOH.
• Week 10: won the veto during Tyler’s HOH.
• Week 11: won HOH and then BB Comics for another veto.
• Final 5: won another veto — her fourth consecutive veto.
• Final 4: won veto number five and controlled the sole eviction vote.
• Final HOH: won Parts 2 and 3, evicted JC and chose Tyler for Final 2.

Competition wins were only part of the jury equation. OBB also repeatedly records Kaycee maintaining calmer relationships with people on the opposite side, including Haleigh, while remaining loyal to her deepest agreement with Tyler.

That does not prove that all five jurors voted for the same reason. It does explain why Kaycee’s season cannot be reduced to “she won competitions at the end.”

What was Tyler’s game?

Tyler’s power came from relationships more than from holding the HOH key every week.

He won the first HOH, built Level 6 and at the same time maintained separate working relationships with people outside it — most importantly Kaitlyn and JC.

With Kaitlyn, that relationship helped produce the Steve vote and the Swaggy C backdoor. With JC, the long-term plan was to keep the two sides of the house pointed at each other while Tyler remained connected to both.

Tyler also won the Cloud power from the BB App Store. It could protect him at a nomination or veto ceremony. He never needed to use it before it expired.

The problem came later. Scottie returned believing Tyler was keeping him. Brett believed he had another path with Tyler until Tyler used the double eviction to backdoor him. JC eventually realized Tyler’s real endgame was tighter with Kaycee and Angela than it was with him.

Brett still voted for Tyler. JC voted for Tyler. Haleigh voted for Tyler. Angela actively argued for Tyler’s game in the jury discussion.

He still finished one vote short.

How did JC reach the Final 3?

JC spent most of BB20 in the space between the two sides.

He was never Level 6, but he worked closely with Tyler and frequently voted with the alliance. At the same time, he maintained relationships with Fessy and the opposing side and passed information back and forth.

His work on Fessy’s distrust of Scottie was one of the clearest places that middle position affected the game. But by the late stages JC could see the problem with his own structure: Tyler was more committed to Kaycee and Angela.

JC survived the double eviction, survived Final 5 and then finally won his first competition at Final 4, taking the HOH and nominating Tyler and Angela.

Kaycee won the veto, evicted Angela and kept Tyler.

JC reached the Final 3 but could not break the Kaycee/Tyler endgame. Kaycee won the final HOH and evicted him.

What were the Big Brother 20 twists?

The BB App Store

The opening weeks used the BB App Store to hand out powers and punishments based on the audience’s trending results.

• Sam — Bonus Life. Could give an evicted houseguest a chance to return. When it reached its automatic week, Kaitlyn received the puzzle and failed it.
• Tyler — The Cloud. Could protect him from nomination at one nomination or veto ceremony. It expired unused.
• Bayleigh — Identity Theft. Could replace an HOH’s initial nominations. It also expired unused.

The Hacker

The Hacker ran for two cycles. Haleigh won the first and Kaycee won the second. Both weeks ended with someone from the Hive side leaving.

Jury Battle Back

Bayleigh, Rockstar, Scottie and Fessy competed after Fessy’s eviction. Scottie won, returned and lasted one more week.

The double eviction

BB20 had one double eviction. Haleigh left first. Tyler then won the compressed HOH and used the second cycle to backdoor Brett.

Which BB20 showmances mattered to the game?

Three in-house relationships crossed into the strategy story.

• Bayleigh and Swaggy C. Their relationship became visible in the opening weeks and made the shape of Swaggy C’s side easier for the house to see. Swaggy C proposed to Bayleigh at the finale and she accepted.
• Tyler and Angela. By the late game the house was openly identifying them as a pair. Their relationship sat inside the already powerful Tyler/Kaycee/Angela endgame trio and was part of Brett’s reason for looking for another path.
• Fessy and Haleigh. Their closeness was part of the mistrust surrounding Scottie during Fessy’s HOH, but the feeds do not support saying the relationship alone caused Scottie’s nomination.

Who won each HOH, veto and eviction in Big Brother 20?

The chronology below uses Scottie’s second eviction as his permanent exit. His first eviction and Jury Battle Back return remain in the week where they happened.

Who won America’s Favorite on Big Brother 20?

Tyler won America’s Favorite. OBB’s finale coverage called him America’s favorite player and named Haleigh, Brett and Tyler as the top three vote-getters.

BB20 therefore ended with two different votes going two different ways: Kaycee won the jury; Tyler won the audience award.

What is Big Brother 20 remembered for?

• The 7–6, 6–5, 5–4 opening votes and the losing side repeatedly trying to identify the wrong flippers.
• Level 6’s original six — Tyler, Kaycee, Angela, Brett, Rachel and Winston — and the outside votes from JC, Sam and Kaitlyn that made the alliance harder to see.
• Kaitlyn’s summer — flipping the first vote, backdooring Swaggy C during her own HOH, then failing the Bonus Life puzzle after her 9–1 eviction.
• The two Hacker weeks ending with Bayleigh and Rockstar leaving despite power being won on their side.
• Fessy nominating Scottie and watching him leave 6–0.
• Scottie winning Jury Battle Back and being evicted again one week later.
• Tyler backdooring Brett during the double eviction, finally breaking the surviving Level 6 core.
• Kaycee’s five-veto endgame run and final HOH victory.
• Kaycee beating Tyler 5–4 while Tyler won America’s Favorite.

Big Brother 20 live-feed archive

OnlineBigBrother covered BB20 throughout the summer of 2018. The archive preserves the close votes, alliance meetings, Hacker confusion, Fessy/Scottie fallout, Level 6 planning, Battle Back and endgame conversations that were condensed or never shown on the broadcasts.

Browse the complete Big Brother 20 OnlineBigBrother archive.