Every Big Brother Winner Ranked Worst To Best

Since 2000, "Big Brother" has been one of the most beloved and enthralling reality shows on television. From its enigmatic host Julie Chen to its assortment of charismatic winners, the CBS show is the summer foil to the spring and winter titan of "Survivor." Over the course of 23 years, "Big Brother" has changed repeatedly, going from a barebones social experiment to 99 days of grueling psychological warfare, physical and mental competitions, and alliances attacking each other every week.

Beginning with just 10 people in a "house" built on a California studio lot at the turn of the new millennium, "Big Brother" stands apart from its reality show peers for how daunting of a game it truly is. For nearly four months, complete strangers are tasked with trusting, betraying, and outwitting each other in order to snag a huge cash prize — it was initially $500,000, but the prize money has been $750,000 since Season 23.

There have been 24 winners of "Big Brother," each of them important in their own right. Some of them exist in the show's lore for worse reasons than others, but they are all champions, and that can not be overlooked. Not every winner is loved, but many of them have changed the way the game is played, or, in the case of a few, have redefined the architecture of the show in ways that are still felt in 2023. From bitter juries and controversies to perfect performances, here is every "Big Brother" winner ranked from worst to best.

The ninth season of "Big Brother," subtitled "'Til Death Do You Part," feels like a fever dream, in retrospect. The season was cursed from the jump, given how the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike forced the show to air in the winter instead of the summer. It also had a bogus twist, in which houseguests would be paired with their "soulmate" and play as a couple. On top of that, you'd be hard-pressed to find any fan of the show who can name multiple players from Season 9. Adam Jasinski won the $500,000 prize, and you might be saying to yourself, "Who?"

Jasinski won two Head of Households and one Power of Veto, which isn't that great of a resume, especially considering that the player he beat, Ryan Quicksall, won three Head of Households and two Power of Vetos. Jasinski never made any big moves, he was just liked enough by the jury to eke out a win. It helps that no one on his season, other than Quicksall, was very good at playing "Big Brother."

What makes Jasinski a poor winner comes down to his character, as he could be seen making disparaging remarks about disabled children during the season. After he left the house, he was accused of using his winnings to start an oxycodone distribution racket and was sentenced to four years in prison for drug possession with intent to distribute. Jasinski may have been crowned the victor by a 6-1 vote, but it was on a wasted season that was better off never happening at all.

"Big Brother" Season 17 had one of the worst winners ever in Steve Moses, who beat Liz Nolan in a 6-3 vote simply because he was the better of two subpar players. Season 17 had a lot of promise: It was the first season to feature a trans houseguest, and we got to witness the rise of Vanessa Rousso, one of the greatest players to never win "Big Brother." That being said, the season also had its failures. The Battle of the Block was brought back for no good reason at all, and CBS tried to recreate the twin twist from "Big Brother" Season 5 with Liz and Julia Nolan. The rest of the house debunked the twins situation pretty quickly, making it clear that the show should never try to do that again.

Moses moaned a lot and he didn't really start playing the game until week seven, when he won his first Head of Household. He'd win four in total, but mostly because his only real competition was Rousso. To his credit, he did pull himself off the eviction block twice by winning the Power of Veto, but his game sits in the shadow of Rousso's near-perfect performance. If you can find anyone who was excited that Moses came out on top on day 98, then you're just as worthy of the $500,000 as he was.

Andy Herren managed to win "Big Brother" Season 15 by being a floater. He ratted on pretty much everyone, stabbing people in the back on numerous occasions. He said mean things about other houseguests, but he wasn't the most controversial player in the house. That says a lot about Season 15, which was marred by racism, antisemitism, and homophobia from many houseguests, particularly Aaryn Gries and GinaMarie Zimmerman.

Herren played the game well in the season's final act, winning three Head of Household competitions and two Power of Vetos, which helped keep him in good standing with the powerful side of the house. For most of the game, he was nothing more than a number in votes, a staple when you're a floater. When it came down to him versus Zimmerman in the finale, a vote for Herren was a vote for the lesser of two evils.

Herren secured a 7-2 vote over Zimmerman, but he was in for a surprise when he left the house — he was reportedly fired from his job for his role in the racism displayed throughout the season, per The Atlantic. Herren might have won "Big Brother," but he'll never be considered a great or worthy victor.

Few winners have been more undeserving of the $500,000 than Lisa Donahue, who was crowned as the victor of "Big Brother" Season 3. She was part of a near season-long alliance with Jason Guy and Danielle Reyes and they eventually made the final three together. Throughout the season, Donahue won two Head of Households and one Power of Veto, was a likable houseguest due to being in an alliance of underdogs, and made no enemies. However, Donahue only won because of the jury's anger toward Reyes, who had manipulated and run circles around every other player.

