Photo Courtesy of US Weekly
History was made on the 24th season of “Big Brother” on Sunday, Sept. 25, when former Miss Michigan Taylor Hale became the first Black woman to win a main season of the franchise. Her win was decided by an 8-1 vote from the “Big Brother” jury, earning all votes to win the game except the vote of Matt Turner, a rug maker from North Attleboro, Massachusetts, who was the final houseguest to be evicted from the season earlier that night.
However, Hale’s win is historic in more ways than one. She also became the first houseguest to win both the game of “Big Brother,” along with the $750,000 grand prize that comes with it, and the title of America’s Favorite Houseguest, a prize given to one houseguest at the end of each season that is determined by votes from the show’s viewers in the days leading up to the finale.
Hale has also become the third Black woman in a row to win America’s Favorite Houseguest, following in the footsteps of Da’Vonne Rogers in Season 22 and Tiffany Mitchell in Season 23.
Hale became the first Black woman to reach the final two contestants on a main season of the show, two decades after Danielle Reyes, who famously lost the game in a 9-1 jury vote in 2002 during the series’ third season.
Hale also holds the title of the “Big Brother” winner with the most times nominated for eviction, hitting the eviction block six times throughout the 13-week season.
Despite this, only two votes were cast to eliminate Hale throughout the entire summer, leading to her self-proclaimed nickname the “block buster.”
According to TVLine.com, viewership numbers for “Big Brother” were the highest they have ever been in the franchise’s history this summer, most likely due to the 24/7 live streaming of the events going on in the house as the season was airing. This is a feature that has been offered to fans of the franchise since season one, adding a stand-out and individualized element to the show that many other reality franchises cannot offer.
The live feeds, which aired on Paramount+ through a premium subscription, showcased many of the most memorable moments of the summer, including the formation of the fan-favorite alliance called “The Leftovers,” as well as the controversial comments made by contestant Kyle Capener in which he implied that there was a race-based alliance of all contestants of color.
Capener expressed this theory to other houseguests due to an alliance of Black contestants that was created during the previous season in 2021 (which ultimately swept the competition, with six Black players being the final six houseguests for the first time ever). The speculation sparked major controversy between both hardcore fans and casual viewers of the show, with some defending Capener, others going against him and the live feed footage as evidence.
Hale has also been praised for her game-winning speech to the jury on finale night, in which she stated that she “is a sword, and not a shield,” a metaphor discussing how she was a crucial player in the game rather than an easy target like some of the houseguests made her out to be.
Although the finale was a significant moment in the franchise’s history and had high viewership throughout the summer, the episode itself only brought in just under four million viewers according to TVLine.com – a significant decrease from the finale of last year’s edition.
