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Amanda Joy Zachman (née Zuckerman) was a houseguest on Big Brother 15 (US).

She became known for her showmance with McCrae Olson but quickly caused a controversy within the house due to her threatening comments made to other houseguests (mainly Candice Stewart, Jessie Kowalski, and Elissa Slater). Amanda dictated the house for the majority of the season by controlling the HOHs nominations. After her 3 A.M. alliance crumbled, Amanda and her showmance were nominated against one another in during the first half of the second Double Eviction. When McCrae won the PoV and took himself off the block, Amanda stayed on the block. Despite successfully flipping Elissa's vote before the eviction ceremony, she was betrayed by her ally Andy Herren, who voted against her and forced a 2-2 tie. HOH GinaMarie Zimmerman ultimately cast the tie-breaker vote to evict Amanda. She placed 7th and was the fifth member of the jury.

Amanda is known to be one of the most notorious villains in Big Brother history; often being the center of arguments and confrontations. Her aggressive and abrasive gameplay made her an extremely controversial houseguest, and she received widespread criticism for the way she handled many of her relationships in the house. Despite this, she is remembered for being one of the season's most dominant players who controlled the house for much of the season and was responsible for a majority of the season's evictions.

Biography

Retrieved from CBS.com

Name: Amanda Zuckerman
Age: 28
Hometown: Long Island, N.Y.
Lives: Boynton Beach, Fla.
Occupation: Real Estate Agent
Marital Status: Single
Three adjectives that describe you: Confident, sexy and funny!
Favorite Activities: Horseback riding, hiking, shopping and going to movies.
What do you think will be the most difficult part about living inside the “Big Brother” house? Being away from my friends, family, my dog and my job, but they will be there when I get back.
Strategy for winning “Big Brother”: My strategy is to find common ground with everyone and share individual time- and secrets to earn their trust. Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.
Which past “Big Brother” cast member did you like most or least? Most – I love Britney! She’s hilarious, real and played an awesome game. Least – Jen from Big Brother 8 because she was fake, annoying and conceited.
What are you afraid of? Sharks!
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of? I’m proud of where I have brought myself to in my career.
Finish this sentence: My life’s motto is… Wherever you go, there you are. Which means to me, you choose where you want to be in life. The only person to get in your way is yourself. You are your own means to success.
What would you take into the house and why? My dog, my cellphone and my laptop.
What would you do if “Big Brother” made you famous: I would use my fame to further my real estate career and ride the five minute fame wave.[1]

Player History - Big Brother 15

On Week 1, Amanda formed a close bond with the HoH, McCrae Olson, which quickly developed into a romantic relationship. Despite initially not trusting her, Amanda decided to align herself with Elissa Slater after discovering that she has won the MVP vote, with hopes to gain control of her MVP vote in future weeks. As a result, Amanda voted to evict David Girton instead of Elissa this week, and he became successfully evicted. On week 2, The Moving Company alliance, which McCrae had a role in, attempts to get Amanda nominated, believing that she is a distraction to McCrae. However, they are unsuccessful with this. When Elissa became nominated again, Amanda voted to keep her in again and evicts Nick Uhas instead. Nick became successfully evicted.

Following Nick's eviction, McCrae admits to Amanda the truth about The Moving Company alliance. However, McCrae promises that his loyalties are now with her. Amanda still decides to trust McCrae. However, she began to target his ex-allies from The Moving Company, Howard Overby and Spencer Clawson. Amanda tried to pressure Elissa into nominating Howard for her MVP vote this week. However, Elissa refused to do this and chose Spencer instead. Amanda then voted to evict her primary target this week, Jeremy McGuire, along with the rest of the house. On week 4, Amanda attempted to get Howard, and Spencer nominated again by pressuring Judd Daugherty after he won the HOH. However, he refused to do so. Amanda then voted to evict Kaitlin Barnaby along with the rest of the house.

On week 5, Amanda was finally able to get Howard, and Spencer nominated for eviction after Aaryn Gries became the HoH. Aaryn had made a deal the previous week with Amanda's ally, Helen Kim, that if she kept Aaryn in the game then she would nominate whoever Helen told her to. Helen told her to put up Howard and Spencer, which she later did so. Following Howard and Spencer's nomination, however, Amanda is then nominated for eviction in a shocking twist where America voted to select the third nominee. Amanda remains unaware that it was America who had chosen her, however. Amanda is able to survive eviction when the fellow HouseGuests voted to evict Howard instead.

Following Howard's eviction, Amanda clashed with Jessie Kowalski after discovering that Jessie had considered voting to evict her instead of Howard. As a result, Jessie became a target amongst the house and became nominated alongside Candice Stewart by the HOH GinaMarie Zimmerman. Following Candice and Jessie's nomination, Amanda became chosen for a second time by America. Still unaware that it is America nominating her and believing it to be one of the HouseGuests, Amanda begins to suspect Judd of being the one to put her up and informs some of the other houseguests of this. During the POV competition, Amanda overhears Candice revealing this information to Judd resulting in a significant argument between the two. Candice and Jessie then team up to try and get the other houseguests to evict Amanda. They are initially able to get Helen and Elissa on board. However, they later back out of the plan, not having enough votes to follow through, and Candice became evicted instead. Following Candice's eviction, it became revealed that there will be a double eviction that night. Aaryn became HoH, and despite initially nominating Jessie and Spencer, after winning the POV, Amanda and Helen pressure her into backdooring Judd instead. Aaryn goes through with this, and replaces her nomination of Jessie for Judd, leading to Judd's eviction.

