Big Brother 9 (American season)

Template:Big Brother endgame Big Brother 9 (also known as Big Brother: 'Til Death Do You Part) is the ninth edition of the American reality television series Big Brother, that aired on the CBS television network on February 12, 2008 to April 27, 2008. Julie Chen returned as host, and Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan were the executive producers. The show was produced by Endemol USA and Allison Grodner Productions.

This was the first season in the show's history to air in winter, during the regular television season, a move prompted by the network's lack of programming options caused by a writer's strike. It was also the first season to be simply called Big Brother, without mention of the season number or the year it was aired.

There were sixteen HouseGuests competing for the grand prize, an increase over previous seasons. Two previous evicted HouseGuests returned to the game, Sharon returned on Day 7 to replace Neil who left earlier that day. James was given the opportunity to return on Day 35 by votes from the other HouseGuests. This is the first season to feature two previous evictees returning to the House and the third overall to have evicted HouseGuests return.

Pre-season

Following the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike, the trade magazine Variety reported that CBS, in response, was considering airing a winter edition of Big Brother, and that the network started cast auditions. Several sites speculated that the winter edition could have been an American version of Celebrity Big Brother but this was untrue as CBS released a statement that the next edition of Big Brother would be a regular season following the format of past editions. The season was announced on November 15, 2007 with open casting calls being held from November 17, 2007 to December 8, 2007. The finalists for the season were chosen on December 27, 2007.

Broadcasts

On December 3, 2007 CBS announced Big Brother 9 would return on February 12, 2008 with three episodes airing on Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Showtime and CBS announced on January 8, 2008 that Big Brother: After Dark would also return and air seven nights a week during the hours of 12 AM and end at 3 AM ET. On February 11, 2008 CBS announced that the live Internet feeds would return for the season with certain events in the House being blocked out to preserve drama of the television broadcasts. The Internet talk show House Calls: The Big Brother Talk Show would also return with host Gretchen Massey. A new feature for Big Brother 9 was the addition of watching the live Internet feeds and new episode of Big Brother live on MediaFLO enabled cell phones. Big Brother 9 was broadcast in the United Kingdom on E4 airing two one-hour episodes on Thursday nights and one one-hour episode on Tuesday nights, the first episode was shown on February 14 with the finale shown on April 29, 2008.

HouseGuests

Main article: List of Big Brother 9 HouseGuests (U.S.)

The cast of Big Brother 9'.

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Top: Parker, James and Adam

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Middle: Ryan, Sharon, Natalie, Matt, Amanda, Jen and Jacob

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Bottom: Chelsia, Alex, Sheila, Joshuah, Neil and Allison

For the first time in Big Brother history, 16 HouseGuests entered the House to compete for the grand prize. This is the first time since Big Brother 5 that there has been an increase in the number of HouseGuests over the previous season.

One of two twists this season was that each HouseGuest was paired with a soulmate and the pairs shared Head of Household and Power of Veto wins and were evicted together until the end of Week 3. A second twist was that an evicted HouseGuest from Weeks 1-4 would return to the House on Day 35. This is the first season to see two previous evictees re-enter the House after being evicted.

Name	Age[I]	Occupation	Home town
Adam Jasinski	34	Public Relations Manager	Delray Beach, Florida
Alex Coladonato	29	DJ Company Owner	Staten Island, New York
Allison Nichols	33	Pharmaceutical Sales Representative	Boston, Massachusetts
Amanda Hansen	28	Paralegal	Fridley, Minnesota
Chelsia Hart	25	College Student	Cedar Falls, Iowa
Jacob Heald	28	Electrician	Dallas, Georgia
James Zinkand	25	Cyclist	Sarasota, Florida
Jen Diturno	31	Bartender	Columbus, Ohio
Joshuah Welch	30	Advertising Media Buyer	Dallas, Texas
Matt McDonald	28	Roofing Foreman	Charlestown, Massachusetts
Natalie Cunial	33	Bikini Barista	Salem, Oregon
Neil Garcia	34	Realtor	Los Angeles, California
Parker Somerville	31	Paparazzo	Northridge, California
Ryan Quicksall	32	College Student	Columbus, Ohio
Sharon Obermueller	28	Realtor	Olathe, Kansas
Sheila Kennedy	50	Former Model	Reseda, California

^{^[I]} Contestant's age as of 2012

Highlights

Each week in the Big Brother House is summarized in the table on the main page. A typical week began with the Head of Household competition during the live Wednesday episode and ended with the eviction of a HouseGuest during the following Wednesday's episode. The next "week" immediately started after the eviction with the next Head of Household competition. Evictions, competitions, and other noteworthy events for a particular week are noted. Some of the events listed may not be in order of sequence.

