Big Brother 18 (US)

Big Brother 18 is the eighteenth season of the popular American reality show Big Brother. After an American-record 99 days, second-time player Nicole Franzel was crowned the winner over first-time player Paul Abrahamian in a 5-4 vote. This made Nicole the first woman to win Big Brother over a man in the Final Two.

Twists

 * Returning Players: Four fan-favorite HouseGuests from past seasons, Da'Vonne Rogers and James Huling from Big Brother 17, Nicole Franzel from Big Brother 16, and Frank Eudy from Big Brother 14 returned to compete against twelve new HouseGuests.
 * Teams: Similar to the Cliques from Big Brother 11 and the Coaches from Big Brother 14, each HouseGuest was placed on a team of four, with one returning HouseGuest on each team. Each week, the Head of Household's teammates were safe from eviction. The teams lasted until Day 37, being dissolved along with the Roadkill Competition.
 * Day Two Eviction: On Day 1, it was revealed that the loser of the Immunity Competition and the final part of the Hit The Road competition - a member of the Freakazoids team - would be evicted if they came in last place. This HouseGuest ended up being Glenn Garcia, and he was the first HouseGuest evicted from Big Brother 18 on Day 2.
 * Roadkill Competition: Similar to the MVP twist from Big Brother 15, each week the HouseGuests will compete in the Roadkill Competition. The winner of this competition will be privately informed of their victory. This HouseGuest will receive the power to secretly name a third nominee for eviction, with no obligation to ever reveal his or her identity. If the "Roadkill Nominee" is taken off of the block due to the Power of Veto, the Roadkill winner will have to secretly name a replacement nominee. The Roadkill Competition lasted until Day 37, being dissolved along with the teams.
 * Battle Back Competition: Similar to Survivor's Redemption Island, the first five evicted HouseGuests competed against each other to re-enter the house. The first two evicted HouseGuests, Glenn Garcia and Jozea Flores, faced off in the first competition, which Jozea won. Jozea then faced Victor Arroyo, the third evicted HouseGuest, in the second competition, which Victor won. Victor then faced Bronte D'Acquisto, the fourth evicted HouseGuest, in the third competition, which Victor won. Finally, Victor faced Tiffany Rousso, the fifth evicted HouseGuest, in the fourth and final competition. Victor won and re-entered the house.
 * Round Trip Ticket: During Week 5, shortly after the Veto ceremony, it was revealed to the HouseGuests that there were clues all around the house. A phone booth upstairs led to a secret room if a HouseGuest could crack the code to get into it. Paul Abrahamian was the first HouseGuest to crack the code and gain entry to the secret room. There, he discovered twelve envelopes. One of the envelopes held a Round Trip Ticket; the person who unknowingly claimed this ticket would be able to immediately return to the house if/when they were evicted. The rest of the house cracked the code and gained entry, with each HouseGuest claiming one envelope. Julie Chen was the only one who could open the envelopes, and if a HouseGuest opened their envelope before eviction night, then its contents would be void. After four weeks, the tickets expired. None of the HouseGuests that were evicted during this period had the Round Trip Ticket, so the rest of the HouseGuests opened their envelopes. It was revealed that Paul, who had originally discovered the secret room, was the holder of the Round Trip Ticket.
 * America's Care Package: At the beginning of Week 6, Julie introduced America's Care Package. This twist allows the viewers to vote for one HouseGuest to receive a special advantage within the game each week. The HouseGuest with the most votes gains the advantage provided by America's Care Package. Once a HouseGuest is chosen to get a Care Package, he or she is not able to receive another one in the future. Natalie Negrotti won the first Care Package, a Never-Not Pass that lasted for the rest of the season. James Huling won the second Care Package, the ability to cancel two votes at the next eviction. Nicole Franzel won the third Care Package, safety for the week. However, she also had to wear the "Super Safety" costume. Michelle Meyer won the fourth Care Package, which contained the power of Co-HOH. Michelle gained all of the privileges of being Head of Household, including the power to name one of the two nominees that week. Corey Brooks won the fifth and final Care Package, $5,000 that he could use to bribe another HouseGuest to do what he wanted them to do.
 * Jury Re-Entry Competition: After Week 9's eviction, the five jurors and the remaining HouseGuests competed in an endurance Head of Household competition. The last juror standing won the right to return to the house, and the last HouseGuest standing (even if that HouseGuest is a juror) became the next Head of Household. Victor won re-entry for the second time this season, thus making Big Brother history by not only being the first season to feature two re-entry competitions, but also the first season in which a HouseGuest re-entered the house twice.

