What These Popular Big Brother Winners Are Doing Today
In the summer of 2000, CBS locked a bunch of people in a house for a few months for the first time. Year after year, we watch houseguests be forced to compete against one another for their spot on the show. And each week, someone gets evicted. That's right, we're talking "Big Brother."
The Julie Chen Moonves-hosted reality series was a hit from the start. It's part social experiment and part soap opera, a competition show where viewers are just as engaged in the personalities on screen as they are in who wins each week. Over time, the show has softened, leaning into its silliness and fun just as much as it mines content from the interpersonal drama that naturally arises when different people are stuck in a house together. "I used to take it so seriously," Moonves told Parade, noting that her relatively formal approach to hosting earned her the nickname "Chenbot." "Now I've learned to just have fun with it, let go and let God, and most of all, not be so judgy of these houseguests!"
Oh, the houseguests. The show has minted some genuine television stars over its run, and it's also awarded a number of people who have gone back to their quiet lives away from the intense glare of the studio lights. It can be easy to lose track of the show's contestants when the season is over, so read on for a check-in with 14 of the show's most popular winners.
Season 1 winner Eddie McGee is grateful for his acting career
Back when Eddie McGee played "Big Brother" on the show's debut season, it was an entirely different game. America voted for who to evict from the house, for example; nowadays, that power is left up to the houseguests themselves. McGee, a twentysomething disabled man with one leg, won Season 1. However, he told Entertainment Weekly more than two decades later that he never even watched himself on TV. "My show was like watching f***ing paint drying, man," he said. "My show was boring. It was f***ing terrible, from what I heard. I don't know. I never watched it."
McGee wasn't the only one who was disinterested in "Big Brother" Season 1. CBS exec Les Moonves said the same thing in 2001, as TV Guide reported. "I don't think it was cast very well, to tell you the truth," he said. While the cast may not have been up to par overall, McGee was a popular enough contestant that he was able to capitalize on his "Big Brother" fame and turn it into an acting career. He's recently appeared on shows like "9-1-1," "Hunters," "Chicago Med," and many more. He told EW that he's grateful to "Big Brother" for giving him his start. "I have the acting career I have now because of it," he said. "I will never deny where I'm from, and I know I come from reality TV."
Dr. Will Kirby from BB2 is still on TV
"Big Brother" was retooled in the show's 2nd season, becoming a much more strategic game. Dr. Will Kirby took full advantage of the new format, gleefully leaning into a villainous, scheming persona. "It was my goal to entertain the viewers and I feel like I thoroughly accomplished that endeavor," he told Entertainment Weekly two decades after winning the show. "I've always been very well received by the fans, and I'm thrilled to still be revered after so long." Kirby returned for "Big Brother 7," an All Stars season, losing out to his Chilltown alliance member Mike "Boogie" Malin.
Kirby is still a dermatologist. He's also dabbled in other aspects of entertainment over the years, however; the year after he won "Big Brother," he hosted a dating show called "Love Shack" on NBC. "I'm also the lone health and beauty reporter for Life & Style magazine," he told EW. "The field of aesthetic dermatology is my occupational passion, and, at the risk of self-aggrandizement, I'm recognized as one of the leading voices in this exciting space."
The man who calls himself "the Alpha and Omega of 'Big Brother'" also dabbles in acting. He appeared on a 2015 episode of "Robot Chicken," and in 2022, Kirby made a cameo on Disney+ "Star Wars" show "The Book of Boba Fett." "If I see a chance for a unique life experience, I go in with the concentration of a mohel," he told Entertainment Weekly.
Jun Song, Season 4 winner, is a content marketer
When Jun Song won "Big Brother 4," she was surprised to see that her fellow houseguests weren't excited for her. Sure, Song made it to the end by betraying a number of people who were close to her in the house, but she expected that they'd be able to put that aside when they crowned her. It dampened her own excitement, too. "I thought I would be just ecstatic," she told host Julie Chen the next morning on "The Early Show" (via CBS News). "The fact they barely clapped and didn't look me in the eye a lot of times."
That being said, Song's willingness to throw anyone under the bus is part of what made her such a legend, as one fan wrote on Reddit. "She is the embodiment of the player that isn't there to make friends," the commenter wrote. "She came to win at any cost and ruthlessness like that is what makes BB so entertaining."
