Alyssa Lopez

Hosted by Julie Chen Moonves, the show follows a group of contestants (known as HouseGuests), who live in a house together while being constantly filmed and having no communication with the outside world as they compete to win a grand prize of $750,000. The season concluded on September 29, 2021, after 85 days of competition. Xavier Prather was crowned the winner after defeating Derek Frazier in an 9–0 jury vote, becoming the first black HouseGuest to win in the main edition of the show. Prather became the third winner in mainline Big Brother history to win by a unanimous jury vote (following Dan Gheesling of Big Brother 10 and Cody Calafiore of Big Brother 22). Tiffany Mitchell was voted as the season's America's Favorite HouseGuest by the public, winning the $50,000 prize that comes with the award.

• Season Name — Big Brother • Bgcolour — #1E243E • Num Episodes — 37 • Network — CBS • First Aired — 2021 7 7 • Last Aired — 2021 9 29 • Episode List — List of Big Brother (American TV series) episodes (2020–present)

Big Brother depicts a group of contestants, known as HouseGuests, who live inside a custom-built house outfitted with cameras and microphones recording their every move 24 hours a day. The HouseGuests are sequestered in the Big Brother House with no contact with the outside world. During their stay, the HouseGuests share their thoughts on events and other HouseGuests inside the Diary Room. Each week, the HouseGuests compete in competitions in order to win power and safety inside the house. At the start of each week, the HouseGuests compete in the Head of Household (abbreviated "HOH") competition. The winner of the HoH competition is immune from eviction and must select two HouseGuests to be nominated for eviction. Six HouseGuests are then selected to compete in the Power of Veto (abbreviated "PoV") competition: the reigning HoH, the nominees, and three other HouseGuests selected by random draw. The winner of the PoV competition wins the right to either revoke the nomination of one of the nominated HouseGuests or leave them as is. If the veto winner uses this power, the HoH must immediately nominate another HouseGuest for eviction. The PoV winner is also immune from being named as the replacement nominee. On eviction night, all HouseGuests must vote to evict one of the nominees. The Head of Household and the nominees are not allowed to vote. This compulsory vote is conducted in the privacy of the Diary Room. In the event of a tie, the Head of Household casts the tie-breaking vote. The nominee with the most votes is evicted from the house. The last nine evicted HouseGuests comprise the Jury and are sequestered in a separate house following their eviction, and ultimately decide the winner of the season. The Jury is not allowed to watch the show except for competitions and ceremonies that include all of the remaining HouseGuests. They are not shown any Diary Room interviews or any footage that might include strategy or details regarding nominations. The viewing public is able to award an additional prize of to their favorite HouseGuest of the season. All evicted HouseGuests are eligible to win this award except for those who either voluntarily leave or are forcibly removed for rule-breaking.

Through various interviews, the show's producers, Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan, debuted the twists for the season.

HouseGuests were separated into four teams of four during the live premiere, with two males and two females on each team. Four competitions took place throughout the premiere to decide four team captains; the captains then received a brief introduction from two randomly selected HouseGuests with the option to select either of them for their team. As with Big Brother 11 and Big Brother 18, Heads of Household earned immunity for their entire team. The team phase of the game concluded after the fourth eviction. • Team — Captain — Members • Jokers — Frenchie — Azah Britini Derek F. * — Whitney — Brent Derek X. Hannah * — Christian — Alyssa Sarah Beth Xavier * — Claire — Kyland Tiffany Travis

For the first four weeks, the three teams without immunity each selected a teammate to compete in the Wildcard Competition. The winning HouseGuest was given the chance to gain immunity but was given a Wildcard decision in exchange for that immunity; this decision could affect the game for either the Wildcard winner, their teammates, or all HouseGuests. Each HouseGuest could only compete in a Wildcard competition once, unless all other team members had already played. The winner for each week's competition is in bold. • Week — Wildcard competitors — Wildcard decision • Jokers — — — — Offer — Consequence — Result • 1 — (None) — Hannah — Christian — Kyland — Immunity for teammates — Christian spun a wheel containing the numbers 1, 2, and 3, which corresponded to the number of teammates he could keep safe for the week in addition to himself. — The wheel landed on 1. Christian granted immunity for the week to Xavier. • 2 — Frenchie — Brent — Sarah Beth — (None) — Immunity to swap — Sarah Beth could choose to either swap teams with a member of the Queens, thereby giving herself immunity and taking immunity from the swapped teammate, or decline immunity altogether. — Sarah Beth chose to stay on her team. • 3 — Britini — Derek X. — (None) — Tiffany — Immunity for rivals — Tiffany had the option to accept safety; however, the Jokers and the Aces would have had a chance for one of their teammates to win immunity through a game of chance. — Tiffany declined the offer, thereby preventing a member of the Jokers or Aces from gaining immunity. • 4 — Azah — Whitney — (None) — Claire — Immunity for the team or immunity until jury — Claire could choose between safety for herself and the rest of her team for the week, or safety for herself until the jury phase of the game. — Claire chose safety for herself until the jury phase of the game.