Voting History

 * Note: Victor was evicted during Weeks 3 and 4 and for part of Week 10, before winning his way back into the house.

Round 1 (Hit the Road)
When the first 12 House Guests entered the house, they were informed that there would be three huge twists in the game.The new housguest started speculating that there were only 12 House Guests instead of the regular 16 housguests they started to catch on to the first twist. The first big twist of the summer,was that four former HouseGuests would be returning to the game those people are (Nicole Franzel, Da'Vonne Rogers, Frank Eudy, and James Huling). The four returning house guests came out of suitcases, Shortly,after the 4 house guests got settled with the newbies Julie revealed the second big twist, the second twist revealed that the House Guests would be divided into four teams of four. The teams were picked by the four returnees and named by the HouseGuests themselves. The four teams then began a competition with prizes and rewards, with the first place prize being immunity from the first two evictions. The winning team was Team Unicorn, consisting of James, Natalie Negrotti, Victor Arroyo, and Bronte D'Acquisto. Shortly after the competition, the HouseGuests were informed that one HouseGuest would be evicted before the two-night premiere concluded. Julie explained that the teams will compete in a three-part competition, and that the winning team in Part 1 would be granted immunity from the upcoming eviction, as well as the winning team from Part 2. The members of the remaining team must then compete against each other in Part 3, and the HouseGuest that loses the final competition will be evicted. Category Four, consisting of Frank, Paulie Calafiore, Michelle Meyer, and Bridgette Dunning, won Part 1 and were safe from the next eviction. Part 2 was won by Team Big Sister, consisting of Da'Vonne, Jozea Flores, Zakiyah Everette, and Paul Abrahamian. In Part 3, Team Freakazoids, consisting of Nicole, Glenn Garcia, Corey Brooks, and Tiffany Rousso, faced off against each other. When Glenn failed to complete the competition in time, he became the first HouseGuest evicted from the house.

Round 2
Following Glenn's eviction, part of the twist, was that the Head of Household for the week was to be one of the three surviving HouseGuests. Together, the Freakazoids chose Nicole to be the first HOH of the summer. After hearing that he was targeting the veterans, Nicole decided to nominate Jozea as her target alongside Paulie, hoping to use Paulie as a pawn to send Jozea home. The next twist of the summer came into play with the BB Roadkill Competition. Frank was the winner of the competition and was given the power to anonymously nominate a third HouseGuest. Frank decided to nominate Paul for eviction alongside Paulie and Jozea. At the Veto competition, the three nominees, Nicole, Da'Vonne, and Corey competed, and Paul won. At the Veto ceremony, Paul used the Veto on himself, and Bridgette was named as the replacement Roadkill nominee. At the eviction, Jozea was blindsided and evicted by a vote of 7–4–0.

Week 2
Following Jozea's eviction, the remaining HouseGuests competed in the Head of Household competition. Paulie was crowned the new HOH, so he and the rest of his team were immune from the next eviction. At the nomination ceremony, Paulie decided to nominate Paul and Bronte with hopes to fulfill a plan to backdoor Victor. Victor ended up winning the Roadkill competition for the week and decided to nominate Tiffany as his target. The other HouseGuests continued to play Victor, as he remained the house's target even though he was convinced that it was Tiffany. At the Veto competition, Paulie won his second competition of the week and won the Golden Power of Veto. At the Veto ceremony, Paulie continued with his plan and used the Veto on Paul, putting Victor up in his place. At the eviction, Victor was evicted by a vote of 9–1–0, with Paul casting a sympathy vote against Bronte. Behind the scenes, Jozea had just beaten Glenn in the first Battle Back Competition, eliminating him from the game.