Weekly Summary
Week 1	Events	On Day 1, the 16 HouseGuests entered the house and were paired with their soulmate chosen for them by Big Brother based on forms filled out by the HouseGuests during their audition process. The soulmates were Adam & Sheila, Alex & Amanda, Allison & Ryan, Chelsia & James, Jacob & Sharon, Jen & Parker, Joshuah & Neil, and Matt & Natalie. While the producers claimed that the pairs were based on the results of compatibility tests taken before the show, intra-couple conflict was a running theme during the early weeks of the game. In particular, Adam and Sheila began to bicker almost immediately, with Sheila (the season's oldest housemate; the next-youngest was 16 years younger) taking offense at Adam calling her "Ma." It was revealed that Jen & Ryan are a real couple outside the House, while Jacob & Sharon used to be a couple. On Day 1, Jen & Parker became the first Power Couple and had to evict another couple within hours of the competition. On Day 3, Jacob & Sharon were evicted by Jen & Parker. On Day 4, Alex & Amanda became the first Head of Household couple. On Day 7, Allison & Ryan and Jen & Parker were nominated for eviction. On Day 9, Matt & Natalie won the Power of Veto and decided not to use it on Day 11.
	Competitions	Power Couple: "Falling for You"; Each couple was hoisted over a bed: one was hooked on a zipline and helped their partner hang onto them. If the unattached partner fell off of the attached one the team was eliminated. Jen & Parker won the competition and $10,000 and had to evict a couple within hours after the competition. HoH: "Do You Know Your Partner?"; The 14 HouseGuests had to answer questions about their soulmates correctly in order to earn hearts, the couple scoring the most hearts wins Head of Household. With 9 hearts, Alex & Amanda were named the first Head of Household couple. PoV: "In Sickness and in Health"; One team member got onto one of four huge revolving hearts and put their finger on a panic button. The other partners spun the heart. Matt & Natalie were the first couple to spin their heart 300 revolutions without letting go on the panic button and won the competition.
	Entrances	Adam, Alex, Allison, Amanda, Chelsia, Jacob, James, Jen, Joshuah, Matt, Natalie, Neil, Parker, Ryan, Sharon and Sheila entered on Day 1. Sharon re-entered the House as Neil's replacement on Day 7.
	Exits	Jacob & Sharon were evicted on Day 3. Neil left the House due to an urgent personal matter on Day 7. Jen & Parker were evicted by a vote of 3 to 1 on Day 14.
Week 2	Events	On Day 14, Chelsia & James became the new Head of Household couple. On Day 15, Alex & Amanda and Matt & Natalie were nominated for eviction. On Day 16, Joshuah & Sharon won the Power of Veto competition and chose to keep the nominations the same on Day 18. On Day 16, Amanda & Allison were simultaneously hospitalized for a brief period of time. Allison had an allergic reaction, while Amanda, who is hypoglycemic, fainted from low blood sugar. Both returned to the House later that night. After the Power of Veto competition, the HouseGuests gathered around a jumbo digital ticker tape screen, to learn about Sen. John McCain's primary victories, Sen. Barack Obama overtaking Hillary Clinton in the primaries, and Britney Spears regaining custody of her two children. The HouseGuests also saw one final headline that read "The Hudson River virus is threatening those cut off from the outside world", in a reference to a new episode of the CBS series Jericho.
	Competitions	HoH: "Big Brother Democracy"; On Day 14, the remaining couples were asked to guess how the majority would respond to six questions. The couple with the most points was crowned the new HoH couple. With six out of six correct, Chelsia & James were the named the second HoH couple. Food: "What A Catch!"; On Day 15 the House participated in the first food competition. The object of the competition was to fill the opposing team's nets with so much fish that the player had to drop his net. Team "Sea-duction", composed of Joshuah, Sharon, Ryan, Allison, Matt and Natalie; who won the competition. Team "Dev-ocean", composed of Adam, Sheila, James, Chelsia, Alex and Amanda; who lost the competition. James & Chelsia weren't put on the slop diet since they were HoH. PoV: "Communication Breakdown"; On Day 16, the couples playing had to find cables in a storage area packed among thousands of peanuts in barrels labeled "Jericho". They then had to get the correct sized cables to connect their four electrical poles to their individual generator. When done, team members must hit a red button on their generator. Joshuah & Sharon won the Power of Veto and the House was rewarded with information from the outside world.
	Exits	Alex & Amanda were evicted by a unanimous vote on Day 21.
Week 3	Events	On Day 21, Joshuah & Sharon became the next Head of Household couple. On Day 22, Allison & Ryan and Matt & Natalie were nominated for eviction. On Day 23, Matt & Natalie won the Power of Veto and chose to use the veto on themselves on Day 25. Joshuah & Sharon replaced Matt & Natalie with Sheila & Adam. On Day 24, the HouseGuests received a note from Big Brother about a siren that will sound in the coming weeks. On Day 28, after the first eviction vote was announced, Big Brother split the remaining couples into individuals for the remainder of the season.
	Competitions	HoH: "Words of Love"; the competition was a quiz based on the love quotes around the House. HouseGuests were to buzz in when they thought they knew the correct author. The first HouseGuest to buzz in and answer correctly got to eliminate another HouseGuest from the competition. If a HouseGuest buzzed in and answered incorrectly was eliminated. The competition was played in two rounds broken up by gender. With both Joshuah and Sharon winning their rounds, they became the new Head of Household couple. Food: "Big Asparagus!"; the men must guess the weight of their partners and then gather enough asparagus to weigh the same amount. If they got within ten pounds of their partner's weight, the whole House got two major food groups. The House won: beverages & snacks, vegetables & fruits, and meats & cheeses; but failed to get carbs & a feast. PoV: "Cupid is as Cupid Does"; The couples had to figure out a picture puzzle. The women were strapped into a harness that moved them up into the air as the men ran across the yard to puzzle pieces. Each couple had more puzzle pieces than needed, the women had to figure out which pieces they needed while in the air. Upon completion of the puzzle, the men had to run back to retrieve Cupid's arrow, which the women had to plunge into their heart in the air to win. Matt & Natalie won the competition.
	Twists	On Day 28, Allison & Ryan received two votes and was the next couple to be evicted from the House, but upon leaving the siren went off and the HouseGuests were informed that the couples were split up into individual players. The HouseGuests had to choose between Allison or Ryan to evict.
	Exits	Allison was evicted by a unanimous vote on Day 28.
Week 4	Events	On Day 28, Ryan became the first single Head of Household of the season. On Day 29, Ryan nominated Chelsia and Sharon for eviction. On Day 30, Chelsia won the Power of Veto, and chose to use it on herself on Day 32. Ryan nominated James in her place.