For weeks six through eight, the High Roller's Room opened for the final eleven HouseGuests, and an in-game currency, “BB Bucks” (BB$), was introduced. America distributed a certain amount of BB$ to each HouseGuest through text voting; the three HouseGuests with the most votes received BB$100, the next three received BB$75, and the remaining HouseGuests received BB$50. For week eight, additional BB$ were distributed via a random envelope draw after the HoH competition. HouseGuests were not required to use their BB$ immediately and could hold them for as long as possible. While the room was open, HouseGuests could use their BB$ to play a game of chance. If they won the game, they would win a power. The stronger the power, the more expensive the game. Powers won are only allowed to be used within the week that it was obtained. • Week — BB$ Distribution — High Roller's Room • BB$100 — BB$75 — BB$50 — Game — Players — Winner — Result • 6 — Britini Derek F. Derek X. — Hannah Tiffany Xavier — Alyssa Azah Claire Kyland Sarah Beth — Veto Derby (BB$50) HouseGuests had to slide three drinks down a table to earn points. If a drink fell off the table, they received no points for that drink. The six highest point earners were given the chance to bet on who would win the Power of Veto for a second veto for the week. — Claire Derek F. Kyland Sarah Beth Tiffany — Kyland — Kyland placed his bet on Alyssa to win the Power of Veto. Alyssa won, giving Kyland a second Power of Veto for the week. • 7 — Claire Derek F. Derek X. — Alyssa Hannah Xavier — Azah Kyland Sarah Beth Tiffany — Chopping Block Roulette (BB$125) Houseguests had to stand on a wobbly table and roll a ball in a circle as many times as they could in two minutes. The HouseGuest with the most points had to remove someone from the block and spin a roulette wheel to determine the replacement nominee. — Alyssa — Alyssa — Alyssa won the competition and removed Derek F. from the block. She spun the roulette wheel and Xavier became the replacement nominee. Alyssa and Derek F. also received immunity for the week. • 8 — Claire Hannah Tiffany — Alyssa Derek F. Xavier — Azah Kyland Sarah Beth — Coin of Destiny (BB$250) Participating HouseGuests had to roll coins into one of three slots in two minutes. The winner with the most points then called a coin toss, and if guessed correctly, was able to overthrow the incumbent HoH. — Claire Derek F. — Claire — Claire won the competition and replaced Tiffany as the HOH. Claire chose to keep Kyland and Sarah Beth on the block.

This season was the first to feature back-to-back Double Eviction nights over two consecutive weeks instead of Double Evictions spread out by a few weeks, an early eviction night, or a Triple Eviction as done in previous seasons. As a result, Claire, Alyssa, Tiffany and Hannah were all evicted in the span of only two weeks.

• Illustration — The cast of the twenty-third season of Big Brother Top: Derek F., Britini, Travis, Derek X., Frenchie, Xavier, Claire, Kyland, Christian, and Azah Bottom: Whitney, Sarah Beth, Brent, Alyssa, Hannah and Tiffany As a response to racial reckoning in the United States and a lack of diverse representation on television, CBS enacted a policy whereby at least 50% of the cast of its reality shows must be BIPOC Black, indigenous, (and) people of color starting beginning with the 2021–22 broadcast season. The HouseGuests for the twenty-third season were announced on July 1, 2021. Among the 16 HouseGuests is professional boxer Joe Frazier's son Derek Frazier. Christie Valdiserri, a 27-year-old from North Hollywood, California, was originally part of the cast, but tested positive for COVID-19 while in sequester and could not compete. She was replaced by Claire Rehfuss. • Name — Age — Occupation — Residence — Result • Xavier — 27 — Attorney — Milwaukee, Wisconsin — Winner Day 85 • Derek — 29 — Safety officer — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — Runner-up Day 85 • Azah — 30 — Sales operations director — Takoma Park, Maryland — Day 85 • Kyland — 29 — Account executive — Venice Beach, California — Day 79 • Hannah — 21 — Grad student — Chicago, Illinois — rowspan="2" Day 71 • Tiffany — 40 — Phlebotomist — Detroit, Michigan • Alyssa — 24 — Swimwear designer — Sarasota, Florida — rowspan="2" Day 65 • Claire — 25 — AI technical architect — New York City, New York • Sarah Beth — 27 — Forensic scientist — Fort Myers, Florida — Day 58 • Derek — 24 — Start-up founder — New York City, New York — Day 51 • Britini — 24 — Kindergarten teacher — Niagara Falls, New York — Day 44 • Christian — 23 — General contractor assistant — Harwinton, Connecticut — Day 37 • Whitney — 30 — Make-up artist — Happy Valley, Oregon — Day 30 • Brent — 28 — Flight attendant — Cranston, Rhode Island — Day 23 • Brandon "Frenchie" — 34 — Farmer — Clarksville, Tennessee — Day 16 • Travis — 22 — Technology sales consultant — Honolulu, Hawaii — Day 9

