Returning Players

Returning Players (or Veteran HouseGuests) is a recurring twist in Big Brother. This twist gives players that have previously won the opportunity to come back and win again, as well as giving previously evicted players the chance to win for the first time. So far, five seasons have featured returning players (Big Brother All Stars, Big Brother 11, Big Brother 13, Big Brother 14, and Big Brother 18).

Big Brother All-Stars
Big Brother All-Stars featured 20 candidates, comprised of House Guests from all of the first six seasons of Big Brother. The House Guests were only eligible to enter the house based on fan votes, which would trim the cast down to 14, leaving 6 people ineligible to return (although the Producers chose 6/20 candidates on their own, meaning only 8 candidates entered based on the public vote).

Big Brother 11
Big Brother 11 featured 4 previous players returning for a chance for only one to enter the game. Each returning player represented one of the four cliques in the game (Athletes, Brains, Off-Beat, and Popular). To re-enter the game, the returning player had to have a member of their respective clique be the last one left in an Endurance Challenge. The returning player would also be the very first HOH for the week.

Big Brother 13
Big Brother 13 featured 6 returning players against 8 new players. The 6 returnees were paired up in a duo with another player from the past season (Each duo of returning players was male/female).

Big Brother 14
Big Brother 14 featured 4 previous players who would become "coaches" and mentor 12 other new players (3 on each team). Each week, the Coaches would compete in an individual challenge in order to give a member of their team Immunity from being nominated or trade for someone for another team. During the third week, the Coaches were offered the opportunity to join the game as individual players, which all but one coach accepted.

Big Brother 18
Big Brother 18 featured 4 returning players along with 12 new players. The 4 returnees were split up into 4 separate teams where they played alongside 3 new players.

In-Game Success
Out of the five seasons that featured returning players, four of them (All-Stars, Big Brother 13, Big Brother 14, and Big Brother 18) saw returning players reach the Final Two. These players include Mike "Boogie" Malin and Erika Landin (Big Brother All Stars - entire cast was returning players), Rachel Reilly (Big Brother 13), Dan Gheesling (Big Brother 14), and Nicole Franzel or James Huling (Big Brother 18). Mike "Boogie" and Rachel then went on to win the game, while Erika and Dan were the runner-ups in their seasons. Nicole and James are currently competing still, but one of them is making Final Two.

Returning Players By Season

 * Big Brother 1: "Chicken" George Boswell
 * Big Brother 2: Mike "Boogie" Malin and Dr. Will Kirby
 * Big Brother 3: Danielle Reyes and Marcellas Reynolds
 * Big Brother 4: Alison Irwin and Erika Landin
 * Big Brother 5: Diane Henry, Jase Wirey, and Nakomis Dedmon
 * Big Brother 6: Howie Gordon, James Rhine, Janelle Pierzina, and Kaysar Ridha
 * Big Brother All-Stars: Janelle Pierzina and Mike "Boogie" Malin
 * Big Brother 8: Daniele Donato and "Evel" Dick Donato
 * Big Brother 9: None
 * Big Brother 10: Dan Gheesling and Jessie Godderz
 * Big Brother 11: Jeff Schroeder and Jordan Lloyd
 * Big Brother 12: Brendon Villegas, Britney Haynes, and Rachel Reilly
 * Big Brother 13: None
 * Big Brother 14: Frank Eudy
 * Big Brother 15: None
 * Big Brother 16: Nicole Franzel
 * Big Brother 17: Da'Vonne Rogers and James Huling

Trivia

 * There have been 27 returning house guests, with 2 of them returning twice, making a total of 29 times house guests have returned to compete in another season.
 * Big Brother 11 features the fewest returning players with only one (Jessie Godderz).
 * Due to Jessie being the sole returning player in his season, the odds of him making Final 2 were drastically lower, as other seasons have had at least 4, 6, or 14 playing.
 * Big Brother 9, Big Brother 13, Big Brother 15 are the only seasons to have had no house guests return for a subsequent appearance.
 * Ironically, Big Brother 13 was the first non All-Stars season to bring back more than one returning player at a time.
 * For every season to feature returning players, with the exception of Big Brother 11, a returning player has reached the final 2.
 * In All-Stars, Mike "Boogie Malin" became the winner, while Erika Landin became the runner-up.
 * It should be noted that in All-Stars, it was guaranteed that 2 returning players would be in the final 2, as the entire cast was returning players.
 * In Big Brother 13, Rachel Reilly became the winner.
 * In Big Brother 14, Dan Gheesling became the runner-up.
 * In Big Brother 18, Nicole Franzel and James Huling are currently still in the game, one of them will be runner-up at least.
 * Howie Gordon, Janelle Pierzina, James Rhine, Kaysar Ridha, Jessie Godderz, Rachel Reilly, Brendon Villegas, Da'Vonne Rogers, and James Huling and all played back to back seasons.
 * Howie Gordon, Janelle Pierzina, James Rhine, and Kaysar Ridha all played on Big Brother 6 and Big Brother 7
 * Jessie Godderz played on Big Brother 10 and Big Brother 11
 * Rachel Reilly and Brendon Villegas played on Big Brother 12 and Big Brother 13
 * Da'Vonne Rogers and James Huling played on Big Brother 17 and Big Brother 18
 * Big Brother 6 currently has the most returning players out of all seasons, with 4.
 * Dan Gheesling has had the best result of any returning houseguest across Big Brother 10 and Big Brother 14 finishing 1st and 2nd.
 * Evel Dick Donato and Dan Gheesling are the only houseguests to never be voted out every time they played.
 * Dick won Big Brother 8 and walked from Big Brother 13, never actually being evicted.
 * Dan won Big Brother 10 and was the runner-up of Big Brother 14.
 * Mike "Boogie" Malin and Janelle Pierzina are the only houseguests to play 3 times.
 * Bunky Miller, Monica Bailey, Lisa Donahue, Dana Varela, Michael "Cowboy" Ellis, Ivette Corredero, Jessica Hughbanks, and Brian Hart are the only houseguests who were candidates to play again, but did not make it in.
 * Bunky, Monica, Lisa, Dana, Cowboy, and Ivette were all potential All-Stars candidates, but were not voted in by America or selected by production.
 * Cowboy, Jessica, and Brian were all potential Big Brother 11 candidates, but their cliques did not win the HoH competition, so none of them made it in.
 * Cowboy is the only houseguest to have had 2 separate chances to play the game again and not return for either of them.