[BBfanUSA]

I just made this for newcomers, if you have any questions post them here and i'll add it to the first post but for now i'll post the current rules since bb2

First of all if you turn on a random episode of bb2 and beyond do not freak out if hgs are discussing noms it is allowed in the US version and is encouraged.

*Preshow*

BBUSA does do ads, these ads include, the premise of the show, when it is coming out, the house that season, hgs, and finally the twist
BBUSA also has a press day where members of the press test the house out for 12 hours.

*Launch Night*

It's always usually just a highlight show where we're shown the house, announcer talks about the show's premise and twist*, Julie introduces the 14 hgs, hgs gather infront of the door to the house, Julie talks to them, Get sent in 4 by 4, hgs introduce each other, Julie tells the housemates the twist, first competition (has varied over the years, between Hoh, food, and power couple), Julie talks to the hgs one final time, signs off, the last part shows hgs talking.
It's usually Day 6/7 in real time by the time we watch the launch night show, but we get caught up alot and quick
This is the weekly schedule for the show

Thurs. if first night hgs just have Head of Household Competition or HOH comp (Comps are USA's version of tasks) if it isn't the first night then there will be an eviction and then a brand new hoh competiton (how evictions will be decided, will be brung up later)

Sun eps will have nominations and Food/Have or have not comp and they may have a luxury comp from time to time. Nominations tend to occur at the end of the show where the HoH nominates two people for eviction, but these nominations are completely not locked in.

Tues./Wed. eps have the Power of Veto where the hoh, the two nominees, and 3 other hgs chosen by random draw participate in the POV comp (since BB5, where hoh, nominees choose who they could bring with to the comp) where whoever wins can take a person off the nomination block and the Hoh has to put up someone other than the pov holder and the hg that was taken off. but if the pov holder decides to not use it then noms stay the same

And now back to thurs where all (but nominees since votes would cancel each other out and Hoh since they put them up for nomination) hgs vote to evict one of the nominees. Whoever has the most votes is sent out the door, but if there is a tie (IE 5-5) then the Hoh must vote and not only that voting is mandatory. Hg gets evicted, talks with Julie Chen the host of the american version, and then they do the hoh comp live and do it all again except the outgoing HoH cannot participate (sometimes it is endurance where the last hg standing wins hoh, in this case, the comp is shown on the feeds as soon as the east coast show goes off the air).

Final week

Now the rule up above does not apply in the final week. After 4th place is evicted. The final 3 hgs particpate in the first part of the three-part Final Hoh Comp the first part is always an endurance game where the last hg standing gets a ticket to the final part. Then the two losers participate in a memory game where they have to remember something throughout the game (IE Hoh Order) the hg that does it in the shortest time gets to the third part
where the two winners face off in questions about former hgs and how would that former hg would awnser that question whoever gets the most points would win the final hoh and gets to choose who to bring with them out of the remaining 2 hgs nominated to the final

Deciding the winner

the last 7 hgs that got evicted (IE 9th place- 3rd place) would decide who should win the $500,000 grand prize these 7 hgs all together are called the jury.

The winner is whomever gets to 4 votes first wins the 500,000 so

let's say

Finalist A gets A, C, and F's Vote they would need one more to win

There have been punishments doled out to hgs but are very rare since HG are allowed to discuss nominations as long as the hoh doesn't go up to the hg before the nominations but this is a very technical rule

Punishments occur if

You've have been warned multiple times not to sing
You're on slop and eat something not on restrictions (Jen BB8, Jeff BB11, Kevin BB11 are examples)
intentional damage to production equipment (IE Damaging a microphone like Chima did in bb11, results in ejection)
Violence torward another hg (Punching a hg in the face)
threating to hurt a hg (BB2 Justin)

Results of Punishments that I know of

Cannot nominate a hg (Bc you told them before nominations)
Extra day of Slop (Food Restrictions)
Penalty Vote
Penalty Nom
Removal from Game (3 instances)

Housemates Leaving due to reasons other than eviction
Justin BB2 (threating to kill a houseguest, he stuck a knife up to Krista's neck, and said "would you be mad if i killed you?", they were both drunk btw.)
Scott BB4 (threating to hurt houseguests after he found out his ex girlfriend entered the game)
Neil BB9 (He quit around day 4/5 in the game for a unspecified reason, in fact the show barely mentioned he left and he was taken out of the opening, some believe he left because his sister died in a car accident)
Chima BB11 (Multiple Rule Violations, which include, obstructing cameras, refusing to come to the diary room on multiple occasions, and destroying a wearable mic by throwing it in the hot tub, after refusing to come to the diary room, she was finally convinced by the head executive producer to come to the DR and she was removed)
"Evel" Dick BB13 (Left due to a problem on the outside world and never came back, the house was getting concerned after he didn't come out of the DR for 2 hours)
*There has never been a housemate that has quit because they could on the american version*
Houseguests are given 24 hours to decide if they want to actually quit