Following Judd's eviction, Amanda formed the 3 A.M. alliance between her, McCrae, Aaryn and her other ally Andy Herren. The coalition maintained power this week when Andy became the HoH and nominated Jessie and Spencer for eviction. Jessie revealed to Amanda later that week that Helen and Elissa had been part of the plan to backdoor her, and Andy also admitted to Amanda that Helen had been campaigning against her. As a result, after they voted to evict Jessie, Helen became the alliance's new target. When Aaryn became the HoH on Week 8, she nominated Helen and Elissa for eviction. However, Elissa then won the PoV competition. Amanda and Aaryn have a big argument over an incident that happened on week 1, and Aaryn considers backdooring Amanda. However, she decided against this and nominated Spencer instead. Amanda and her allies then voted to evict Helen, and she became eliminated.

On week 9, when Elissa became the HOH, she nominated McCrae for eviction alongside Amanda's ally Aaryn. Following her nominations, Elissa regretted her decision after realizing that she needed to get rid of Amanda as she saw Amanda as the one who had been controlling the game. Elissa teamed up with Aaryn, GinaMarie, and Judd (who returned to the game this week) to backdoor Amanda. However, their plan failed when Amanda won the POV competition and used the veto on McCrae. Fearing that Andy will become nominated in McCrae's place, Amanda and Andy come up with a plan in which Amanda tormented Elissa and Andy consoled her to gain her trust. However, their plan failed, and Elissa nominated Andy in McCrae's place. Amanda and McCrae voted to evict Aaryn having aligned with Andy longer, and Aaryn then became evicted.

On week 10, Amanda initially told the HoH GinaMarie to nominate Elissa and Judd, and she was left shocked when GinaMarie nominated Amanda and McCrae instead. When McCrae won the POV, Spencer went up in his place. Believing that she already had McCrae and Andy's vote, Amanda thinks that she only needs one more vote to stay, and managed to convince Elissa to keep her despite their conflict throughout the last week, making Elissa realize that she will be the biggest target once Amanda became evicted. Unbeknownst to Amanda, however, Andy was secretly working with Spencer, GinaMarie and Judd as part of the Exterminators alliance, where they looked to get rid of Amanda and McCrae. Andy, therefore, voted to evict Amanda along with Judd, while McCrae and Elissa voted to oust Spencer, leading to a tied vote. GinaMarie was left to break the tie, and she sent Amanda to the jury house. Amanda is then evicted in 7th place by a vote of 2-2 making her the fifth member of the jury. Amanda initially thinks that it was Elissa who had betrayed her. However, in Andy's goodbye message he revealed the truth to Amanda about his betrayal. Despite Andy's betrayal, Amanda still voted for him to win at the Final Two instead of GinaMarie.

Competition History

Week 1 HOH Loss
Have/Have-Not Have
POV Not Picked
Week 2 HOH Loss
POV Loss
Week 3 HOH Loss
Have/Have-Not Have-Not
POV Not Picked
Week 4 HOH Loss
Have/Have-Not Have
POV Not Picked
Week 5 HOH Loss
Have/Have-Not Have-Not
POV Loss
Week 6 HOH Loss
POV Loss
HOH Loss
POV Loss
Week 7 HOH Loss
POV Loss
Week 8 HOH Loss
Have/Have-Not Have-Not
POV Not Picked
Week 9 HOH Loss
POV Win
Week 10 HOH Loss
Luxury Loss
POV Loss

Have/Have-Not History

Week 1 Have
Week 2 Have
Week 3 Have-Not
Week 4 Have
Week 5 Have-Not
Week 6 Have
Week 7 Have
Week 8 Have-Not
Week 9 Have/Have-Not Phase Over
Week 10

MVP History

Week 1 Loss
Week 2 Loss
Week 3 Loss
Week 4 Ineligible
Week 5 MVP Nominee
Week 6 MVP Nominee
Week 7 MVP Phase Over
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10

Voting History

Week Position Voted for With Majority?
1 David Girton Yes
2 Nick Uhas Yes
3 Jeremy McGuire Yes
4 Kaitlin Barnaby Yes
5 MVP Nominee
6 MVP Nominee
Judd Daugherty Yes
7 Jessie Kowalski Yes
8 Helen Kim Yes
9 POV Holder Aaryn Gries Yes
10 Nominated
Finale Jury Member Andy Herren Yes
  • Note: Amanda was nominated by the MVP in Weeks 5 and 6.

Post Big Brother

  • Amanda got married to Michael Zachman in September 2017.
  • Amanda announced that she was expecting her first child via Twitter on May 12, 2018.[2]
    • She gave birth to her daughter, Madison Rose Zachman, on December 2, 2018.[3]
  • Amanda gave birth to her son, Ford Alexander Zachman, on May 5, 2021.[4]
  • Amanda announced she will be expecting her second son in March 2023.[5]

Trivia

  • Amanda is the only HouseGuest to be nominated twice by the MVP.
  • Amanda is the first houseguest in Big Brother 15 to win the POV and not be HOH or a nominee.
  • Amanda is the second houseguest to be booed by the public audience, following Aaryn Gries, then being followed by Christine Brecht in Big Brother 16 and Neda Kalantar in Big Brother Canada 5.
  • Amanda always voted with the majority.

References

Big Brother 15 (US) Houseguests
BB15Small Andy
BB15Small GinaMarie
BB15Small Spencer
BB15Small McCrae
BB15Small Judd
BB15Small Elissa
BB15Small Amanda
Amanda
BB15Small Aaryn
BB15Small Helen
BB15Small Jessie
BB15Small Candice
BB15Small Howard
BB15Small Kaitlin
BB15Small Jeremy
BB15Small Nick
BB15Small David
Winner
Runner-Up
Jury
Evicted
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