Week 3
Following Victor's eviction, the HouseGuests competed in the "Kiss My Ace" Head of Household competition in which Bridgette was crowned the new HOH for the week. Immediately, the other HouseGuests believed that Frank would be the one controlling Bridgette's nominations due to his close relationship with her. At the nomination ceremony, Bridgette went through with Frank's plan to get rid of his biggest threat, Tiffany, and nominated her and Paul for eviction. At the Roadkill competition, Frank won his second Roadkill of the summer and decided to nominate Bronte. At the Veto competition, Bridgette won the Golden Power of Veto in addition to her HOH win. At the Veto ceremony, Bridgette decided not to use the Veto, leaving the nominations the same for the first time this season. Michelle, Nicole, Corey, Zakiyah, and Da'Vonne decided to flip the vote and get Bronte, one of Bridgette's biggest allies, out by a vote of 5–4–0. The HouseGuests that flipped the vote also wanted to keep Tiffany so that she could go after Frank. Behind the scenes, Victor had just beaten Jozea in the second Battle Back Competition, eliminating him from the game.

Week 4
Following Bronte's eviction, the HouseGuests competed in the "Euro Trippin" Head of Household competition. Paulie won HOH for the second time this summer, even though he was trying to throw the competition in order to make Frank vulnerable. With Frank safe from eviction this week, many HouseGuests began to believe that keeping Tiffany in the house was a mistake. After Tiffany had a breakdown and told Frank that the house is against him, Paulie decided to continue with the plan to evict Tiffany. Therefore, Paulie nominated Tiffany and Natalie for eviction. At the Roadkill competition, Tiffany won the power to nominate a third HouseGuest. Now a free agent, Tiffany decided to nominate her teammate and former ally, Corey, for eviction. Determined to keep Tiffany on the block and stay safe for the week, Corey won the Power of Veto. Upset over new revelations, Tiffany decided to nominate yet another former ally, Da'Vonne, after Corey used the Veto on himself. After teaming up with Frank and Bridgette, Tiffany attempted to flip the vote, convincing some of the HouseGuests to vote Da'Vonne out. When Paulie caught wind of the plan, he strongly disagreed and pushed for Tiffany to leave. At the eviction, the HouseGuests decided to respect Paulie's wishes and evicted Tiffany by an 8–0–0 vote. Behind the scenes, Victor had just beaten Bronte in the third Battle Back Competition, eliminating her from the game.

Week 5
Following Tiffany's eviction, Julie informed the HouseGuests that the Team Twist and the Roadkill competition had come to an end. Meanwhile, unknown to the rest of the house, Victor defeated his fellow evicted HouseGuests in the Battle Back Competition. Victor had just beaten Tiffany in the fourth and final Battle Back Competition, eliminating her from the game. As a result, he was the Battle Back Champion and was allowed to return to the game, shocking the other HouseGuests. In a battle of endurance, James won the first Head of Household competition since the teams were dissolved. With everyone now on their own, and believing that the house was against them, James nominated Frank and Bridgette for eviction. At the Veto competition, Frank and Bridgette suffered yet another loss when Michelle won the Power of Veto, her first competition win of the season. At the Veto ceremony, Michelle decided to honor the house's wishes by not using the Power of Veto, leaving the duo of Frank and Bridgette on the block. Shortly after the Veto ceremony, the HouseGuests were given clues to a code that unlocked a secret room in the house. The room contained twelve envelopes, one for each HouseGuest. One of the twelve envelopes contains a Round Trip Ticket that will allow its holder to return to the game immediately after he or she is evicted. However, an envelope cannot be opened until its holder is onstage with Julie following his or her eviction. This power will expire after four weeks have passed. Despite Frank trying to campaign, the HouseGuests stuck to their guns and decided to evict Frank by a unanimous vote of 9–0. Frank's envelope did not contain the Round Trip Ticket, so he was not able to return to the game.

Week 6
Following Frank's eviction, the HouseGuests competed in the "Perfect Shot" Head of Household competition. Paul then became the HOH for the first time this summer. With America's Care Package in play for the first time, Natalie earned the most votes for the week. She received a Never-Not Pass for the rest of the season and, therefore, ended her status as a Have-Not for the rest of the week. At the nomination ceremony, Paul decided to nominate his ally, Paulie, as a pawn and Bridgette as his main target with Da'Vonne as a backdoor option. At the Veto competition, Paulie won his second Power of Veto of the season, ensuring his safety for the rest of the week. At the Veto ceremony, Paulie removed himself from the block, and Da'Vonne was nominated in his place as Paul's new target for the week. With most of the HouseGuests now seeing Da'Vonne as a bigger target than Bridgette, Da'Vonne was blindsided and evicted by a 6–2 vote. Only Da'Vonne's allies, Michelle and Zakiyah, voted to keep her. Da'Vonne's envelope did not contain the Round Trip Ticket, so she was not able to return to the game. Instead, she became the first member of the Jury.