Since Song won the game, she's had numerous careers. She told Entertainment Weekly that she's now primarily a single mother and a content marketer. "My love life is pretty much in a Do Not Resuscitate state, but I've never been more successful professionally," she explained. "I work with tech companies of all sizes to get their content marketing strategies in place. I've never been at a loss for words, so I've managed to turn that into a lucrative business for myself!"
Mike Boogie got in legal trouble after winning All Stars
Mike "Boogie" Malin first competed on the 2nd season of "Big Brother," and he returned for "Big Brother 7," a season of all returning players. This time, Malin came out on top, claiming the show's first-place prize. He didn't come out of the season looking great, having backstabbed his way to the end. "[Dr. Will Kirby] and I are very adept in providing entertaining television," he told Entertainment Weekly shortly after winning. "That show doesn't work well when people sit around and are nice."
The "All Stars" winner has had a lot of legal trouble since the show. He was arrested for a DUI in 2020, to which he pled guilty. Perhaps even more alarmingly, Malin was arrested in 2019 for stalking Kirby, his former "Big Brother" counterpart. He was found guilty the following year and sentenced to two years of probation. "On behalf of Dr. Kirby, we are grateful to the criminal justice system for holding Mr. Malin accountable for his actions," Kirby's legal team said in a statement to Us Weekly. While details about what actually went down are scarce, the outlet noted that Malin was ordered to no longer contact Kirby and stay away from his businesses.
These days, Malin can be booked on Cameo. In his bio on the website, which allows fans to purchase videos from celebrities, Malin describes himself as a "washed up reality guy."
Evel Dick Donato stayed in the Big Brother universe after winning Season 8
"Big Brother 8" featured a twist where producers put family members in the house together, including some who didn't get along. "Evel" Dick Donato played alongside his daughter Danielle, and they tore through the competition. Ultimately, father beat daughter, and Dick walked away with the top prize. He told RealityWanted.com that he was surprised to find that his abrasive attitude hadn't alienated viewers, and in fact had made him quite the fan favorite. "The word dumbfounded comes to mind when I got out the Big Brother house, the positive response was so shocking," he said. "I thought once I left the house people would drive by and give me the middle finger. I could not believe the way people received me after what I did on the show."
He returned to the "Big Brother" house to compete again in Season 13, but he had to leave early on. A few years later, on "Couples Therapy," Donato revealed he was removed from "Big Brother" because of an HIV diagnosis. He told People (via HuffPost), "Look, I get that I'm a reality-show villain. But for better or for worse, I have a platform. And I decided that it was time to just publicly say what I'm dealing with."
For a while, he hosted a Big Brother recap show called "Dick @ Nite". He still follows the show on his Twitter account, regularly his thoughts about the houseguests.
Season 10's Dan Gheesling is a family man now
Season 10 of "Big Brother" was notable because it gave us Dan Gheesling, widely considered to be one of the show's best-ever players. He battled through to the end thanks to his shrewd ability to read his fellow houseguests, manipulating them into doing his bidding. He returned four years later as a "coach" on "Big Brother 14," ultimately entering the game as a player. His game-changing "funeral" – a stunt where he managed to flip the house, keeping himself safe by proclaiming his own game dead in the water — went down in history as one of the show's most iconic game moves. "I may have a future in sales selling ice to Eskimos if I can pull this off," Gheesling said at the time. He almost won the whole thing a second time, but he lost out to Ian Terry in the season's final vote.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly years after his last appearance on the show, Gheesling seemed content to rest on his laurels. "I am 100% a family man now," he told the outlet, bragging about his three children. "...Any free time I have, I try to free up to spend with them." He also makes a living as a Twitch streamer, playing video games and chatting several times a week. "I don't really have an incentive to play ['Big Brother' again]," he told EW. "I don't have that drive to play the game. I just don't."
Jordan Lloyd of BB11 hosts a podcast
Jordan Lloyd won the 11th season of "Big Brother," but her biggest contribution to the game might just be her high-profile relationship with fellow contestant Jeff Schroeder. They're one of the show's most successful "showmances," having gotten together during their season and remained together ever since. She told Entertainment Weekly that she was proud of the way she pulled out a win after Schroeder was evicted from the house, recalling, "I won those last challenges when I needed to. ... I pulled it out and then I won. And so it's nice when people think you're an underdog the whole time, but then you pull out a win."