In 2022, Tiffany Mitchell appeared on Big Brother 24 to host a Power of Veto competition. Later that season, Mitchell and the remaining members of The Cookout alliance, Xavier Prather, Derek Frazier, Azah Awasum, Kyland Young, and Hannah Chaddha, returned for a segment during the final 4 eviction episode. Later that year, Awasum, Young, Mitchell, Prather, Alyssa Lopez and Derek Xiao competed on the first season of The Challenge: USA. Xiao and Claire Rehfuss competed as a team on The Amazing Race 34. In 2023, Lopez and Mitchell competed on the second season of The Challenge: USA. Later that year, Young competed on The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion. Xavier Prather returned to compete on Big Brother: Reindeer Games, while Xiao and Mitchell returned to host. In 2024, Prather competed on the USA Network reality competition show The Anonymous. Young returned to competed on The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras. In 2025, Chaddha and Young competed on The Amazing Race 38. Chaddha was partnered with her sister, while Young was partnered with his girlfriend and Big Brother 24 winner Taylor Hale. In 2026, Mitchell competed on the fourth season of The Traitors. Later, Prather competed on the sixth season of The Floor.

Color key: Voting history (season 23) • Team phase — Individual phase • Week 1 — Week 2 — Week 3 — Week 4 — Week 5 — Week 6 — Week 7 — Week 8 — Week 9 — Week 10 — Week 11 — Week 12 • Day 59 — Day 65 — Day 66 — Day 71 — Day 85 — Finale • Head of Household — Frenchie — Kyland — Xavier — Christian — Derek X. — Kyland — Sarah Beth — Tiffany Claire — Tiffany — Hannah — Kyland — Azah — Xavier — Xavier — (None) • Wild Card winner — Christian — Sarah Beth — Tiffany — Claire — (None) — (None) • Nominations (initial) — Alyssa Kyland — Britini Frenchie — Brent Britini — Hannah Whitney — Britini Sarah Beth — Claire Derek F. — Claire Derek F. Xavier — Kyland Sarah Beth Xavier — Alyssa Xavier — Alyssa Xavier — Hannah Tiffany — Hannah Xavier — Azah Kyland • Veto winner(s) — Derek X. — Derek X. — Christian — Christian — Britini — Alyssa Kyland — Xavier — Hannah — Alyssa — Xavier — Kyland — Kyland — Xavier • Nominations (final) — Alyssa Travis — Britini Frenchie — Brent Britini — Hannah Whitney — Christian Sarah Beth — Britini Derek F. — Claire Derek X. — Kyland Sarah Beth — Claire Xavier — Alyssa Kyland — Hannah Tiffany — Derek F. Hannah — Azah Kyland — Azah Derek F. • Xavier — Travis — Frenchie — Head of Household — Whitney — Sarah Beth — Britini — Derek X. — Sarah Beth — Nominated — Kyland — Tiffany — Hannah — Head of Household — Azah — Winner • Derek F. — Alyssa — Britini — Brent — Whitney — Christian — Nominated — Derek X. — Sarah Beth — Claire — Alyssa — Tiffany — Nominated — Kyland — Nominated — Runner-up • Azah — Travis — Frenchie — Brent — Whitney — Christian — Derek F. — Derek X. — Sarah Beth — Claire — Alyssa — Tiffany — Head of Household — Nominated — Evicted (Day 85) — Xavier • Kyland — Travis — Head of Household — Brent — Whitney — Christian — Head of Household — Claire — Nominated — Claire — Nominated — Head of Household — Hannah — Nominated — Evicted (Day 79) — Xavier • Hannah — Travis — Frenchie — Brent — Nominated — Christian — Britini — Claire — Sarah Beth — Xavier — Head of Household — Nominated — Nominated — Evicted (Day 71) — Xavier • Tiffany — Alyssa — Frenchie — Brent — Whitney — Christian — Britini — Derek X. — Kyland — Head of Household — Alyssa — Nominated — Evicted (Day 71) — Xavier • Alyssa — Nominated — Frenchie — Brent — Whitney — Sarah Beth — Britini — Derek X. — Sarah Beth — Claire — Nominated — Evicted (Day 65) — Xavier • Claire — Travis — Frenchie — Brent — Whitney — Christian — Britini — Nominated — Head of Household — Nominated — Evicted (Day 65) — Xavier • Sarah Beth — Travis — Frenchie — Brent — Whitney — Nominated — Britini — Head of Household — Nominated — Evicted (Day 58) — Xavier • Derek X. — Travis — Frenchie — Brent — Whitney — Head of Household — Britini — Nominated — Evicted (Day 51) — Xavier • Britini — Travis — Nominated — Nominated — Whitney — Christian — Nominated — Evicted (Day 44) — Xavier • Christian — Travis — Frenchie — Brent — Head of Household — Nominated — Evicted (Day 37) • Whitney — Travis — Frenchie — Brent — Nominated — Evicted (Day 30) • Brent — Travis — Frenchie — Nominated — Evicted (Day 23) • Frenchie — Head of Household — Nominated — Evicted (Day 16) • Travis — Nominated — Evicted (Day 9) • Evicted — Travis 11 of 13 votes to evict — Frenchie 11 of 12 votes to evict — Brent 11 of 11 votes to evict — Whitney 10 of 10 votes to evict — Christian 7 of 9 votes to evict — Britini 7 of 8 votes to evict — Derek X. 5 of 7 votes to evict — Sarah Beth 5 of 6 votes to evict — Claire 4 of 5 votes to evict — Alyssa 3 of 4 votes to evict — Tiffany 3 of 3 votes to evict — Hannah 2 of 2 votes to evict — Kyland Derek F.'s choice to evict — Azah Xavier's choice to evict — Xavier 9 votes to win • Derek F. 0 votes to win • Notes