	Competitions	HoH: "Time After Time"; Julie asks true/false questions on whether an event occurred in the house before or after another event. Food:"A Little 'Fon' Will 'Due' Ya!"; the House was separated into two teams. The blue team consisted of Adam, James, Matt and Natalie who were the "Won-due-fuls". And the red team named the "Fon-tastics" consisted of Chelsia, Joshuah, Sharon and Sheila. The object was to get into two pools of chocolate complete with fountains and slides while players one by one went down the slide into the pool to retrieve letters to spell out food items. For each food item correctly spelled and filled out on the team's shopping list, a point was awarded. The team with the most points won the food items they spelled out. With 12 food items spelled and filled out correctly; the blue team won the competition and had the food items listed for the week while the red team was put on slop. PoV: "Color of Veto"; the HouseGuests had to use an oversized pool stick to shoot their ball as close as possible to the Veto pocket, located at the center of an oversized pool table with a string of pockets carved in the center of an oversized pool table with a string of pockets carved in the center of the table. The eliminated HouseGuest from each round wins a prize, however a HouseGuest can keep their prize or chose a prize already won by another HouseGuest. Chelsia won the Power of Veto, Shelia won the red unitard from Big Brother 8, Sharon won a slop pass, Joshuah won letters from home, Adam won a motorcycle and Ryan won $10,000.
	Exits	On Day 35, James was evicted from the Big Brother House with a 5-1 vote.
Week 5	Twists	On Day 35, the HouseGuests had to decide to bring back James or an evicted HouseGuest that was in the "mystery box." The HouseGuests voted to bring back James in a 5-3 vote. Alex was voted by the viewing public to be the HouseGuest in the "mystery box."
	Events	On Day 35, James became the Head of Household for the week. On Day 36, James nominated Ryan and Shelia for eviction. On Day 37, James won the Power of Veto, and chose to use it on Shelia on Day 39. James nominated Matt in her place.
	Competitions	HoH: "Big Brother Disco"; the HouseGuests stood on gold discs attached to the tops of hanging disco balls and were spun around continuously while holding on with the chains used to attach the disco balls to the metal structure. An over-sized champagne bottle shot soap suds at the HouseGuests at various times during the competition. After four and a half hours, James outlasted Natalie and became the new Head of Household. PoV: "Trapped in the Cage"; players must walk along a series of balance beams to transfer 500 blocks from a cage to a tube. They could only move two blocks at a time, if they fell off the beam or dropped a block, they were eliminated. The first player to move all of their blocks won. With only James and Joshuah left, James successfully transferred all 500 blocks and won the Power of Veto.
	Exits	On Day 42, Matt was evicted with a 4-3 vote. James, as Head of Household, had to cast the deciding vote. Matt became the first member of the Big Brother 9 jury.
Week 6	Events	On Day 42, Adam became the Head of Household for the week. On Day 43, the HouseGuests played in a Luxury competition. On Day 43, Adam nominated Chelsia and James for eviction. On Day 44, James won the Power of Veto, and chose to use it on himself on Day 46. Adam nominated Sharon in his place. On Day 45, Chelsia won a $21,000 dollar VIP trip to Las Vegas before the screening of the film 21, in which her popcorn bucket had a golden ticket for the prize.
	Competitions	HoH: "En Garde"; the HouseGuests faced off two at a time and had to guess which evicted HouseGuests made certain statements in the Diary Room. The player who buzzed in first and answered correctly stayed in the game, while their opponent was eliminated. The person who remained chose the next two HouseGuests to compete. With Adam and Chelsia facing off, Adam answered the last question quickly and correctly, winning his first Head of Household competition. Luxury: "Big Brother Blackjack"; the HouseGuests are dealt a series of cards. Each card has a different HouseGuest's face on it as well as a number. To win, HouseGuests must buzz in and list the cards that add up exactly to 21. Each correct answer earned them a chip. If answered incorrectly, they were eliminated. The winner got four movie passes to a screening of the Columbia Pictures film 21, the winner was allowed to select three other HouseGuests to join them. Ryan won the movie passes giving them to Adam, James and Natalie. He then was offered to risk the movie passes in order to play a round of traditional Blackjack for a chance to win a $21,000 dollar VIP trip to Las Vegas. Adam, as the dealer beat Ryan's two nines totaling 18 with Adam's three cards totaling 19. Ryan lost the prize package and the movie reward, which were then given to Chelsia, Joshuah, Sharon and Sheila. PoV: "Club Evel"; Big Brother 8 contestant "Evel Dick" Donato returned to the Big Brother House to host the PoV competition. The HouseGuests replayed a game from last season, where they had to drink concoctions to secure shots in a croquet game. The player who scored the most points in croquet won the Power of Veto. If the player scored more than Dick's score of 33 from last season, he or she would have also won a classic Gibson Les Paul guitar and amplifier. But if no one beat his score, Dick would get the guitar for himself. James drank 10 concoctions and scored 29 points, which won him the Power of Veto.
	Exits	Chelsia was evicted from the Big Brother House on Day 49 by a unanimous 5-0 vote. She became the second jury member.
Week 7	Events	On Day 49, Natalie became the Head of Household for the week. On Day 50, Natalie nominated James and Joshuah for eviction. On Day 51, James won the Power of Veto, and chose to use it on himself on Day 53. Natalie nominated Sharon in his place.
	Competitions	HoH: "Big Brother Election"; viewers were asked to answer questions on CBS.com about each of the HouseGuests as if they were running for president. On an American flag-like game board, the HouseGuests were told to raise either their left or right hand to answer questions on how they thought viewers voted. For each correct answer, the HouseGuest moved one step. The player in the lead after seven questions would be the new Head of Household. With six out of seven answers correct, Natalie became the new Head of Household for the week. Food: "To Slop or Not to Slop"; HouseGuests must insert cards into their watermelon and choose either slop or food. The object of the competition is to figure out what the majority of the House decides and be in the minority group. If three or more HouseGuests choose their slop cards, then those people are on slop. But if three or more choose the food card, then they will be on slop and the people who chose the slop card will be on food. With Adam being the only one choosing the food card, he got food. James, Josh, Ryan, Sheila and Sharon all chose the slop card and were put on slop for the week. PoV: " "Big Brother Boardwalk"; players walk out to find objects from Big Brother past and present. The players had to guess how many objects made up a certain item by comparing it to a small version. After seeing each others answers, they had the option to play their number or fold. A player who folds can not get a point, but he or she also can not get eliminated from the game. The person who is closest to the correct answer got a point, while the person who is the farthest off was eliminated. The first player who got to three points won the Power of Veto. After Joshuah, Natalie and Sharon were eliminated; James, Ryan and Sheila were left. With James getting three consecutive answers correct, he won the Power of Veto.
	Exits	On Day 56, Joshuah was evicted from the Big Brother House by a vote of 3-1. He became the third jury member.
Week 8	Events	On Day 56, Adam became the new Head of Household. On Day 57, Adam nominated Sharon and Sheila for eviction. On Day 58, Ryan won the Power of Veto and chose to use it on Shelia on Day 60. Adam nominated James in her place.