Round 1
Following Da'Vonne's eviction, the HouseGuests competed in the "Harsh Hashtags" Head of Household competition. After fighting to win for nearly two hours, Victor became the new HOH. For the second America's Care Package, James was given the power to eliminate the eviction votes of two HouseGuests. At the nomination ceremony, Victor decided to obey the orders of Paul and Paulie and nominated Michelle and Zakiyah for eviction. Paulie then won the Power of Veto for the second week in a row at the "Hide and Go Veto" Power of Veto competition. At the Veto ceremony, Paulie decided not to use the Power of Veto, leaving both of his former alliance members on the block. Throughout the week, Michelle campaigned that Paulie was controlling the house, effectively aligning with Bridgette, Natalie, and James and forming a group to go against the alliance of Paulie, Nicole, and Corey. At the eviction, James went through with the plan and voided the votes of Paul and Corey, and the rest of the HouseGuests blindsided Paulie and evicted Zakiyah by a vote of 3–2. Zakiyah's envelope did not contain the Round Trip Ticket, so she became the second member of the Jury.

Round 2
Following Zakiyah's eviction, the HouseGuests learned that it was a Double Eviction. The HouseGuests then competed in the "Statcathlon" Head of Household competition. Corey foiled the majority of the HouseGuests' plans and won his first HOH. Immediately, he nominated Bridgette and Michelle for eviction. At the "Veto Time" Power of Veto competition, Corey continued his winning streak and won the Veto. He then decided not to use the Power of Veto, leaving the nominations the same. Despite calling out numerous HouseGuests prior to the eviction and during the live show, the HouseGuests saved Michelle and blindsided Bridgette by a vote of 5–1. Bridgette's envelope did not contain the Round Trip Ticket, so she became the third member of the Jury.

Week 8
Following Bridgette's eviction, the HouseGuests competed in the "Hollywoods Squirrels" Head of Household competition where Victor became the new HOH once more. By receiving the third America's Care Package, Nicole became safe for the week, but she also had to wear a "Super Safety" costume. After the events and revelations of the previous week, Victor and Paul decided to turn on their alliance with Paulie. Working with James, Natalie, and Michelle, Victor decided to nominate Paulie and Corey for eviction. At the Veto competition, Victor won the Power of Veto for the first time this summer. Victor then decided not to use the Veto, leaving Paulie and Corey on the block. Despite trying to campaign to stay in the game, the house decided to evict Paulie by a unanimous vote of 5–0. Paulie's envelope did not contain the Round Trip Ticket, so he became the fourth member of the Jury. At this point, the rest of the tickets expired, so the remaining HouseGuests opened their envelopes. Paul was revealed to have been in possession of the Round Trip Ticket.

Week 9
Following Paulie's eviction, the remaining HouseGuests competed in the "Black Box" Head of Household competition. For the first time this summer, Natalie became the new HOH. After receiving the fourth America's Care Package, Michelle was granted the power of Co-HOH. She was given all the perks of the regular HOH and was required to nominate one HouseGuest while Natalie nominated the other. After being swayed by Nicole and Corey's last ditch effort to save themselves, Natalie decided to target Paul and convinced Michelle to go along with the plan as well. As a result, Natalie nominated Victor and Michelle nominated Paul for eviction. After the nomination ceremony, Natalie, Michelle, and James flip-flopped on whether the idea to target Paul was good for their games or not. After James and Natalie decided they wanted to indeed target Paul instead of going with the proposed plan to backdoor Corey, Paul foiled their plan by winning his second Power of Veto of the summer. Despite initially wanting to put Nicole on the block, Michelle was convinced to nominate Corey as the replacement nominee after Paul used the Veto on himself. On the day before the eviction, Paul and Victor attempted to convince the other HouseGuests that they were no longer working together. Despite most of the HouseGuests believing that they had separated, the house decided to evict Victor by a vote of 2–1. Victor then became the fifth member of the Jury. After the eviction, Julie announced to the remaining HouseGuests that the five jurors would be battling to re-enter the house in an endurance competition alongside the current HouseGuests, with everyone battling for Head of Household.