CBS announced that Big Brother had been renewed for a twenty-third season on October 28, 2020, with Chen Moonves confirmed to return as host on the same day. On May 13, 2021, it was announced that the season would be premiering on July 7, 2021. Key art for the season was released by Entertainment Weekly on June 16, 2021.

On January 22, 2021, Robyn Kass announced that Kassting, Inc. would not be providing casting services for the upcoming season. It was announced that Jesse Tannenbaum, former Big Brother casting producer and casting director for Big Brother: Over The Top, Survivor, and The Amazing Race, would be in charge of the casting efforts for Big Brother 23. Several casting producers who cast the show under Kassting, Inc. also returned to cast BB23.

Photos of the house were revealed on July 5, 2021, via various social media accounts and entertainment news outlets. When explaining the theme, executive producer Allison Grodner stated "Everyone’s longing for vacations, to get out there and so forth. So we really wanted to bring a sense of adventure and vacation fun and a club atmosphere to the house." Immediately upon entering the house two neon signs hung in the entry way, one reading "BB Beach Club" and the other stating "No Risk, No Reward." The living room featured floor-to-ceiling azure and teal tinted glass windows, a handmade shark lamp, and a coffee table built of playing cards. Each of the three bedrooms downstairs were based on different water elements: the first bedroom contained orange and aqua illuminated sea glass on the walls, the next bedroom held four nautical-themed yacht beds, and the final bedroom featured a coral reef design. A shark-themed kitchen and dining room contained an L-shaped kitchen island and numerous shark and fish artwork. Gym equipment for the season was relocated inside, taking the place of the former downstairs lounge. The gym and bathroom were collectively known as "The Spa" and for the first time, a wall was constructed, closing off the kitchen from the bathroom area. On the second floor, the upstairs lounge was designed on a casino game of poker and had black, white, and gold furniture. The Head of Household bedroom was designed around a seaside cabana theme.

Some viewers accused "The Cookout", an all-black six-person alliance, of making voting decisions solely based on race. The alliance was formed as a collective in hopes of combatting the trend from past seasons of minorities being evicted early, as well as having one of its members becoming the main series' first-ever black winner. The "Cookout" term itself stems from African-American culture. Julie Chen Moonves disapproved of the criticism on the topic, saying that the alliance "is not [racist]" in her opinion, adding that "it's hard for some people who are not of color to understand the importance of [The Cookout] making it this far".

• Note 1: Episode 23 was delayed to 8:09 PM ET (7:09 PM CT) due to NFL on CBS overrun • Note 2: Episode 29 was scheduled for 8:30 PM ET (7:30 PM CT) due to afternoon NFL on CBS and was further delayed to 8:34 PM ET due to football overrun • Note 3: Episode 32 was bumped from the schedule to Friday 8:00 PM ET (7:00 PM CT) due to CBS's presentation of the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards • Note 4: Episode 33 was delayed to 10:00 PM ET (9:00 PM CT) due to the 2-hour season premiere of Survivor 41