	Competitions	HoH: "More...or Less"; the HouseGuests were read statements about the number of things in the House, such as how many camera windows there are. The HouseGuests would then have to answer whether or not the actual number was more or less than the number given in the original statement. A HouseGuest who correctly identified whether or not the number was more or less would receive a point. The HouseGuest with the most points after seven questions would become the new Head of Household. After seven questions, Adam had the most points and became the new Head of Household. Food: "A True Big Brother Mash"; the HouseGuests have to make pathways down a ramp filled with pots and pans using only mashed potatoes, then pour gravy down the pathway into containers. Each container represented a food group or one of three luxury items: a feast, a grill or lawn toys. After 10 minutes, the HouseGuests won Meats & Fish, Desserts & Snacks, Dairy & Eggs, Bread & Pasta, and won a Grill and Lawn Toys. PoV: "The Rainmaker"; the HouseGuests walked into the backyard which was transformed into a parched desert landscape dominated by a huge stone god. The stone god revealed a past event in the Big Brother House, and the HouseGuests had to search the backyard for rocks with numbers on them and bring them back with the day the event happened. If only one person brought back the incorrect day, they were eliminated. If there were more than one incorrect answer, the person with the answer furthest from the correct number was eliminated. In the last round, Adam and Ryan remained. Ryan correctly got the number in first before Adam which won him his first Power of Veto.
	Exits	James was evicted from the Big Brother House on Day 63 by a unanimous 3-0 vote. He became the fourth jury member.
Week 9	Events	On Day 63, Sheila became the Head of Household. On Day 64, Sheila nominated Adam and Sharon for eviction. Big Brother alerted the HouseGuests that the Power of Veto competition would be held that night. On Day 65, Adam won the Power of Veto, and chose to use it on himself on Day 67. Sheila nominated Natalie in his place. On Day 66, Sheila celebrated her 46th birthday.
	Competitions	HoH: "Glass Houses"; The HouseGuests go outside to the backyard and find four large plexi-glass boxes. The HouseGuests are told to grab on to either the bar or rope hanging in the box. If the HouseGuest fell out, they were eliminated. After 3 hours, Natalie got down from her box, giving Sheila her first Head of Household competition win. PoV: "PoTV"; One by one the HouseGuests go outside to find the back yard transformed into a big old-fashioned TV room, the big TV is made up of nine different screens, which each have a remote that controls them. When all nine screens are on the correct channels, a picture will be revealed. There are two puzzles, one of them with the HouseGuests' faces attached to Big Brother 8 contestant "Evel Dick" Donato's body, which is not complete, and the other one with Guinea Pigs who sport hairstyles of all the HouseGuests. With the fastest time belonging to Adam with 3:20, he won the Power of Veto.
	Exits	Natalie was evicted on Day 70 and became the fifth juror by a 2-1 vote, with Sheila casting the tiebreaker vote to evict her.
Week 10	Events	On Day 70, Ryan became the Head of Household. On Day 71, Ryan nominated Sharon and Sheila for eviction. On Day 71, the HouseGuests played in teams for a luxury competition. Ryan and Sharon won the competition. On Day 72, Ryan won the Power of Veto and chose to leave the nominations the same. On Day 74, Big Brother alerted the HouseGuests that on Day 75, there would be an eviction.
	Competitions	HoH: "Fact or Fiction"; Contestants were standing in a circle with privacy walls between them. Questions and statements referencing aspects of the game and the House up to that point were asked. Contestants stepped forward if they thought the statement was fact, and back if fiction. Ryan became the new Head of Household after answering the tie-breaker question correctly. This competition is considered controversial on account of the last statement. Luxury: "What Happens In Vegas..."; teams had to break prop bottles over each others heads. Only seven bottles had special dice rings. When a team found a dice ring, they had to put it on one of the nine squares on a playing board. Once all nine squares were filled, a wheel with nine corresponding boxes was spun. If the box on the wheel matched one of the boxes chosen by one of the teams, that team won the prize. The HouseGuests competed for the chance at an in-house screening of the 20th Century Fox film What Happens in Vegas..., a VIP experience that includes a shopping spree and tickets to the May 1 premiere of the film in Hollywood, and a chance to meet the cast at an after party. The losers were linked together for 24 hours. Ryan as HoH spun the wheel first and matched one of the boxes, winning Sharon and him the prize. The losers, Adam and Sheila, were linked together for 24 hours. PoV: "Big Brother Derby"; the yard was broken into quadrants, one for each of the HouseGuests. On each of their walls were five headless jockeys. They had to put the faces of the five evicted HouseGuests currently in the Jury House in order on the jockeys, and attach two cards to each of them that describe individual facts about their game. Once the HouseGuest has a face and two cards attached to the jockey, they rang their bell to find out if they can move on to the next jockey. If the buzzer rang, they have to go back. Ryan successfully completed all five jockeys first and won the final Power of Veto of the season.
	Exits	Sharon was evicted on Day 75, by a 1-0 vote and became the sixth juror.
Week 11	Events	On Day 75, Ryan won the first part of the final Head of Household competition. On Day 76, Adam won the second part of the final Head of Household competition. On Day 77, Ryan won the final Head of Household competition, beating Adam. On Day 77, Sheila was evicted by Ryan, leaving Adam & Ryan in the final two. On Day 81, James was voted as America's Favorite Juror and was awarded $25,000. Sheila was runner-up in the America's Choice. It was announced on House Calls that Sharon came in third to win the prize.
	Competitions	HoH, Pt. 1: "Up A Creek"; the final three remaining HouseGuests go outside and climb up onto a platform with running water. They attach themselves to boogie boards and grab onto a rope. The last person holding a rope won the first part of the final Head of Household. Ryan won the first part of the final Head of Household competition. HoH, Pt. 2: "Who's The Guinea Pig Now?"; Adam and Sheila competed in the second part of the Final Head of Household Competition. The competition involved a giant hamster wheel which rotated a large maze on the side of the wheel. The HouseGuests had to retrieve balls with the names of the previous Heads of Household in order. They then had to place the balls on a wall in the correct order. Alex & Amanda, James & Chelsia, and Joshuah & Sharon, as Head of Household Couples, were on one ball. Adam and Ryan each had two balls, as they held Head of Household twice. The correct order was: Alex & Amanda, James & Chelsia, Joshuah & Sharon, Ryan, James, Adam, Natalie, Adam, Sheila, and Ryan. Adam won the second part of the final HoH Competition. HoH, Pt. 3: "Jury Statements"; Ryan and Adam faced off in the final part of the HoH competition. They were asked to complete statements made by Matt, Chelsia, Joshuah, James, Natalie and Sharon. Ryan won the final Head of Household Competition by 3-2.
	Exits	Sheila was evicted on Day 77 and became the final jury member. On Day 81 Adam left the winner of Big Brother 9 and Ryan left as the runner-up.