Week 10
Following Victor's eviction, the jurors battled to re-enter the house and for Head of Household along with the four other competing HouseGuests in the "Welcome to Loch Mess" Head of Household competition. After outlasting the other four jurors, Victor returned to the game for the second time this summer. After fighting for over two hours in a battle of endurance, Nicole became the new Head of Household for the second time this summer. Corey received the fifth and final America's Care Package, which contained $5,000 that he could use to bribe another HouseGuest to do what he wanted them to do. With Paul having increased his standing with Nicole and Corey during the previous week, Nicole decided to work with Paul and Victor in order to target Michelle, who had lost Nicole's trust. To that end, Nicole nominated Michelle and Paul, with Paul having agreed to be the pawn. At the Veto competition, Nicole won her first Power of Veto of the summer. At the Veto ceremony, Nicole did not use the Power of Veto, leaving Paul and Michelle on the block. Corey decided to use the $5,000 bribe to get Victor to vote to evict Michelle, even though Victor was already planning on doing so. For the rest of the week, James and Natalie reassured themselves and Michelle that Nicole and Corey would be loyal to them. To their surprise, Corey and Victor voted Michelle out and forced a 2–2 vote. Nicole had to break the tie and cast the final vote to evict Michelle by a vote of 3–2. Michelle then became the fifth member of the Jury.

Week 11
Following Michelle's eviction, the HouseGuests competed in the "Poached Eggs" Head of Household competition. Victor then went on to win his third Head of Household competition of the summer. Victor, Paul, Nicole, and Corey continued to work together and maintained their Final Four alliance when Victor decided to nominate James and Natalie for eviction. At the Veto competition, Corey won his third Power of Veto of the summer. Corey then chose to leave Victor's nominations intact. After deciding on a target, the Final Four alliance decided to evict Natalie by a vote of 3–0. Natalie then became the sixth member of the Jury.

Round 1
Following Natalie's eviction, the HouseGuests competed in the "BB Slide in Theatre" Head of Household competition, where Corey won his second HOH of the summer. Sticking to his Final Two deal with Nicole and the Final Three deal they made with James, he decided to nominate Paul and Victor for eviction, with Victor as his target. At the "BB Comics" Veto competition, Nicole won her second Power of Veto of the summer. Nicole decided to leave Corey's nominations the same. At the surprise eviction, Victor was evicted by a vote of 2–0, making him the seventh member of the Jury.

Round 2
Following Victor's eviction, James, Nicole, and Paul competed in the "What the Bleep?" Head of Household competition. After beating Nicole in a tiebreaker question, Paul won his second HOH of the summer and guaranteed himself a spot in the Final Three. To get revenge for evicting his number one ally, Paul decided to nominate Nicole and Corey for eviction. Paul then went on to win the "Cover Your Bases" Veto competition, the last Veto competition of the summer. Paul decided not to change his nominations, and James, obeying Paul's wishes, cast the sole vote to evict Corey, making him the eighth member of the Jury.

Week 13
The final Head of Household competition was played out in three different parts. "Hang In There Kitty" was the first part of the HOH, which Paul won. Days later, Nicole defeated James in the "Snapshot" challenge, meaning James had been nominated. At the live third part of the HOH competition, Paul beat Nicole in "Scales of Just Us", thus winning the final HOH. Paul then chose to evict James, making James the ninth and final member of the Jury. James was confused with Paul's choice. James thought him and Paul were going to be the Final 2. After a long wait Julie revealed the jury's votes as well as America's Favorite Houseguest (AFP).

Notable Prizes

 * Week 1's first challenge gave out 2 prizes to the top placing teams, with the Freakazoids getting $10,000 to split evenly among the 4 teammates, and Team Unicorn getting immunity from the first 2 evictions.
 * By winning Week 3's Veto competition, Bridgette and her team won a special steak dinner sponsored by Outback Steakhouse. She was also allowed to invite one other team. She chose Big Sister.
 * After the Week 8 Power of Veto competition, various HouseGuests received prizes:
 * Nicole won a vacation to anywhere in the United States.
 * James won $5,000.
 * Several prizes were given out during the BB Carnival:
 * Paulie won a 50-inch television, a tablet, and a smartphone (falsely given to Victor on the edited show due to Paulie's eviction).
 * Also several cash prizes were given out:
 * Paulie won $1,000.
 * Nicole won $750.
 * Victor, Paul, and Corey each won $500.
 * James, Natalie, and Michelle each won 25 cents.