Before 2003, evicted houseguests — the jury members — were allowed to go home and watch the show unfold. When the jurors returned on finale night, they were bitter toward Reyes for her unfiltered and seething Diary Room scenes, in which she roasted and lambasted her fellow houseguests. When Donahue brought Reyes to the finale over Guy, it was an act of faith toward her closest ally, not a move of explicit strategy.

Reyes got hammered in a 9-1 vote, but she remains one of the greatest players of all-time and arguably the greatest non-winner ever. If Will Kirby invented "Big Brother" in Season 2, then Reyes mastered it a year later. Donahue will never be a "Big Brother" legend, but it's not her fault she won because of a bitter jury. If her win had been better from a resume perspective, she'd rank much higher.

Like Mike "Boogie" Malin, Rachel Reilly, and Cody Calafiore, Nicole Franzel won at her second attempt playing the game of "Big Brother." Franzel originally competed on the boring "Big Brother" Season 16, but her summer amounted to nothing more than a showmance. Her and partner Hayden Voss rode the middle and then got voted out in back-to-back weeks by The Detonators, the power alliance in the house. She won her way back into the house, but was quickly sent packing again two weeks later. Franzel would return two years later for "Big Brother" Season 18 along with fellow veterans Frank Eudy, Da'Vonne Rogers, and James Huling. Again, she put herself into a showmance, this time with Corey Brooks, but she also won four competitions and found herself on good terms with everyone in the house.

Franzel beat Paul Abrahamian in a 5-4 vote because of her jury management, but it is no secret that Abrahamian played a much better and tougher game than Franzel. Abrahamian won three Power of Vetos, escaped the block twice, and won the very crucial final Head of Household competition. Throughout the season, Abrahamian and their ride-or-die ally Victor Arroyo were huge targets and were even nominated together twice. Franzel improved a lot in her second season and made headlines for becoming the first woman to ever defeat a man in the finale (Abrahamian has since updated their Twitter bio to confirm that they prefer the pronouns they/him).

It's hard to look at "Big Brother" Season 22 as anything but a season written exclusively so Cody Calafiore could take home a victory. For the first time in 15 years, CBS opted to do an All-Stars season, bringing back show legends like Janelle Pierzina, Kaysar Ridha, and newer fan favorites like Nicole Anthony and Da'Vonne Rogers. Sadly, they were all evicted before week eight.

Season 22 is the epitome of an uninteresting, borderline unwatchable season. From the jump, the alliance of Calafiore, Enzo Palumbo, Nicole Franzel, Christmas Abbott, Memphis Garrett, and Tyler Crispen ran the house and picked off their enemies one by one. With a power alliance six people deep, there was no wiggle room for any of the other houseguests to even come close to challenging Calafiore and his crew.

You can look at Calafiore's victory as redemption for his loss to Derrick Lavasseur in "Big Brother" Season 16, but it was obvious from the first episode that Season 22 was his to lose. He beat Palumbo in a 9-0 vote at the finale, but only because he ran the entire house and never let his foot off the gas. A unanimous victory looks good on paper, especially paired with eight competition wins, but nobody even challenged Calafiore once. He stayed off the block the entire season and ran away with $500,000. He'd rank higher if his victory didn't look like a gift from CBS.

"Big Brother" Season 20 was a breath of fresh air after the trainwreck that was Season 19. The houseguests were much more likable, albeit very boring and unmotivated to make big moves. Much like its predecessor, Season 20 was filled with unnecessary gimmicks and twists that didn't actually impact the game at all. Even so, it was arguably the first season where both houseguests in the finale both deserved to win the whole thing.

The jury vote came down to Kaycee Clark and Tyler Crispen, who had been in the Level 6 alliance together throughout the season. Crispen had won three Head of Households and three Power of Vetos, while Clark won two Head of Households and five Power of Vetos, a "Big Brother" record. Ultimately, the jury decided that Crispen had betrayed too many side alliances in an effort to be in good standing with every houseguest, while Clark had almost no blood on her hands by the end of the season.

Clark won a 5-4 vote, while Crispen took home America's Favorite Houseguest. Though her win wasn't unwarranted, it's hard to overlook Clark's lack of strategy, as she did ride Crispen and Angela Rummans' coattails for much of the season. She was mostly a number in votes and in keeping Level 6 in power, not fully coming into her own until she won five of the last six Power of Veto competitions.

Ian Terry is a great winner who arguably didn't deserve to win. When it comes to "Big Brother," this can happen. Just ask Paul Abrahamian, who deserved to win twice but fell victim to bitter juries. If Terry had been sitting next to anybody not named Dan Gheesling at the Season 14 finale, he'd probably be ranked much higher on this list. Gheesling played a much better game but alienated every other player in the process, and he paid the price for it.