Big Brother House

The outdoor theme present throughout the entire house.

House pictures were released on February 6, 2008. The House has an outdoors theme due to this being the first season to air during the winter season.

Throughout the House, there are numerous love quotes written by Oscar Wilde, William Shakespeare, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In the dining room and kitchen, the furniture are in bright red and yellow colors, and logs stacked against each other fill up a wall. The walkway to the Head of Household room evokes a giant library. The Head of Household room is an exotic island oasis. The headboard is made from a surfboard, there are Hula girl table lamps, rattan carpet and Polynesian knickknacks. The boat bedroom features shelves and chests designed to resemble small rowboats with rowboat shaped beds. Two large beds made of actual unfinished tree branches with pink bedspreads fill another room. The living room features a giant green semi-circular sofa, and a stone wall fireplace. A red colored room connected directly to the living room by a short hallway, with no doors, has a pair of pullout couches rather than actual beds. New this season is a Spa room complete with a massage table, two-person sauna and lounge.

Outside, there is a hot tub and pool, a billiards table and lounge area. The lounge area features a fire pit and heated lamps. Along with work-out equipment, there are lawn chairs to lay out in the sun.

Prizes

The HouseGuests compete for a grand prize of $500,000 and a runner-up prize of $50,000. In addition to the grand prize and the runner-up prize, various smaller prizes were offered throughout the game. Most of the time the prizes were given out during Power of Veto competitions or Luxury competitions.

In week one, during the Power Couple competition "Falling for You"; Jen & Parker won $10,000. During the Power of Veto competition "Color of Veto" on Day 30; Adam won a motorcycle and Ryan won $10,000. On Day 43 during a Luxury competition, Chelsia, Joshuah, Sharon and Sheila won an advanced screening of the Columbia Pictures film 21. On Day 45, Chelsia won a $21,000 VIP trip to Las Vegas before the screening of the film 21, in which her popcorn bucket had a golden ticket for the prize. On Day 44, when Big Brother 8 contestant "Evel Dick" Donato returned to the Big Brother House to host the Power of Veto competition "Club Evel", if a player scored more than Dick's score of 33 from last season, he or she would have also won a classic Gibson Les Paul guitar and amplifier. Since no one beat his score, Dick won the guitar for himself. During the second Luxury competition of the season on Day 71, Ryan and Sharon won an in-house screening of the 20th Century Fox film What Happens in Vegas..., a VIP experience that includes a shopping spree and tickets to the May 1 premiere of the film in Hollywood, and a chance to meet the cast at an after party. On the season finale, James won $25,000 by America's choice.

Controversy and criticism

See also: List of controversies of Big Brother (U.S.)

Autism United, a national autism group, demanded an apology from CBS over controversial remarks made by HouseGuest Adam Jasinski. During the second episode, Adam stated he worked for an autism foundation and would spend his winnings on a hair salon for people with developmental disabilities "so retards can get it together and get their hair done". Sheila, who was his partner in the house, found his remarks highly offensive. Adam replied with saying "can call them whatever I want because he work[s] with them all day". In a letter obtained by TMZ from John Gilmore, Executive Director of Autism United to Sumner Redstone, Chairman of CBS Corporation, Gilmore demanded action be taken after the Wednesday episode. Gilmore claimed that the network chose to air the segment for "their own personal goals." The organization also called for the show to be canceled and the organization has contacted advertisers over the issue. Due to the controversy, Lowe's has decided not to advertise during future Big Brother episodes, but it was unclear whether or not they were currently advertising during the program. Autism United has also contacted other advertisers, such as Campbell's Soup, Claritin, Geico, McDonald's and Taco Bell. Autism United and various parents in South Florida are calling for an investigation into Adam Jasinski and the United Autism Foundation. The organization claims to be a 501 c3 charity (deductions made to the organization would be considered tax deductible under current IRS regulations.) The website for United Autism Foundation has an apology regarding Adam's behavior and states he will no longer be working for the company.