Notable Punishments

 * Week 1's first challenge gave out 2 punishments to the lowest placing teams, with Big Sister becoming Have-Nots, and Category 4 given pixelated outfits (underwear for the men, bikini tops and bottoms for the women) to wear for the rest of the week.
 * By winning the Care Package for Week 8, Nicole earned safety for the week but also had to wear the "Super Safety" unitard costume.
 * After the Week 8 Power of Veto competition, various HouseGuests received punishments:
 * Corey had to wear a "Patriotard" for a week.
 * Paulie had to bake apple pies for the rest of the summer.
 * Paul had to dress up as the Secret Service and pat down the other HouseGuests whenever an alarm would go off.

Trivia

 * This season's opening sequence goes back to the older theme music last used in Big Brother 13, rather than the newer version released and used in Big Brother 16 and 17. Likely reverted due to throwback for the veterans.
 * However, from the episode with the first Veto competition, the music has changed back to the newer version for reasons unknown.
 * Ironically, Season 13 was the last season to bring back former HouseGuests that started off as HouseGuests rather than coaches. That season also had its own Newbies vs Veterans alliance.
 * This is the first season to bring back past HouseGuests since Big Brother 14.
 * Coincidentally, in that season the HouseGuests also started with 12 newbies and 4 veterans that split up into teams based around the veterans.
 * This is also the first season since Big Brother 14 to evict a HouseGuest within the first 2 days.
 * Three of the four veterans (Frank, Nicole, and James) all earned 7th place in their original seasons. Da'Vonne is the only one who didn't get 7th, instead getting 16th.
 * This is the first season with 3 nominees on the block during eviction night since Big Brother 15.
 * Interestingly, that season also featured a sibling of a former HouseGuest
 * This season also features two siblings of former HouseGuests: Paulie Calafiore (brother of Cody Calafiore from Big Brother 16) and Tiffany Rousso (sister of Vanessa Rousso from Big Brother 17).
 * This is the third season to feature a returning HouseGuest who was evicted pre-Jury, after Big Brother 6 and Big Brother 13.
 * However, this is the first season where the pre-jury returning houseguest was not immediately evicted upon re-entry.
 * This is the first season where everybody in the Final 9 held the title of Head of Household at least once.
 * Michelle Meyer did not win an HOH competition, but was granted the power through America's Care Package and became co-HOH.
 * This season features the most HouseGuests who have won HOH and POV within the same week with six.
 * Paulie, Bridgette, Corey, Victor, Nicole, and Paul have all accomplished this.
 * This is the first season since Big Brother 6 where multiple female HouseGuests won HOH and POV within the same week. They are Bridgette and Nicole.
 * This is the third season to feature male HouseGuests winning HoH for six weeks in a row, following Big Brother 14 and Big Brother 16 respectively.
 * This is the first season to have two separate HouseGuests wear unitards at the same time, being Nicole and Corey.
 * Coincidentally, they were in a showmance during their time on this season.
 * This season has the most unitard wearers, with Frank (wore a unitard in BB14), Nicole (wore a unitard on BB16 and again this season), and Corey.
 * This is the first season to have a HouseGuest return to the game twice, the HouseGuest being Victor.
 * This is the first even-numbered season to feature a tiebreaker vote since Big Brother 6.
 * This is the first season where a female HouseGuest took first prize over a male HouseGuest in the Final Two.
 * This is also the first season in which the final vote was 5–4.
 * The Top 3 vote-getters for America's Favorite Houseguest were all from the same team.
 * This season is tied for the most non-unanimous votes, with 8 votes not being unanimous.
 * The other seasons with 8 non-unanimous votes are Seasons 8, 13, 14, and 17.
 * Even though there were three nominees for the first four evictions (excluding Glenn's), at least one nominee received no votes to evict each time. The same thing occurred in Big Brother 15, and again in Big Brother: Over The Top.