Terry's game was great, though. He won four Head of Household competitions and even helped orchestrate the eviction of his mentor (and sometimes biggest critic) Mike "Boogie" Malin. What made Terry such a great foil to Gheesling was how genuine he was, even when he was playing a cutthroat game. He got just as much blood on his hands as Gheesling, but he did it in a way that didn't anger the other houseguests. Terry also took chances, including opening Pandora's Box, which awarded him with a Power of Veto. He beat Gheesling 6-1 in the finale, cementing his legacy as one of the most likable winners ever.

Few "Big Brother" winners have had as much of a storybook arc as Xavier Prather. He was a member of the historical Cookout alliance, built by Prather, Azah Awasum, Derek Frazier, Kyland Young, Hannah Chaddha, and Tiffany Mitchell in an effort to ensure that a Black contestant would win for the first time ever.

Though Prather helped build the Cookout, he was consistently at the bottom of the alliance. He was a big target throughout the season, landing on the block four weeks in a row. But what separates a good winner from a great winner is their ability to pull themselves out of the trenches when eviction night is looming. Prather did just that, winning two Power of Veto competitions while nominated and taking himself off of the block. He won three Head of Households, including the last two competitions, ensuring his spot in the finale.

Prather didn't just need to outwit the entire house, he had to outwit his own alliance. "Big Brother" Season 23 ran into a similar problem that many of the most recent seasons have struggled with: One big alliance controls the house for the entire season. Beyond Prather, Young, and Mitchell, the cast was one of the weakest ever, which does diminish Prather's win. His 9-0 victory over Frazier in the finale was well-earned, despite Frazier being one of the worst runners-up ever.

If you ask a casual "Big Brother" fan who the greatest or most memorable winner of the show is, it's likely they won't say Jun Song. That's not a knock at Song's game, it's just that the reason she won "Big Brother" Season 4 is also the reason she isn't held in as high a regard as Dan Gheesling or Will Kirby.

Song perfected the "floater" game, flying so low under the radar that she was largely forgotten about during the season. That might not sound like a game worth rewarding with $500,000, but Song's partnership with ex-boyfriend Jee Choe helped her survive, along with two competition wins. She delivered great, memorable Diary Room confessions, and the final two pact she made with her nemesis Alison Irwin was one of the smartest plays in the early seasons of "Big Brother."

At the finale, Song beat Irwin by a vote of 6-1 and cemented her legacy. Sadly, "Floaters" no longer win "Big Brother." The game has turned into a rat race where alliances with too many people hold season-long power and pick off the stragglers. That's what makes Song's victory so refreshing in retrospect. She never made herself a threat, going the entire season without receiving a single vote to evict, one of the few winners to ever accomplish such a feat.

It would not be a stretch to call Derrick Levasseur the architect of modern "Big Brother." His win in "Big Brother" Season 16 was the only "perfect" victory the show has seen — he evaded 53 different nominations throughout the season, not seeing the eviction block once. Though Season 16 introduced the floundering Battle of the Block competition, the fact that Levasseur was able to outwit the one competition designed to get everybody nominated is a feat of its own incomparable merit.

You might be wondering why someone who played a "perfect" game is not the greatest "Big Brother" winner ever. The one great knock against Levasseur's performance is that he played with one of the weakest casts ever assembled. His only real competition were the members of his own alliance. Runner-up Cody Calafiore made a $500,000 mistake by winning the final Head of Household and electing to bring Levasseur, his ride-or-die, with him to the end. By not taking Victoria Rafaeli, a floater who couldn't win competitions or hone any kind of strategy, Calafiore cemented Levasseur's victory in a 7-2 jury vote.

Levasseur was not a particularly ruthless player. Instead, he was a behind-the-scenes puppeteer, having a firm hand in almost every single eviction. It's a shame that two houseguests believed Calafiore was more deserving of the win, given that Levasseur delivered one of the greatest final jury speeches of all-time.

When people discuss the greatest "Big Brother" winners ever, the vote is usually split between Dan Gheesling and Will Kirby. Even longtime fans of the show who've been along for the ride ever since Eddie McGee's win can't decide between the two. As great as Gheesling was, "Big Brother" would not be what it is now without Kirby's innovation. On top of that, Gheesling got to hone his game by sitting at home and watching nine seasons unfold. As Kirby himself put it during an interview with Entertainment Weekly: "When it comes to 'Big Brother,' I am the Alpha and Omega."

When he entered the house in 2001, the show was on the brink of cancellation and was in desperate need of a revamp. Instead of asking America to evict a houseguest each week, the power was thrust upon the players themselves. Compared to what "Big Brother" is now, Season 2 is a barebones early draft. The show was wet clay ready for molding, and Kirby seized the moment fully.

After hitting the nomination chair four times throughout the season without winning Head of Household once, Kirby would defeat runner-up Nicole Schaffrich by a vote of 5-2. Schaffrich's jury speech focused on Kirby's evil tactics, but he was ultimately rewarded for playing ruthlessly and being the biggest threat in the house while evading eviction every week. This also happened when there was no Power of Veto in play, making Kirby's achievement all the more incredible. To this day his performance has yet to be topped.