After winning Big Brother 9 on April 27, 2008, Adam declared he would donate $100,000 to the Autism Foundation. On October 19, 2009, Jasinski was arrested, and charged by the DEA in North Reading, MA for possession of 2,000 oxycodone pills with intent to distribute. Jasinski allegedly admitted funding his illegal venture with his $500,000 winnings from the show. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Big Brother finalist Sheila Kennedy, who was part of the jury and voted for Jasinski to win the $500,000 grand prize, stated she felt betrayed by him for using his prize money to fund a drug ring, due to his promise to donate part of it to the autism foundation. Houseguest Allison said, "I hope Adam gets the maximum [jail] time he deserves because this is terrible."

On Day 31, Matt used the word "nigga" when referring to another (white) HouseGuest. The incident in question was aired on both the live Internet feeds and the spin-off show Big Brother: After Dark on Showtime 2.

On Day 70, there was a controversial Head of Household competition where the HouseGuests were to determine if certain statements were "fact" or "fiction." Many fans of the show, including House Calls co-host Dick Donato, were displeased with the final "fact or fiction" statement, which dealt with how many preexisting relationships there were in the house. The correct answer was three, which counted two relationships between HouseGuests (Jacob & Sharon and Jen & Ryan) and also the relationships between the guinea pigs. Some fans considered this question unfair. Sharon missed the question, leading to her losing the HoH competition and ultimately being evicted.

Voting history

A record of the votes cast, stored in a voting-table, shows how each HouseGuest voted to evict throughout his or her time in the House. The Head of Household and the nominees were not allowed to vote, but in the event of a tie, the Head of Household broke it. Twists to the normal nominations process are noted, such as immunity from nomination and eviction (referred to as "exempt") and double evictions. The last seven evictees of the season are expected to be part of the Jury of Big Brother 9, who will vote for the winner during the Finale.

For the first three weeks the HouseGuests played as couples, with each couple voting, making decisions, and risking getting evicted as a team. Each pair can be identified by the color beside their name (Sharon and Joshua were each a part of two different pairings during their time in the house. Thus, they have a color and a number besides their names). Each couple for the first three weeks shared Head of Household and Power of Veto wins together and were evicted together. In the event the Head of Household couple could not agree on who to nominate they would have been nominated and the runner-up couple in the competition would become the new HoH. If the Power of Veto couple could not agree on what to do with the PoV then it could not be used. If a couple could not agree on who to evict from the House that couple would instead be evicted.

		Week 1		Week 2	Week 3		Week 4	Week 5		Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Week 10	Week 11		Eviction votes received
		Day 1	Day 4		Day 22	Day 28		Day 35	Day 36						Day 77	Finale
Head of Household		(none)	Alex & Amanda	Chelsia & James	Joshuah & Sharon		Ryan	(none)	James	Adam	Natalie	Adam	Sheila	Ryan	Ryan	(none)
Nominations (pre-veto)			Allison & Ryan, Jen & Parker	Alex & Amanda, Matt & Natalie	Allison & Ryan, Matt & Natalie	Allison Ryan	Chelsia Sharon		Ryan Sheila	Chelsia James	James Joshuah	Sharon Sheila	Adam Sharon	Sharon Sheila	Adam Sheila
Veto Winner			Matt & Natalie	Joshuah & Sharon	Matt & Natalie	(none)	Chelsia		James	James	James	Ryan	Adam	Ryan	(none)
Nominations (post-veto)			Allison & Ryan, Jen & Parker	Alex & Amanda, Matt & Natalie	Adam & Sheila, Allison & Ryan		James Sharon		Matt Ryan	Chelsia Sharon	Joshuah Sharon	James Sharon	Natalie Sharon	Sharon Sheila
	Adam	Not eligible	Jen & Parker	Alex & Amanda	Nominated	Allison	James	James	Ryan	Head of Household	Joshuah	Head of Household	Sharon	Sharon	Nominated	Winner $500,000	0
	Ryan	Not eligible	Nominated	Alex & Amanda	Nominated		Head of Household	Mystery HouseGuest	Nominated	Chelsia	Joshuah	James	Natalie	Head of Household	Sheila	Runner-Up $50,000	6
	Sheila	Not eligible	Jen & Parker	Alex & Amanda	Nominated	Allison	James	Mystery HouseGuest	Ryan	Chelsia	Joshuah	James	Natalie	Nominated	Evicted (Day 77)	Adam	1
1	Sharon	Not eligible	Jen & Parker	Alex & Amanda	Co-Head of Household		Nominated	James	Matt	Nominated	Nominated	Nominated	Nominated	Nominated	Re-evicted (Day 75)	Adam	5
	Natalie	Not eligible	Allison & Ryan	Nominated	Allison & Ryan	Allison	James	James	Ryan	Chelsia	Head of Household	James	Nominated	Evicted (Day 70)		Adam	2
	James	Not eligible	Jen & Parker	Co-Head of Household	Allison & Ryan	Allison	Nominated	Evicted (Day 35)	Matt	Chelsia	Sharon	Nominated	Re-evicted (Day 63)			Adam	8
2	Joshuah	Not eligible	Jen & Parker	Alex & Amanda	Co-Head of Household		James	James	Matt	Chelsia	Nominated	Evicted (Day 56)				Ryan	3
	Chelsia	Not eligible	Jen & Parker	Co-Head of Household	Allison & Ryan	Allison	Sharon	James	Matt	Nominated	Evicted (Day 49)					Adam	5
	Matt	Not eligible	Allison & Ryan	Nominated	Allison & Ryan	Allison	James	Mystery HouseGuest	Nominated	Evicted (Day 42)						Adam	4
	Allison	Not eligible	Nominated	Alex & Amanda	Nominated		Evicted (Day 28)										9
	Alex	Not eligible	Co-Head of Household	Nominated	Evicted (Day 21)												3
	Amanda	Not eligible	Co-Head of Household	Nominated	Evicted (Day 21)												3
	Jen	Jacob & Sharon	Nominated	Evicted (Day 14)													3
	Parker	Jacob & Sharon	Nominated	Evicted (Day 14)													3
2	Neil	Not eligible	Walked (Day 7)														0
1	Jacob	Not eligible	Evicted (Day 3)														1
Notes		1	2	none	3		none	4	5	none			6	none		7
Walked		none	Neil	none
Evicted		Jacob & Sharon Jen & Parker's choice	Jen & Parker 3 of 4 votes to evict	Alex & Amanda 3 of 3 votes to evict	Allison & Ryan 2 of 2 votes to fake evict	Allison 6 of 6 votes to evict	James 5 of 6 votes to evict	James 5 of 8 votes to return	Matt 4 of 7 votes to evict	Chelsia 5 of 5 votes to evict	Joshuah 3 of 4 votes to evict	James 3 of 3 votes to evict	Natalie 2 of 3 votes to evict	Sharon Adam's choice to evict	Sheila Ryan's choice to evict	Ryan 1 vote to win
																Adam 6 votes to win