Lloyd returned for "Big Brother 13," but she didn't win again. She told EW that she struggled after her television days with how "vicious" people were online, thanks in part to her "dingy" persona. "You're like, 'Wow, I'm a nice person, and I care about people,'" she said. "Then you see people writing, 'Oh your voice is so annoying. You are fat. You're ugly.'"
These days, Lloyd is focused on raising a family with Schroeder. They also have a podcast together called "Togetherness." They post their episodes to YouTube. She told EW, "You sometimes can feel like you lose yourself as a stay-at-home mom, and this is something on the side where I can get creative, and I can make content."
Season 13 winner Rachel Reilly is a reality TV mainstay
Rachel Reilly first competed on Season 12 of "Big Brother," and a reality television legend was born. She only came in 9th place, but when she returned to compete again the following year, Reilly had a fire that took her all the way to the end. The "comp beast," as fans say, won four Head of Household competitions and two Powers of Veto, helping her dominate her second round. "My proudest moments were when I was able to challenge myself to keep going even when it was hard, when I was tired emotionally and physically, and when I just wanted to give up," she told Entertainment Weekly.
She still makes a living on television. In addition to her seasons of "Big Brother," Reilly has competed on "The Amazing Race" twice. She won "Snake in the Grass," and she also competed on "The Traitors," alongside fellow "BB" winner Cody Calafiore. While Reilly was a member of "the Faithful," Calafiore was a "Traitor," and Reilly clocked him immediately. "In real life, he's just a guy that you want to be friends with. In the beginning of the show, he was so excited I was there," she told Us Weekly. "And then after traitors stuff happened, he started acting so differently." Ultimately, both "Big Brother" alums lost to "Survivor" vet Cirie Fields, who is now part of the "Big Brother 25" cast.
Season 14 winner Ian Terry is not a fan of the show anymore
Season 14 of "Big Brother" was packed with strong personalities, thanks in large part to returning "coaches" who then became players. In a cast with icons like Dan Gheesling, Mike "Boogie" Malin, Janelle Pierzina, and Britney Haynes, it would have been easy for someone like Ian Terry to slip under the radar. In fact, that's exactly what he did, surviving all the way to the end and beating Gheesling, his former coach. "The way I play, I tend to want to link up with strong social players and have them do a lot of the legwork for me socially," he told Entertainment Weekly. "As a result, I get saved much more often than the average player would when in bad spots."
Terry returned to the "Big Brother" house for Season 22, the second "All Stars," but he didn't enjoy his second shot at the prize. "I wasn't exactly thrilled to be there and viewed it as a monotonous job," he recalled to EW. "The moment I got a good look at the full cast, realization set in that my starting position was even worse than I imagined." Sure enough, the strategic player was considered a threat, and he only made it to the jury. Since that second go-around, Terry has moved on from the show. "I'm not a fan of modern 'Big Brother,'" he said.
Terry's still working as a consultant, he told the outlet. "[S]ame partner, same city [Houston], same backgammon hobby."
Derrick Levasseur dominated Season 16
Few people have rocked the "Big Brother" game the way Derrick Levasseur did in Season 16. The former undercover cop hid his profession from his fellow houseguests, and he managed to stay off the block the entire season, a feat no other winner could claim. His record was extra impressive considering that season's "Battle of the Block" competition, which led to there being even more nominees than normal. Levasseur was particularly proud of the way he orchestrated the entire house voting together, because it kept him safe in the long run. "I'd rather win the game, be considered somewhat boring and change my family's lives than make sure I give viewers a better show," he told The Hollywood Reporter.
These days, Levasseur now runs a private investigation firm. He's also a podcaster, with both a true crime podcast and a reality TV one; he hosts the latter with Cody Calafiore, his "BB16" alliance-mate. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, he revealed that he's also working on a line of coffee. Levasseur explained, "We have coffee beans from Columbia, from Honduras, from Guatemala, from all over the place, and we put a true-crime twist on it." What that means, exactly, is unclear.
On a 2023 episode of "The Winner's Circle," Levasseur and Calafiore's podcast, they discussed playing again someday. Both agreed that they'd only do a shorter season of All Winners. "30 days, 45 max," Levasseur said. "I think it would work for most of us."
