In Pinoy Big Brother, this twist is officially called as the Balik-Bahay or Back to the House twist.
History
Big Brother (US)
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 sequester. 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, similar 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 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. Unlike last season, the competition only took place between the Jurors and was not happening consecutively alongside the HOH, which was its own competition set to take place later that night. Nicole ended up winning and re-entering the game.
Big Brother 17
Like the two 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 seven HouseGuests for HOH. The Jurors and Vanessa ended up being the last five left in the competition, and Shelli, Jackie, and Becky fell down very quickly after that, and John not only re-entered on the same night he got evicted, but got 2nd place in the competition.
Big Brother 18
Within Big Brother 18 (US), the first five 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 two 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. 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 one 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 two HouseGuests a chance to re-enter the game via a twist. 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. That makes this the first re-entry opportunity to end with no one returning.
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 five Jurors (Da'Vonne Rogers, Zakiyah Everette, Bridgette Dunning, Paulie Calafiore, and Victor Arroyo) rather than the first four. 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 three separate opportunities for an evicted HouseGuest to re-enter the game, while only two of them actually lead to definite re-entry via competitions, both won by Victor, while one of them was not guaranteed due to being luck-based.
Big Brother 19
Similarly to BB18, Big Brother 19 (US) pitted the first four evicted HouseGuests (Cameron Heard, Jillian Parker, Cody Nickson, and Dominique Cooper) in another Battle Back Competition. However, this year, it is called the Battle Back Showdown, meaning that all 4 evictees will go against each other in 1 competition. The HouseGuests still in the house may have a chance to stop the winner of the Battle Back from returning to the game. The first 4 evictees will battle in Round 1, and then the first 2 to finish will advance onto Round 2, while the other 2 are officially eliminated. Whoever loses is eliminated, while the winner faces off in Round 3 against a Challenger from the HouseGuests still in the game, determined by a vote. If the evictee wins, they will re-enter the game, but if the HouseGuest wins, then no one returns and the evictee is eliminated for good. Cody and Cameron then managed to defeat Jillian and Dominique, and then Cody defeated Cameron in the next round. The HouseGuests chose Paul Abrahamian to be their Challenger, but he lost to Cody as well, so Cody came back into the game.
When the Jury phase began, Julie announced that there would be no Jury Battle Back. This marks BB19 the first season since BB15 to not allow the first few Jurors a chance to re-enter the game.
Big Brother 20
Within the BB App Store, one of the Power Apps that a person who America deems as most trending based on the questionnaire was the "Bonus Life" App. The winner of the App could give themselves, or whoever they choose, the chance to return to the game immediately after their eviction, for the first four evictions. However, if it's not used at one of the first three evictions, then whoever gets evicted fourth will automatically get the chance. Sam Bledsoe won the App. Despite nearly getting evicted in the first week, Sam managed to survive and did not use the Bonus Life for any of the first three evictions, sending Steve Arienta, Chris Williams, and Winston Hines home for good. Thus, the fourth evictee automatically got the chance. Sam decided that she still wanted to control who the Bonus Life was used on, so she won HOH and nominated Kaitlyn Herman and Haleigh Broucher for eviction. When Haleigh was saved by the POV, Rockstar Lantry was the replacement nominee, but she was spared during the eviction, which meant Kaitlyn had to take on the Bonus Life challenge in order to get back into the game. She had to complete a puzzle in 2 minutes and 30 seconds in order to get back into the game, however, she did not complete it in time, and was officially evicted, marking this as the second re-entry opportunity to end with no one returning to the game.
Due to Kaitlyn losing the Bonus Life challenge, Julie announced that the Jury Battle Back would return after skipping a season, with the first four Jurors (Bayleigh Dayton, Rockstar Lantry, Scottie Salton, and Faysal Shafaat) competing against each other for a chance to re-enter the game. Although it was close between himself and Faysal, Scottie managed to complete the competition first and won his way back into the game.
Big Brother 21
After David Alexander lost the opening night Hit The Road competition and was evicted, Julie stated that he was out of the game "for now." Following Ovi Kabir's eviction on Day 15, Julie revealed Camp Comeback. David, Ovi, and the third evicted houseguest would stay in the house, as opposed to being sequestered offsite, having to sleep in a room known as Camp Comeback, with a Have-Not like living situation, where they would also be stationed during competitions and ceremonies, where they still have the ability to watch and listen. They do not compete, even if it was their week to play in the Whacktivity Competition, or vote to evict. The evictees are allowed to interact with the houseguests in the main game, continuing to play the social game while missing out on the physical. Following the fourth eviction, the first four evictees will have a chance to return to the main game, with the three losers leaving the house for good. Kemi Fakunle and Cliff Hogg III joined them after their respective evictions on Day 23 and Day 30. After Cliff's eviction, the four immediately competed in a "Comeback Comp," where Cliff managed to quickly win his way back into the main game, sending David, Ovi and Kemi home for good.