Visitors to the Big Brother House
Cheryl Crow doing a private concert (or someone) for BB3
4 survivor contestants during bb2
Neil Patrick Harris BB7 (Will BB2 is a big fan of him, so bb surprised the house with a visit as part of Christmas in July thingy)
Jeremy Piven BB11 (Promoting a Movie)
David Hassellhoff BB13 (promoting a tv show)
Tori Spelling BB13 (Adam is a huge fan of 90210 and she visited the house as part of a pandora's box)

*Annoucer usually opens with this
It's a house like no other, A house where 41 cameras capture your every move and 52 Microphones capture your every sound. This is the Big Brother House. Tonight 14 Strangers will enter this house, each with one goal in mind. Win the 500,000 dollar prize. They will play for food, luxuries, and most importantly power. Each week the houseguests will vote each other out until one remains. (The twist this season goes here). (This next part I'm not so sure of) Who will win the first HoH? find out tonight on Big Brother.

*house location*
The house is located on a lot on CBS' Own Studio City. There have been two incarnations of the house layout.
The first house was usued for BB1-5
in bb1 hgs left the house sort of like BB Aus which is they would leave the house and they would be taen by golf cart to the eviction studio nearby with a crowd
in bb2-5 the evicted hgs would leave the house into the outside world except they would walk to the eviction studio overlooking the house without a eviction crowd (They never had one until bb5's finale)
The house was located in the back part of studio city and was built where the show Gilligan's Island was taped.

in bb6 they moved to a new complex and the old house was turned into production offices
The set that they used was the production set where the sitcom Yes,Dear was taped (Ironically this show had a ep where one of the characters became a bb hg)
this new house had a new layout along with a permanent 2nd floor to house the HoH bedroom.
Just like the BB2-5 eviction studio except they were evicted into a closed set where they would walk straight torward Julie's eviction studio
this was the norm until bb10 when a live crowd the size of 20-30 people were added into the mix to fit with the season's back to basics twist
There was still a live crowd at BB6-9's finals tho

*Production bloopers ie accidential contact with outside world*
There are only two i can name

1st one was during Ashlea's eviction in BB6. As she was leaving you can obioviously tell that a member of production was helping her get up the stairs for about 1 or 2 seconds (She was complaing her bag was too heavy)

During part one of the final hoh challenge of BB8. If you were watching the whole thing at one point at one of the angles (the hgs didn't notice this) You can see a guy walk across the scaffolding on the roof of the house probably walking between rooms slowing down to watch the competition for a little bit before running off to do his job (I wonder if production was yelling in his ear "GTF back inside the hgs can see you!!!!!")

