Previously Evicted Contestant

Previously Evicted Houseguest is a recurring twist on Big Brother Canada and Big Brother (U.S.). The twist gives players who were previously evicted a shot at re-entering the game and potentially winning again. Usually, a public vote or a challenge determines who will re-enter the game. So far, ten seasons across the US and Canada versions of the show have featured this twist.

Big Brother 3
In Big Brother 3 (US), the first four evicted houseguests were asked questions about how much they'd be willing to give up to re-enter the house. These questions left only Amy Crews and Eric Ouellette remaining. The remaining seven houseguests then voted for one of the two to re-enter the game, with Amy winning with a 5-2 vote.

Big Brother 6
In Big Brother 6 (US), the houseguests learned that either Kaysar Ridha, Michael Donnellan, or Eric Littmann would return to the game, with Ashlea Evans not eligible due to leaving sequestering. Kaysar won the right to re-join the house after receiving 82% of the public vote.

Big Brother 9
Big Brother 9 (US) featured two previously evicted houseguests returning to the game for the first time in Big Brother history, although one of these was not due to a twist. Sharon Obermueller returned to the game to be the "soulmate" of Joshuah Welch after Neil Garcia, Joshuah's original "soulmate", walked from the game.

Later on in the game, similiar to Big Brother 3, the remaining eight houseguests had a choice of voting back in a "Mystery House Guest" based on a public vote (Alex Coladonato) or the previously evicted houseguest, James Zinkand. James won the right to re-enter the game after being voted back in by a 5-3 vote.

Big Brother 13
Big Brother 13 (US) had a public vote to see which of the first four evicted houseguests (Keith Henderson, Cassi Colvin, Dominic Briones, and Brendon Villegas) would return to battle with the fifth person evicted for a chance to re-enter the game and secure themselves a spot on the Jury. Brendon Villegas won the public vote, beating Lawon Exum in the battle and returning to the game.

Big Brother 15
Big Brother 15 (US) featured a Jury member returning like BB Canada; however, unlike BB Canada, they competed in a competition and not a public vote. In Week 9, the four jury members (Candice Stewart, Judd Daugherty, Jessie Kowalski and Helen Kim) competed against one another and the current houseguests in the HOH competition. The goal for the jurors was to collect ten balls before the other three in order to return; if the juror also collected ten balls before the current HouseGuests, he or she would also become the HOH that week. Judd was the last juror standing, so he re-entered the Big Brother House, but he lost the HOH competition.

Big Brother 16
Big Brother 16 (US) featured the twist as well, with a member (Jocasta Odom, Hayden Voss, Nicole Franzel, or Zach Rance) taken from the Jury House as in Big Brother Canada 1 and Big Brother 15. Nicole Franzel won the challenge and re-entered the house Week Nine. She was immediately a target and was evicted two weeks later.

Big Brother 17
Like the 2 seasons before, the first 4 members of the Big Brother 17 (US) Jury (Shelli Poole, Jackie Ibarra, Becky Burgess, and John McGuire). The challenge was similar to the BB15 competition, where the four Jurors competed against each other for the re-entry, and the other remaining 7 HouseGuests for HOH. Shelli, Jackie, and Becky fell very early, and John not only re-enterd on the same night he got evicted, but got 2nd place in the challenge, losing only to Vanessa.

Big Brother 18
Within Big Brother 18 (US), the first 5 evicted HouseGuests (Glenn Garcia, Jozea Flores, Victor Arroyo, Bronte D'Acquisto, and Tiffany Rousso) participated in the Battle Back Competition, which works similarly to the Redemption Island twist of Survivor, in which the first 2 evicted HouseGuests (Glenn and Jozea) will face off, then the winner of that competition battles the next evictee and so on, until one HouseGuest remains, and they will be allowed to re-enter the game, entering Final 11, turning it back into the Final 12. After winning Round 1 against Glenn, Jozea went against Victor, but Victor was able to beat him, Bronte, and Tiffany, making his way back into the house and becoming the Battle Back Champion.

During Week 5, after the Battle Back, Julie announced a twist involving a secret Paris-based room. Whoever discovers the clues and enters the correct code into the phone booth will enter the room and find a Secret Power. In the room were 12 envelopes, one for each remaining HouseGuest. 11 envelopes contain a one-way ticket, while 1 envelope contains a round-trip ticket. After a Houseguest is evicted, once they are on stage with Julie, they will open their envelope. If they have a one-way ticket, it means their game is over and they are sent back home, or to the Jury House. If they have the round-trip ticket, they will immediately go back into the game as if they had never left, and any remaining envelopes are void, as they all contain one-ways. Houseguests are not allowed to swap envelopes or tamper with another person's. If caught opening their envelope before their eviction, or tampering with another person's envelope, their envelope will be voided. This marks BB18 as the first season to give 2 HouseGuests a chance to re-enter the game. Paul Abrahamian had the Round Trip ticket, after cracking the code and also discovering the secret room, but he was never evicted while the tickets were active.

