How Does ‘Big Brother’ Work? the Cbs Franchise, Explained

Like Survivor, Big Brother has remained a staple reality competition show on CBS for over two decades. However, instead of marooning contestants on an island with the bare necessities to survive, Big Brother has taken a different approach to challenging a group of hopefuls while dangling in front of them a hefty grand prize.

Big Brother airs every summer on the network, featuring players living in a house together, cut off from the outside world. That means no cellphones, laptops, or conversations with anyone besides their fellow houseguests, the franchise’s production crew, and longtime host Julie Chen Moonves.

They battle against each other for weeks while the competition dwindles until one individual exits the house with a champion’s accolade and a six-figure check.

So, how does Big Brother work? In this article, I’ll go through the general structure of a season and the components that guide the houseguests through it. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

Big Brother follows the same typical model year after year

Big Brother — which has several international versions and spin-offs — premiered in the United States in July 2000. Throughout its first few seasons, the reality competition show evolved its format until it landed on a structure that it’s followed, more or less, since the third iteration.

The number of houseguests per season has increased as well. Nowadays, 16 wide-eyed, burgeoning reality television stars are invited into the house by Julie. They willfully give up luxuries and — sometimes — their sanity to win the $750,000 grand prize (it was $500,000 until season 23). The number of days the gameshow runs varies from season to season also. But houseguests can expect to spend around 80 to 90 days competing if they make it to the end.

Contestants move in and live together while America watches their every move through live feeds, which are available for most of the week.

At the beginning of the game, Julie introduces some sort of new theme and twist that’ll shape the season in one way or another. For example, season 14 placed houseguests into four teams with a veteran player heading each, and seasons 7 and 22 featured only Big Brother all-star players.

Regardless of what’s brought into the game, the show typically follows the same flow. I’ll write about the competitions and powers in general terms, although there can be some differences depending on the season (for example, the number of Head of Households per week). Further, the following events play out within seven days through three episodes every week. That being said, here we go.

Head of Household competition

The most powerful position a houseguest can hold is the Head of Household (HoH), and a new one is determined weekly.

At the start of the game’s week, an HoH competition is held that involves all of the houseguests besides the outgoing HoH — a person cannot win the title two weeks in a row.

Once the dust clears, someone will have a key necklace wrapped around their neck, signifying their ascendance into power. The HoH receives several perks, including their own private bedroom and bathroom, a television to spy on the other competitors with, and a letter and personal items from home. But most importantly, the HoH is safe; they cannot be nominated for eviction. In fact, it’s the HoH’s responsibility to designate two players to face possible elimination from the game — more on that later.