Big Brother (Canada)
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.
Pinoy Big Brother
Pinoy Big Brother 1
In Pinoy Big Brother 1, it was announced on Week 6, after Bob dela Cruz's forced eviction that one of the first four evicted housemates would have a chance to return back to the house and become a full-pledged housemate once again. The public would decide to vote among Rico Barrera, JB Magsaysay, Jenny Suico and Racquel Reyes would return to the house.
In the end, Jenny was chosen to return back to the house after gathering 42% of the total votes.
Pinoy Big Brother 2
The twist was brought back during Pinoy Big Brother 2, the second civilian season.
During Week 12, the first four evicted housemates, Jasmin Engracia, Zeke Dimaguila, Kian Kazemi and Wendy Valdez were sent into the house's Secret Room wherein they would be staying for a week until the public voting ends at the end of the week. Throughout their stay, they would be accomplishing a series of tasks that are related to the main house. It would also help the public to choose who deserved to be brought back to the main house and become a full-pledged housemate once again.
At the end of the week, on Day 78, it was announced that Wendy Valdez was chosen to return after gathering 54.04% of the total votes. Kian Kazemi was also chosen to return to the house after gathering the second-highest amount of votes at 17.7%, evicting Jasmin and Zeke for the second time.
Pinoy Big Brother 7
For complete information and challenge history, see more at the 4th Lucky Spot Competition page.
After 9 overall seasons, the twist reappeared again in Pinoy Big Brother 7 but with major changes. Instead of a public vote, the evicted housemates must compete in a series of challenges in order to determine who will be returning to the house.
The twist appeared during the Dream Team chapter, the fourth and final chapter of the 4-part season. The twist was announced after the three Lucky Teams were completed inside the house. It was revealed that the Dream Team will have 12 finalists overall and an additional 4th slot for each of the teams will be reserved for the returning housemates called "Wildcard Housemates".
Being a 4-part season, one evicted housemate from each of the first three chapters will be able to return by getting each of the 4th Slots, completing their chapter's respective lucky team for the Dream Team chapter. In order to get the 4th slot, they must win against fellow evicted housemates from their chapter in the 4th Lucky Spot Competition, whoever wins will be part of Big Brother's Dream Team.
The housemates eligible for the 4th Lucky Spot Competition were the last two evicted housemates from each chapter, which means the 4th and 5th placers from their chapter will be competing to be part of the Dream Team. All of the wildcard players stayed in the Eviction Room that was refurbished to become a 3 double-bed suite. They would stay there until it was their turn to compete in the challenge.
For the Celebrity Chapter, celebrity housemates Elisse Joson and Yassi Pressman will be competing against each other to get the 4th Lucky Star slot.
For the Teen Chapter, teen housemates Christian Morones and Yong Muhajil were the housemates eligible for the 4th Lucky Sun slot.
For the Civilian Chapter, adult housemates Baninay Bautista and Cora Waddell were the ones eligible to compete for the 4th Lucky House slot.
Each of the three chapters will have its own set of challenges. Being the first chapter of the season, the celebrity housemates were the first ones to compete, followed by the teen housemates and then by the adult housemates.
On Day 179, Yassi and Elisse faced against each other on the first 4th Lucky Spot competition. Elisse originally lost the competition, however, due to conflicts of Yassi's work schedule, Yassi opted for a voluntary exit and decided to give up her spot to Elisse instead, making Elisse part of the Lucky Stars in the Dream Team. On Day 180, Yong battled against Christian in a two-round competition. In the end, Yong finally got the 4th Lucky Spot for the Teens' Lucky Suns. On Day 181, Cora and Baninay went outside to the venue of their competition. Their challenge was to fill up the tall empty glass at the other end of the obstacle course. It turned out to be a victory for Cora, making her part of the Lucky Houses for the Dream Team, completing the list of the Dream Team finalists.
In the end, the housemates who were able to return and be part of the Dream Team were; Elisse Joson who got the Celebrities' 4th Lucky Star, Yong Muhajil who got the Teens' 4th Lucky Sun, and Cora Waddell who got the Adults' 4th Lucky House.
Big Brother UK
Big Brother 6 (UK)
In Big Brother 6 (UK), Kinga Karolczak entered the house on Day 29 with fellow new housemates Orlaith McAllister and Eugene Sully, residing in the Secret Garden. On Day 32, Makosi Musambasi was given the decision to choose two of the three new housemates to enter the house. She chose Orlaith and Eugene to enter, leaving Kinga to be evicted. However, due to Orlaith walking from the house on Day 65, Kinga replaced her on Day 66, marking the first time in Big Brother UK a previously evicted housemate re-entered the House.