During Week 9, Julie revealed that since no one who was evicted had the Round Trip, the returning Juror competition will return, this time, between the first 5 Jurors (Da'Vonne Rogers, Zakiyah Everette, Bridgette Dunning, Paulie Calafiore, and Victor Arroyo) rather than the first 4. Victor was able to outlast the others in an endurance competition, similar to the competition done in BB15 and BB17, and returned to the game once again, but lost the HoH shortly after Paulie fell off. This means that BB18 was the first season to have 3 separate opportunities for an evicted HouseGuest to re-enter the game, while only 2 of them actually lead to definite re-entry via competitions, both won by Victor, while 1 of them was not guaranteed due to being luck based.

Big Brother Canada 1
Gary came back to the house after the public got to give one of the 4 Jury members (Alec Beall, AJ Burman, Topaz Brady, and Gary Levy) a second chance and a spot in the final five. Gary won with 35% of the vote.

Big Brother Canada 3
Sindy Nguyen came back to the house after participating in and winning an endurance competition between the first 5 evicted HouseGuests.

Big Brother Canada 4
Kelsey Faith and Loveita Adams were evicted in a Fake Double Eviction, and were sent to a Secret Suite. After the next eviction, the house had to unanimously decide which one the wanted back in and they chose Kelsey. Thus Loveita was officially evicted alongisde that week's evictee.

In-Game Success
In the ten seasons to feature this twist, eight of them (Big Brother 3, Big Brother 9, Big Brother 13, Big Brother 15, Big Brother Canada 1, Big Brother 16, Big Brother Canada 3, and Big Brother 17) saw the previously evicted House Guest reach the Jury Phase. These players include Amy Crews (Big Brother 3 (US)), Sharon Obermueller and James Zinkand (Big Brother 9 (US)),  Brendon Villegas (Big Brother 13 (US)), Judd Daugherty (Big Brother 15 (US)), Gary Levy (Big Brother Canada 1), Nicole Franzel (Big Brother 16 (US)), Sindy Nguyen (Big Brother Canada 3), John McGuire (Big Brother 17 (US)), Kelsey Faith (Big Brother Canada 4), and Victor Arroyo (Big Brother 18 (US)) (although the re-entry for 15, Canada 1, 16, 17, and the second re-entry for 18 were done at the Jury stage).

Of returning players only Gary Levy and Kelsey Faith made it to the final 2 where they both lost, with Gary's loss being a controversial vote.

Trivia

 * Kaysar Ridha is the only previously evicted HouseGuest that did not reach the Jury Stage upon his re-entry.
 * He was also the only previously evicted HouseGuest to compete in multiple seasons until Nicole Franzel competed in Big Brother 18 (US).
 * Up until Big Brother 12 (US), a HouseGuest would return to the game every third season.
 * According to rumors, Big Brother 12 (US) had intended to feature a returning HouseGuest as the pre-jury boots were sequestered. However, after Kristen Bitting was shown a revealing goodbye message from showmance partner Hayden Moss, this idea was dropped.
 * Starting with Big Brother 15 (US), there was a competition between the first 4 Jurors to re-enter the game that took place every season.
 * In Big Brother 18 (US), the competition was changed to be between the first 5 Jurors, due to the Round Trip Ticket twist never actually coming into play.
 * Sharon Obermueller is the only previously evicted HouseGuest to return due to reasons other than a twist (Sharon returned to replace Neil Garcia as Joshuah Welch's "soulmate" after Neil walked from the game).
 * Judd Daugherty, Gary Levy, Nicole Franzel, John McGuire, and Victor Arroyo are the only previously evicted HouseGuests that returned to the game after being a member of the jury.
 * Big Brother 18 (US) is the first season to give 2 or more HouseGuests the chance at re-entry via a planned twist. It is also the first time that a Secret Room has led to someone re-entering the game.
 * James Zinkand, John McGuire, and Victor Arroyo are currently the only 3 HouseGuests to re-enter the game on the same night they were evicted.
 * James returned before the live show ended, John returned a few minutes after it ended, and Victor returned about an hour after it ended.
 * Big Brother 9 (US) and Big Brother 18 (US) are the only seasons to have 2 HouseGuests return after being evicted, though in BB18 the same person returned twice.
 * Victor Arroyo is the first HouseGuest to return after being evicted twice in one season.
 * Had the Coaches not pressed the button to return into the game in Big Brother 14 (US), this twist may have been present.