I’m a huge Big Brother nerd, especially when it comes to statistics. Now that Big Brother 15 has reached the Top 9 and has completed seven HoHs, PoVs and eviction votes, I thought I’d look at the numbers to see how this year is stacking up against past seasons.
Is Aaryn’s three HoH wins in seven weeks a record, or did someone else do it faster? How does Andy’s impressive streak of never winning or being nominated compare to other notable Do-Nothings? Can Spencer become the most-nominated HG of all-time? Is this going to be the most female-dominant season ever?
Here’s a look at some of my favorite stats about Big Brother 15 so far. NOTE: These stats only reflect the first seven rounds of the game and don’t include the eighth HoH competition.
Voting with the House
A common theme of Big Brother 15 is voting with the house, and more people have done it than ever before. After the first seven eviction votes, six HGs have voted with the majority every single time: McCrae, Amanda, Andy, Helen, Elissa and Jessie. That’s a record for making it this deep into the game. The previous high was season 12, when five HGs had always voted with the majority after seven evictions (Hayden, Lane, Enzo, Ragan and Brendon).
Candice and Judd’s evictions also brought the season up to three unanimous votes (Kaitlin’s being the other). That’s more than the past two seasons, which only had two unanimous votes. The least harmonious year was season 11, which only featured one unanimous eviction vote, and that didn’t come until the Top 6 when Russell was evicted by all three voters.
But nothing will ever compare to the Vote-with-the-House-itis syndrome of season 12. Seven of the nine evictions with more than one person voting were unanimous. In fact, all season long, there were only three minority votes cast: Britney and Kathy voting out Matt instead of Monet in week 2, and Kathy voting out Hayden instead of Kristen in week 4.
Aaryn the HoH Queen
By winning her third HoH competition, Aaryn joins an elite group of 12 former HGs who have won at least three HoHs in a single season. That list includes seven winners and all but one (season 14’s Frank Eudy) made it to the Final 4. She’s also only the fourth woman to win three HoHs in a single season. Jennifer “Nakomis” Dedmon was the first to do it in season 5, Janelle Pierzina did it on All-Stars and Rachel Reilly did it in season 13.
However, she’s not the fastest to do it. Though winning three of the first seven HoHs is impressive, Janelle won three of the first six in season 7, while Hardy Ames-Hill also won three of the first seven in season 2. No one has ever won more than four HoHs in a single season.
A Double Winner
Aaryn is also the 21st person in the show’s history to win HoH and PoV in the same week (McCrae was the 20th back in week 1). That list only includes three past winners: Jordan Lloyd, Hayden Moss and Rachel Reilly. And if you’re curious, last season’s Danielle Murphree is the only person to do it twice in the same season.
Andy the Ultimate Do-Nothing
Andy made it through seven rounds of the game without ever winning HoH or PoV and never getting nominated. He is only the third person in Big Brother history to go this long without winning or being nominated. Zach Swerdzewski did it in season 8 (he was then nominated the eighth time) and April Lewis did it in season 6 (she actually survived eight rounds before finally winning both HoH and PoV the ninth time).
Spencer the Pawn Star
Spencer could become the most nominated HG ever. He’s already at four nominations (and survived eviction votes three times), but there have been 15 previous HGs who were nominated five or six times during their stint on the show (including HGs from season 1 who were marked for banishment).
A House of Women
The Top 9 only includes three men: McCrae, Spencer and Andy. This is only the third time in the show’s history that has happened, the others being season 6 (with Howie, James and Beau) and season 13 (with Brendon, Jeff and Adam). There has never been a Top 9 with less than three men.
Winning Women
After the first 14 competitions of the season, the women are dominating the men by winning nine of the challenges, or 64 percent. That is tied with the most female-dominated season, Big Brother 6, when the ladies won 16 out of 25 comps, also 64 percent. To date, there have only been four seasons when the women won more competitions than the men: seasons 6, 7, 8 and 13. Those last three were aided by dominant performances by individual women, including Janelle Pierzina in All-Stars, Daniele Donato in season 8 and Rachel Reilly in season 13, all of whom won six or more comps.
No Votes
Seven of the Top 9 HGs have never received a single eviction vote cast against them, with Spencer and Elissa as the only exceptions. Obviously most of them will be voted against before the season is over, but it’s still impressive
Seven Vetoes for Seven HGs
Not only have the first seven Power of Veto competitions been won by seven different HGs, but it has been used every time and has always been won by a nominee or the HoH. In seasons 3, 5 and 9, eight different HGs won the Power of Veto, but there has never been a season where nine different HGs have won the PoV. This year, GinaMarie, Helen, Amanda and Andy are all left in the game and have yet to win the Power of Veto.
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(Image courtesy of CBS)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