Big Brother 7 (UK)
In Big Brother 7 (UK), on Day 84, Grace Adams-Short, Lea Walker, Mikey Dalton, and Nikki Grahame were chosen by a public vote between 10 previously evicted housemates to re-enter the House Next Door. They would reside in the House Next Door until the housemates in the Main House would choose one of them to re-enter the Main House on Day 87. They chose Nikki Grahame.
Big Brother 16 (UK)
In Big Brother 16 (UK), Simon Gross was evicted in a launch night Timebomb twist that saw him become the first housemate evicted from the House on Day 1. On Day 18 however, in a "4 in, 4 out" special eviction that saw four housemates evicted and four new ones enter, Simon re-entered the House.
In-Game Success
In all of the seasons to feature this twist, many of them saw the previously evicted HouseGuest 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), Victor Arroyo (Big Brother 18 (US)), Cody Nickson (Big Brother 19 (US)), Scottie Salton (Big Brother 20 (US)) and Cliff Hogg III (Big Brother 21 (US)) (although the re-entries for 15, Canada 1, 16, 17, 20 and the second re-entry for 18 were all done during the Jury stage).
Of those above, only Gary Levy and Kelsey Faith made it to the final 2 where they both lost, with Gary's loss being a controversial vote.
Out of all returning players in Pinoy Big Brother, three housemates managed to reach the Big Night finale; Wendy Valdez in Season 2, and both Yong Muhajil and Cora Waddell in Season 7. Both Wendy and Yong became part of their season's Big Four and coincidentally both landed in 3rd Place.
Of the three returning housemates in Big Brother UK, only two made it to the final. Those two being Kinga Karolczak who placed fourth, and Nikki Grahame who placed fifth.
Trivia
- This twist has caused the creation of the term "Revolving door." It refers to the fact that the houseguest was out of the game, came back in, and then got re-evicted the same week they came back in.
- The only houseguests who have been revolving doored are Kaysar Ridha, Brendon Villegas, and Scottie Salton.
- No one who was evicted for longer than two weeks has returned to the game.
- 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 then come back for a second season afterward until Nicole Franzel competed in Big Brother 18 (US) and Gary Levy and Sindy Nguyen competed in Big Brother Canada 5.
- Brendon Villegas is the only Returning Player to become a previously evicted HouseGuest on their second season.
- Amy Crews, Sharon Obermueller, John McGuire and Cliff Hogg III have the highest placements for a previously evicted HouseGuest in the US, in 4th place.
- Gary Levy and Kelsey Faith have the highest placements for a previously evicted HouseGuest in Canada, at 2nd place.
- Sindy Nguyen is the only Canadian previously evicted HouseGuest to not make it to the Final 2 after their return to the game.
- Nicole Franzel is the only previously evicted HouseGuest to also win the game, however, she did not win the season that she returned on.
- 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 four Jurors to re-enter the game that took place every season onward, excluding Big Brother 19 (US).
- In Big Brother 18 (US), the competition was changed to be between the first five 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).
- Sharon was already in sequester after her eviction, since a return was planned for a later point in the game.
- During BB19, controversy arose when HouseGuest Megan Lowder walked from the game, and Cameron Heard (who was still in sequester for the Battle Back and had an early eviction, just like Sharon did) was not brought back to replace her in a similar fashion to Neil and Sharon. One could argue that Sharon was only brought back since Joshuah needed a partner to continue the game.
- Judd Daugherty, Gary Levy, Nicole Franzel, John McGuire, Victor Arroyo, and Scottie Salton are the only previously evicted HouseGuests that returned to the game after being a member of the jury.
- Gary is the only one of them to make to the Final 2 the season they returned.
- 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. It would be followed by Big Brother 20 (US) in both aspects.
- Ironically, both Secret Room Re-Entry twists resulted in no houseguest returning to the game.
- James Zinkand, John McGuire, Victor Arroyo, and Cliff Hogg III are currently the only 4 HouseGuests to re-enter the game on the same night they were evicted.
- James and Cliff 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 would have been present.
- Cora Waddell is the only Pinoy Big Brother returning housemate to be able to return to the house just a day after she was evicted.
- Being a returning housemate, Cora is also the only Lucky House finalist from the Dream Team who was able to exit the house as the fellow three finalists weren't able to temporarily leave the house, the usual process when a chapter ends to give way for the next chapter. Instead, they stayed in the Activity Area to welcome the other Dream Team finalists.