• ^Note 1 :   Jen & Parker were the first Power Couple. A "Power Couple" had the sole power to evict another couple from the House. Jen & Parker chose to evict Jacob & Sharon on Day 3.
• ^Note 2 : Neil left the House on Day 7 due to an "urgent personal matter". Joshuah, Neil's partner, had to choose between Sharon or Jacob to bring back and be his partner, he chose Sharon.
• ^Note 3 : The couples split up into individual players on Day 28. The first round of voting was to evict a couple from the House. The second vote, occurring after the split, decided which person from that "evicted couple" would be the first individually-evicted HouseGuest.
• ^Note 4 : On Day 28, the viewers were given a week to vote on which one of the first six evictees (Jacob, Jen, Parker, Allison, Alex and Amanda) they would like to see return to the game. The viewers chose Alex as the HouseGuest they would like to see return. The HouseGuests then had to vote on whether to bring back James, the recent evictee, or the person the viewers picked known only to them as the "mystery HouseGuest".
• ^Note 5 : James, as Head of Household, had to vote to break a tie on Day 42.
• ^Note 6 : Sheila, as Head of Household, had to vote to break a tie on Day 70.
• ^Note 7 : Votes in the finale are for someone to win, not to evict. Only the last seven HouseGuests evicted can vote.

Ratings

Big Brother 9 airs three episodes a week, with shows airing Sundays at 8 p.m. (EST), Tuesdays 9 p.m., and Wednesdays 8 p.m. The live eviction show was moved to Wednesdays due to Survivor: Micronesia airing Thursdays 8 p.m. This is the first season of Big Brother to air during an official television season, and the second to air concurrently with a season of Survivor. Big Brother 9 is also competing with Fox's American Idol on Wednesdays. The first episode of Big Brother 9 premiered on February 12, 2008 with 7.33 million viewers (4.6/7 viewing audience), down from last summer's 4.8/9 (7.4 million viewers) launch.

U.S. television ratings

This is ratings information for the season. "Rating" is the estimated percentage of all televisions tuned to the show, and "share" is the percentage of all televisions in use that are tuned in. "Overnight Viewers" is the estimated number viewers that watched a program either while it was broadcast or watched via DVR on the same day the program was broadcast. "Live+7 Viewers" is the estimated number of viewers that watched a program while it was broadcast or via DVR within 7 days of original broadcast.. "Increase over Live" is the percentage of increase between the amount of viewers who watched a program "Live" versus "Live+7".

Unless otherwise cited, the overnight rating and share information comes from Zap2It and viewer and ranking information comes from CalendarLive. The following week, the numbers are updated with the final Nielsen numbers from TVWeek.com. DVR information is from TV by the Numbers.

Seasonal ranking

Based on average total viewers per episode of Big Brother 9 on CBS:

Program	Season Premiere		Season Finale		TV Season	Timeslot	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
	Date	Viewers (in millions)	Date	Viewers (in millions)
Big Brother 9	February 12, 2008	7.33	April 27, 2008	6.65	2007–2008	Tuesday 9:00PM (Power of Veto)	#112	6.47
						Wednesday 8:00PM (Live Eviction)	#127	6.11
						Sunday 8:00PM (Nominations Ceremony)	#99	6.88

• Season performance is through 4/20/08.

