The Cookout

The Cookout
Alliance Profile
Big Brother 23 (US)
Members	Azah Awasum Derek Frazier Hannah Chaddha Kyland Young Tiffany Mitchell Xavier Prather
Votes Against	10
HoH Wins	10 (Weeks 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, Day 65, 10, Day 71, 11, & 12)
Times Nominated	10 (Weeks 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, Day 65, 10, Day 71 & 12)
Veto Wins	7 (Weeks 6, 7, 8, Day 65, 10, Day 71, & 11)
Lowest Placing Member	Tiffany Mitchell (6/16)
Highest Placing Member	Xavier Prather (1/16)

The Cookout is the dominant alliance on Big Brother 23 (US), that was created on the first week of the season. The alliance consisted of Azah Awasum, Derek Frazier, Kyland Young, Hannah Chaddha, Tiffany Mitchell, and Xavier Prather.

The alliance was created with the goal of having the first ever black winner. In order to keep the alliance a secret, most of the members would pair up with someone not part of the alliance. Pairing up also kept them safe, as there was never a situation where two members went on the block, and the alliance had enough numbers to keep them safe in case one member was nominated alongside their pair. They dominated from the start; winning 10 of the 14 HOHs, 7 of the 13 POVs, influencing every eviction and nearly every nomination, and successfully evicting all non-members. With all the non-members evicted, they accomplished their goal of guaranteeing the first ever black winner.

Due to their dominance in comps, nominations, and evictions, eliminating all of their opponents and managing to get all six members into the final 6, this alliance is one of the greatest and most dominant alliances ever.

Despite their dominance, they were polarizing to the fans. Many fans found the season boring and predictable, due to the Cookout steamrolling the season. The most criticism they faced was for evicting all the non-alliance members, all of whom were not black, which made a lot of fans feel that the alliance based their votes and decisions on race. Many other fans, however, believe that the Cookout's mission of achieving the first-ever black winner of the series was important and long-overdue.

Members

Jury Azah

Runner-Up Derek F

Jury Hannah

Jury Kyland

Jury Tiffany

Winner Xavier

History

Creation

Tiffany in week 1, was talking to Derek F and Azah about creating an all-black alliance in the house. Xavier walked in on them and agreed to the plan. Apart of the group, they discussed how they would not be caught up with one another to avoid suspicion, yet help each other to advance with knowledge sought from around the house. 4 of the members would each pair up with someone not in the alliance to hide the alliance, prevent two members from going on the block, and protect the alliance from eviction in case a member is nominated alongside their pair.

Hannah was not an original official member of the Cookout, as the other members expressed worry that she was too young to understand the importance of the mission. However, in week 4, Hannah was officially added to the Cookout after her and Tiffany started growing closer. By week 6, as the jury phase begun, each member of the Cookout had their own pawn in the game to help themselves advance. Hannah had Derek Xiao, Tiffany had Claire Rehfuss, Derek F and Azah had Britini D'Angelo, Kyland had Sarah Beth Steagall, and Xavier had Alyssa Lopez.

Dominance

The Cookout dominated the game from the jump. They influenced every eviction and nearly every nomination, and won a total of 9 HOH's. Even when they did not win HoH, they still controlled the vote and influenced whoever was HoH that week not to target any members of their alliance. While there was tension at times, they still managed to stay loyal to each other. On Day 52, after 8 weeks into the game, all six members met in the same room alone for the very first time, making the alliance official. Despite being loyal to each other, they also had side deals within the alliance; a final 3 alliance with Xavier, Derek F and Kyland, a final 3 alliance with Kyland, Tiffany and Hannah, and a Final 2 alliance of Tiffany and Hannah.

After Week 9, the alliance evicted the last non-Cookout member, fulfilling their goal of making it to the final six and crowning this version of Big Brother's first African-American winner of the civilian edition of the US version. (Both Big Brother Canada 9 and Celebrity Big Brother 2 (US) were won by Tychon Carter-Newman and Tamar Braxton respectively).

Turning on Each Other

With the final 6 featuring solely the entire alliance, they were forced to turn on each other. After Kyland won HOH, he decided to stick with his final 3 alliance with Xavier and Derek F, and target Tiffany after she won HoH in both week 8 and 9 back-to-back, believing that winning HoH two weeks in a row was a selfish decision. He nominated her alongside Hannah. After Kyland won the PoV, he left the nominations the same. Tiffany was then evicted in a unanimous 3-0 vote, becoming the first casualty of the alliance.

Following Tiffany's eviction, Julie informed the final 5 that they would be having the second Double Eviction. Immediately after, Azah won her first HoH. She nominated Hannah and Xavier, with Hannah as the intended target. Kyland won the PoV and removed Xavier from the block, leading to Derek F being nominated by default. Hannah was then evicted in a unanimous 2-0 vote.

Azah and Derek F were unhappy that Kyland didn't notify them that he was using the PoV on Xavier, with Derek F feeling the two were more close than they were to him, and Azah believing she was next. Xavier went on to win HoH, guaranteeing himself final 3. Despite his final 3 alliance, he decided that Kyland needed to go for being a competition threat. He nominated Kyland and Azah, though Kyland was unaware that he was the target. Xavier won the PoV and left the nominations the same. Despite being hesitant to vote out Kyland, Derek F ultimately cast the sole vote to evict him.

Winner

Xavier won the final HoH and chose to evict Azah, making himself and Derek F the final 2. Xavier was then voted the winner in a unanimous 9-0 vote, making him the first ever black winner in Big Brother US, as well as the 5th ever winner (3rd in the US) to win in a unanimous vote.

Trivia

• They are the largest alliance to make it through the game fully intact.