Steve Moses didn't make winning his post-BB17 personality
College student Steve Moses was part of the cast of "Big Brother 17." That season was full of big personalities like noted emotional player Vanessa Rousso , "BB" fan favorite meme queen Da'Vonne Rogers, and "Amazing Race" veterans Jeff Weldon and Jackie Ibarra. The season also featured a "twin twist," where twins Liz and Julia Nolan traded off their place in the house without their fellow houseguests noticing. As a result, the likable, if quieter Moses was able to slip through the season mostly unnoticed, making his way to the very end.
He told Entertainment Weekly that he was initially disappointed to learn that he hadn't made much of an impact on the show's storylines. However, he came to view that as a blessing rather than a curse. Shying away from the post-season attention, Moses realized, "My edit helped me disappear into society more quickly."
As a result, Moses hasn't followed the typical post-"BB" path. "[The edit] helped me avoid falling into the trap of wrapping your self-identity into being a former Houseguest," he explained, perhaps referring to some other people on this list. Instead, after finishing college, Moses used his winnings to start a franchise of senior care consultants. "It's a really rewarding business because families usually come to us when they're at their low points, and it's awesome to work with them to develop a solution that's great for both the senior and their family," he explained.
Nicole Franzel won Season 18 and came back for more
Nicole Franzel won Season 18 of "Big Brother," after initially competing two years prior. "I was cast as the quirky, 21 year old small town girl with the big bun and glasses with the weird accent," she reflected on Instagram in 2021, several years after her win. "I fell in love with the game as a little girl & I became super good at it." Franzel returned for Season 22, the second "All Stars" season, but she was cut by former alliance member Cody Calafiore, who went on to win the game.
After winning "Big Brother," Franzel linked up with fellow houseguest Victor Arroyo. The "Big Brother" couple competed on "The Amazing Race" together, and they ultimately got married in 2021 after delaying their wedding several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "This day could not have been more perfect. Yes, it was daunting and stressful to have to move the wedding so many times, but at the end of the day, we are so happy with how everything came together and are excited for our next chapter," they told Us Weekly.
They have a son together, who they've nicknamed Arrow. In addition to sharing updates about her family life on Instagram, Franzel has a podcast with her own mother called Coco Caliente. In addition to chatting about their lives, they cover reality television shows like "The Challenge," "The Traitors," and, of course, "Big Brother."
Cody Calafiore played more reality TV after winning Season 22
Cody Calafiore initially competed back on "Big Brother 16," and he didn't do too badly, all things considered. The soccer coach won himself a spot in the finale, meaning he got to pick who came with him to the end. He stayed loyal to his alliance-member Derrick Levasseur... not realizing that Levasseur had been manipulating him and everyone else the entire season. As a result, Calafiore came in second. He told Entertainment Weekly that he doesn't regret anything, explaining, "I know I got a lot of backlash for taking him and people called me a bad game player, but it would've broke my moral code to turn on him and backstab him."
He returned to the "Big Brother" house for Season 22, an All Stars season comprised entirely of returning players. This time, he won. He told EW that his first victory taught him an important lesson; whereas he spent his second-place prize money quickly, this time he's leaving his winnings untouched. "I didn't want to be stupid with the money because you just never know what curveballs life is going to throw at you," he said.
Since winning "Big Brother 22," Calafiore hosts a podcast with Levasseur, does real estate, and still coaches soccer. He also competed on "The Traitors" with fellow "BB" winner Rachel Reilly. He admitted to Us Weekly ithat t was a tough experience. "There's stuff that I really can't mention, but I was struggling," he said.
Taylor Hale is capitalizing on her Season 24 win
Watching Taylor Hale play "Big Brother 24," it felt like she had more support on the internet than nearly any contestant in the show's history. While her fellow houseguests put her on the block four times, repeatedly putting her in danger of going home, Hale managed to pivot repeatedly and stayed all the way through to the end. As a result, it felt like the whole internet celebrated when she won the season. She made history, becoming the first Black woman to take the top prize in the competition. "My purpose for coming to this game was so much bigger than just Taylor Hale playing," she told Entertainment Weekly. "It was so much bigger than just trying to make a name for myself. There was a bigger moment for me that I knew that I had to fulfill, and somehow I ended up pulling it off."
After her win, Hale focused on capitalizing on all the positive attention. In addition to numerous brand deals, Hale parlayed her "Big Brother" win into a guest role on "The Bold and The Beautiful," her mother's favorite soap opera. "Being part of that set, being part of that production, it felt like I was honoring my mom, my grandma, my great grandma, and all the things that they loved," she told PopCrave. "It felt very good."