Weekly ratings

No.	Air Date	Timeslot (EST)	Season	Rating	Share	18–49 (Rating/Share)	Overnight Viewers (m)	Live+7 Viewers (m)	Increase over Live (%)
1	February 12, 2008	9:00 PM	2007–2008	4.6	7	2.7/6	7.33	7.47	25.0%
2	February 13, 2008	8:00 PM	2007–2008	3.8	6	2.1/6	5.87	6.35	31.2%
3	February 17, 2008	8:00 PM	2007–2008	4.1	6	2.2/6	6.73	7.06	22.6%
4	February 19, 2008	9:00 PM	2007–2008	3.6	6	2.0/5	5.42	6.01	26.8%
5	February 20, 2008	8:00 PM	2007–2008	3.5	6	1.9/5	5.24	5.80	29.3%
6	February 24, 2008	8:00 PM	2007–2008	3.6	6	2.2/5	5.72	6.18	30.2%
7	February 26, 2008	9:00 PM	2007–2008	4.4	7	2.6/6	6.74	7.20	20.9%
8	February 27, 2008	8:00 PM	2007–2008	3.5	6	2.1/5	5.56	5.83	32.4%
9	March 2, 2008	8:00 PM	2007–2008	3.9	6	2.3/6	6.17	6.61	25.3%
10	March 4, 2008	9:00 PM	2007–2008	4.3	7	2.5/6	6.67	6.65	25.6%
11	March 5, 2008	8:00 PM	2007–2008	3.8	6	2.0/5	5.69	6.02	27.5%
12	March 9, 2008	8:00 PM	2007–2008	4.2	7	2.2/6	6.48	6.78	23.1%
13	March 11, 2008	9:00 PM	2007–2008	3.5	6	2.1/5	5.92	6.39	24%
14	March 12, 2008	8:00 PM	2007–2008	3.5	6	1.9/5	5.44	5.75	28%
15	March 16, 2008	8:00 PM	2007–2008	4.1	7	2.3/6	6.25	6.62	24.3%
16	March 18, 2008	9:00 PM	2007–2008	3.5	5	2.0/5	5.48	5.79	21.6%
17	March 19, 2008	9:00 PM**	2007–2008	4.3	7	2.4/6	6.73	6.95	22.8%
18	March 23, 2008	8:00 PM**	2007–2008	4.0	7	2.1/5	6.38	n/a	n/a
19	March 25, 2008	9:00 PM	2007–2008	3.8	6	2.2/5	5.95	6.30	25.3%
20	March 26, 2008	8:00 PM	2007–2008	3.9	7	2.1/6	6.04	6.21	24.7%
21	March 30, 2008	8:30 PM**	2007–2008	4.8	7	2.6/6	7.47	7.70	15%
22	April 1, 2008	9:00 PM	2007–2008	4.1	6	2.4/6	6.42	6.52	22.7%
23	April 2, 2008	8:00 PM	2007–2008	4.0	6	2.2/7	6.04	6.21	26.0%
24	April 6, 2008	8:00 PM	2007–2008	4.0	7	2.2/6	6.53	6.54	22.3%
25	April 8, 2008	9:00 PM	2007–2008	4.2	6	2.4/6	6.30	6.50	19.1%
26	April 9, 2008	8:00 PM	2007–2008	4.0	7	2.1/6	6.05	6.04	19.4%
27	April 13, 2008	8:44 PM**	2007–2008	5.7	9	2.7/6	9.02	n/a	n/a
28	April 15, 2008	9:00 PM	2007–2008	4.3	6	2.4/6	6.47	6.54	22.3%
29	April 16, 2008	8:00 PM	2007–2008	4.1	7	2.3/7	6.14	6.42	24.7%
30	April 20, 2008	8:00 PM	2007–2008	4.4	8	2.3/6	6.49	6.65	25.2%
31	April 22, 2008	9:00 PM	2007–2008	4.4	7	2.4/6	6.74
32	April 23, 2008	8:00 PM	2007–2008	4.4	7	2.3/7	6.7
33	April 27, 2008	8:00 PM	2007–2008	4.2	7	2.3/6	6.65

• "n/a" = No information available.
• Due to NCAA Basketball on March 20, 2008, the March 19 eviction episode aired at 9:00 PM due to Survivor: Micronesia being shown at 8:00 PM.
• Due to NCAA Basketball on March 23, 2008, the March 23 nomination episode was delayed from its normal start time.
• Due to NCAA Basketball on March 30, 2008, the March 30 nomination episode was delayed from its normal start time.
• Due to Golf on April 13, 2008, the April 13 nomination episode was delayed from its normal start time.

UK television ratings

This is ratings information for the season that broadcasts in the United Kingdom on E4. Ratings below are overnight figures from Channel4Sales

No.	US Air Date	UK Air Date	Timeslot	Viewers
1	February 12, 2008	February 14, 2008	9:00 PM	326,000
2	February 13, 2008	February 14, 2008	10:00 PM	302,200
3	February 17, 2008	February 19, 2008	9:00 PM	137,100
4	February 19, 2008	February 21, 2008	9:00 PM	181,900
5	February 20, 2008	February 21, 2008	10:00 PM	150,300
6	February 24, 2008	February 26, 2008	9:00 PM	113,800
7	February 26, 2008	February 28, 2008	9:00 PM	194,600
8	February 27, 2008	February 28, 2008	10:00 PM	161,000
9	March 2, 2008	March 4, 2008	9:00 PM	138,400
10	March 4, 2008	March 6, 2008	9:00 PM	87,500
11	March 5, 2008	March 6, 2008	10:00 PM	93,100
12	March 9, 2008	March 11, 2008	9:00 PM	137,500
13	March 11, 2008	March 13, 2008	9:00 PM	154,700
14	March 12, 2008	March 13, 2008	10:00 PM	144,400
15	March 16, 2008	March 18, 2008	9:00 PM	150,000
16	March 18, 2008	March 20, 2008	9:00 PM	166,400
17	March 19, 2008	March 20, 2008	10:00 PM	124,600
18	March 23, 2008	March 25, 2008	9:00 PM	142,000
19	March 25, 2008	March 27, 2008	9:00 PM	177,400
20	March 26, 2008	March 27, 2008	10:00 PM	134,800
21	March 30, 2008	April 1, 2008	9:00 PM	153,800
22	April 1, 2008	April 3, 2008	9:00 PM	96,200
23	April 2, 2008	April 3, 2008	10:00 PM	94,100
24	April 6, 2008	April 8, 2008	9:00 PM	98,800
25	April 8, 2008	April 10, 2008	9:00 PM	140,700
26	April 9, 2008	April 10, 2008	10:00 PM	122,300
27	April 13, 2008	April 15, 2008	9:00 PM	149,700
28	April 15, 2008	April 17, 2008	9:00 PM	115,100
29	April 16, 2008	April 17, 2008	10:00 PM	109,000
30	April 20, 2008	April 22, 2008	9:00 PM	79,000
31	April 22, 2008	April 24, 2008	9:00 PM	89,700
32	April 23, 2008	April 24, 2008	10:00 PM	62,200
33	April 27, 2008	April 29, 2008	9:00 PM	107,600

External links

• CBS Official Site
• Global Official Site