|
''(with days of elimination)''
|
| ( 2004 ) |
| Drew Daniel | Day 82
($500,000; ''winner'') |
| Michael Ellis | