Big Brother 4 (US)

Big Brother 4 (otherly known as Big Brother 4: The X-Factor) was the fourth season of the American reality television series Big Brother. It aired on July 8, 2003, and ended on September 24, 2003, lasting 82 days. This season winner's was Jun Song, who beat her on-off ally Alison Irwin in the Final 2 by a 6-1 vote.

Major alliances of this season include the Elite Eight (Dana, Alison, Jack, Erika, David, Jun, Nathan & Scott), the Three Stooges (Justin, Jee, Robert) which extended to Jun to make the Dream Team, and the Girl Power group that Alison, Jun, and Erika formed near the end.

The X Factor
The big twist for the year was The X-Factor. Eight houseguests were introduced, only to have five houseguests' exes compete against them in the game. This quickly became messy, as, a houseguest who had his ex-girlfriend move into the house, had a violent outburst, and subsequently told the House that he had a sexually transmitted disease. He was disqualified and evicted from the game. The ex-couples were:


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Golden Power of Veto
Another twist, introduced in the last veto contest of Big Brother 3, was the Golden Power of Veto, in that if a nominated person won such a veto, they would be allowed to take themselves off consideration for voting, which was not allowed when the veto was introduced originally the year before.

Event ordering
Yet another twist in the game occurred when in weeks 7 and 8 the veto competition happened before the nominations ceremony was held. won HOH in week 7 and won the POV by putting the rest of his housemates on PB&J. Though Jee angered the other houseguests, his win left his future nominations secure. Jee nominated Erika Landin and Jack Owens, Jr., with Jack being evicted 2-1. won HoH in Week 8 of the competition and was quickly escorted from the Big Brother House to attend the 20th Annual MTV Video Music Awards. Her disappearance (as she entered the Diary Room and never returned) played a part in the Veto Competition, as the houseguests had to guess where Jun was. Jun returned, and nominated Jee Choe, her ex-boyfriend, and. However, Alison having already won the Veto, used it on herself, forcing Jun to put in her place. Despite Robert being a replacement for Alison, Jee was unanimously evicted 2-0.

Jury
One last twist to the format included a jury of seven who would decide the outcome of the game. When there were nine players left in the game, the evictees formed the jury. The sequestered jury was introduced after many outcry among fans when lost Big Brother 3 arguably due to evicted houseguests seeing her diary room sessions.

Memorable events

 * This season featured the first act of sex between houseguests on the show when contestants and  had sex under the covers in the Head of Household room. The DVD that was released featured uncensored moments from the season that weren't allowed for broadcast, including this encounter.
 * For the second time in four seasons, a Big Brother houseguest,, was removed from the show when he was talked to on day 8 after he had a violent outburst in the house; then he chose to leave after the houseguests did not accept his apology.
 * At 19, is the youngest contestant in the show's history while, at age 58 remained the oldest until Big Brother 10, which had 75-year-old Jerry MacDonald.

Week 1
After the eight new houseguests moved into the house, they were informed that some houseguests would be joined by one of their exes. At the HOH competition, won. Before the "exes" had entered the house, the original eight houseguests formed an alliance. Honouring the alliance's wishes, Nathan nominated two exes for eviction; and. At the POV competion, won the Golden Power of Veto. Dana chose to keep the nominations the same. Amanda was evicted unanimously.

Week 2
was crowned the new HOH at the end of the competition. Jee and his alliance, and, decided to target  for eviction. He decided to nominate as a pawn, alongside Erika. David won the POV but decided not to use it. Jee, Justin and Robert were all extremely confident that Erika would be the one to be evicted. However, when the vote was announced, it was revealed that they were wrong. Michelle was evicted by a vote of 6 to 2.

Week 3
was crowned HOH after winning the "Everything in 3's" competition. Dana was originally a member of the Elite Eight alliance which formed on Day 1. However, she betrayed the alliance after she nominated two of its members, and, for eviction. Dana exclaimed that she wanted Alison out of the house, as she thought she was "coming after" her. Shortly before the Veto competition, decided with Alison that if he were to win the Veto, he would use it to save her. At the Veto competition, Nathan was victorious. At the Veto ceremony, Nathan decided to remove Alison from the block. This angered Dana greatly; so, in retaliation, she decided to nominate Nathan's ally. David was evicted by a 5 to 2 vote.