Season Twists
BB1- None that affect the whole season
BB2- Total Reformat of the show including Changing to the current rules
BB3- No Season Long twist but a hg that was evicted the first four weeks got to reenter the game in a comp then house vote
BB4- At the beginning of the season 5 HG played the game with an exboyfriend or girlfriend (Called the X Factor
BB5- Two Twists First one was One HG was switching places with thier identical twin for the first four weeks if they survived being evicted and not get caught switching places then they would become two seperate hgs. They suceeded. The other twist was that siblings that have never met each other before were in the house, Week One, one of the siblings realized it when their dad's story matched up and Big Brother confirmed it. (The season was called Project DNA Do Not Assume)
BB6- Two Twists the first one was all hgs had a secret partner in the game with them (IE friend or coworker) If they made it to the final 2 together then the winner would win 1 million dollars and 2nd place 250,000 dollars. All dups thought they were the only duo in the game until bb revealed that everyone had a partner after 1 week inside the house. The second twist was a secret room in the house that was a seperate bedroom that could be used to spy on the hgs. (As this season everyone stayed in one bedroom) And as part of a small twist the hoh bedroom had a secret spy tv where the hoh could spy on other hgs but couldn't listen in to thier convos. (Twist was called Summer of Secrets) and for the first time ever since BB1 the american public had a giant say in the game by voting a previously evicted hg back into the game from weeks 1-4. The hg voted back in was Kaysar with over 80% of the vote.
BB7- All Stars
BB8- Three hgs had thier mortal enemy inside the big brother house and one hg every move was controlled by us (IE who should this hg suggest to the Hoh who to nom and Who should the HG evict) with every 3 sucessful tasks the america's player would win 10,000 but would be evicted if they revealed it to the house or they were discovered
BB9- For the first four evictions the 18 hgs were paired up into couples and they would play the game as couples, sleep in the same bed, and vote, and be evicted as couples. The first eviction was a snap one where on the first night one couple would get the power to cast a sole vote to evict any couple they wanted and had two days to decide. Also week 4 after the final couple eviction bb stopped it and split everyone up but the couple that would've been evicted was nominated by bb and one of them would had to be evicted. Week 5 after the 5th evicted hg was gone. BB gave the remaining hgs a option, bring back the 5th evicted hg or a hg that was previously evicted decided by the public (they were not told who was the evicted hg) they chose to bring back the 5th evicted hg (Season was called Til Death Do Us Part)
BB10- Back to Basics There was no twist just 13 strangers playing BB like BB2 and 3
BB11- The first 12 hgs were divided into 4 high school cilques. which ever cilque wins the hoh comp they would receive a fourth team member, a former hg, and they would be HoH for week 1, with the rest of the clique safe for the week. Weeks 2-4 was the same except there was no former hg returning. Ended week 4. (Called Back to High School)
BB12- A Sabotuer was among the hgs this season with ideas from the public. If the sabotuer went to week 5 without being evicted or discovered. They would leave the house after the week 5 eviction and win 50,000. This sabotuer would prank the hgs and send messages to the house to stir it up. They failed as they were evicted week 1. Week 6 another sabotuer decided by the public out of the remaining hgs was released as part of a twist called pandora's box. this sabotuer lasted 2 weeks sucessfully and pocketed 20,000 dollars. (Twist was called Summer of Sabotage
BB13- Two twist were revealed this season. 6 former hgs would play the game with 8 newcomers. All hgs were paired up into duo former hgs were paired up by bb and the new hgs chose each other. there was one hoh but thier partner was safe for that week. One Duo would be up for eviction. Whichever partner survived the eviction would recieve a golden key that would keep them safe and excuse them from comps til week 5. As part of a pandora's box twist it was brought back at week 9 but with no golden key (Twist was called summer of double trouble) also one evicted hg from weeks 1-4 decided by the public and the 5th evicted hg would have a special comp to play the game again. The hg decided by the public won the comp and returned to the game

now if you have any questions about the game post them here below

[rk3388]

Great explanation
When my friends tell me to explain big brother for them i always find it so hard

[BBfanUSA]

Ikr

[reece(:]

well done, it is hard to explain normally

[BBfanUSA]

Originally Posted by reece(:

well done, it is hard to explain normally

Thanks Reece I thought I ranted a little bit

[lostalex]

You forgot to mention that the American public get's to vote for one of the Jury to receive a Bonus cash prize. I think it's 25 grand, but i forget. But America does get to vote for their favourite housemate to get some money. I know the biggest criticism from a lot of BBUK fans is the lack of public vote, but really BBUS does have a public vote, it's just not as much money.

[BBfanUSA]

Originally Posted by lostalex

You forgot to mention that the American public get's to vote for one of the Jury to receive a Bonus cash prize. I think it's 25 grand, but i forget. But America does get to vote for their favourite housemate to get some money.

Not technically a rule

[lostalex]

Originally Posted by big brother usa fan

Not technically a rule

yea but still, i know when i watch the final, i find the revealing of the Cash prize from public vote just as exciting as the winner. i was so glad Britney got it last year.

[Marc]

I always find the explanation of this so hard to get across

[001steven]

US Format is so much better then the UK one.

I dont care about public voting on who wins.

[Marc]

Originally Posted by 001steven

US Format is so much better then the UK one.

I dont care about public voting on who wins.

I agree

[Callum]

Originally Posted by 001steven

US Format is so much better then the UK one.

I dont care about public voting on who wins.

Agreed also, I'm kinda bored by the UK format now. I'll never be bored of the US one, it's much more exciting to watch. I wish the UK version focused on gameplay more but I doubt it ever will.

[Firewire]

Originally Posted by Callum

Agreed also, I'm kinda bored by the UK format now. I'll never be bored of the US one, it's much more exciting to watch. I wish the UK version focused on gameplay more but I doubt it ever will.

I'd like to see a UK interpretation of the US format, although we'll probably ruin it (ie. HoH in BB9 and Save and Replace in BB11).

[BBfanUSA]

*added punishments section*

[BBfanUSA]

*added a bunch of stuff*

[BBfanUSA]

*added Pre Show and Launch Night*

[BBfanUSA]

added the opening dialogue to first hl show

[BBfanUSA]

*Added House facts and production bloopers