Week 4
At the HOH competition, was victorious. Alison's alliance tried to convince her to nominate for eviction. However, later that day, Alison struck a deal with Justin. At the nomination ceremony, Alison nominated and. Her reasoning for this was that she wanted her enemy Dana out of the house, and that Jun would be a vote to keep Dana in the house. won the Veto, but decided not to use it. Dana was evicted unanimously.

Week 5
At the HOH competition, prevailed and was crowned the next Head of Household. Justin decided to nominate two members of the opposing alliance, and. His aim was to evict Nathan from the house, as he perceived him to be the bigger threat. At the Veto competition, won his second POV in a row. He decided to leave the nominations intact and to not use the Veto. Nathan was evicted unanimously.

Week 6
After the first endurance competition of the season, was crowned HOH. Erika planned to break up the Dream Team. She did so by nominating and  for eviction. At the POV competition, won her first major competition of the season. She decided not to use the Veto. Justin was evicted by a vote of 3 to 1.

Week 7
At the HOH competition, was victorious for a second time. For the first time ever, the Veto competiton was held before the nomination ceremony. At the Veto competition, Julie gave each of the houseguests dilemas in the diary room. The houseguest that excepted one of the dilemas would win the POV. All houseguests rejected the first two offers. However, Jee accepted his third offer which meant that he won the POV. This meant that all houseguests, except for himself, would have to eat only PB&J for one week. Jee decided to nominate and  for eviction. His plan was to break up the close relationship that they had formed with each other. However, his main objective was to evict Erika. Jack was evicted from the house.

Week 8
At the HOH competition, was victorious. Straight after Jun was crowned HOH, she was called to diary room and told that she would be leaving the house to attend the MTV Music Video Awards. Once again, the POV competition occured before the nomination ceremony. The objective of the Veto competition, was to discover where Jun had gone. The houseguests were provided with clues to help them figure out where Jun was. guessed correctly and won the POV. After Jun returned to the house, she was told that Alison had won the POV. She decided to use this as a way to hide the fact that she and Alison had an alliance. So she nominated Alison and for eviction, knowing that Alison would save herself with the Veto. At the Veto ceremony, Alison removed herself from the chopping block. Jun chose as the replacement nominee. In the previous week, Jee angered many of the houseguests after he put the house on a PB&J. This ultimately resulted in Jee being evicted by a unanimous vote.

Week 9
At the HOH competition, was victorious for the first time. At the nomination cermony, Robert revealed that he had decided to nominate both and  for eviction. Though his main objective was to get Alison out of the house. Alison won the first and only Diamond Power of Veto of the season; this meant that she had sole power over who was evicted. At the live Veto ceremony, Alison decided to remove herself from the chopping block once again. This meant that Alison had to evict either Jun or Erika. Alison decided to remain loyal to her alliance with Jun and chose to evict.

Week 10
The final HOH competition is played out in three challenges, to give the remaining houseguests a fair shot at securing a place in the final two. During the first endurance HOH competition, won the challenge. Days later, beat  in the next challenge, meaning Robert was nominated. At the live HOH part 3 competition, Alison succesfully beat Jun in a personality guessing quiz, claiming the final HOH. She then chose to evict Robert.

Trivia

 * This was the first season to feature an uneven number of houseguests.
 * This season, along with Big Brother 1, are currently the only seasons to not feature an openly gay houseguest.
 * This was the first season to feature houseguests that had formerly met each other prior to entering the House.
 * This is the first season to feature two finalists with zero eviction votes cast against them.
 * The three times the Power of Veto was used, they were used on Alison Irwin.
 * This is the first season with an Asian American winner.
 * This is the second season in a row featuring two female finalists.
 * The first 4 people to be evicted were all ex's.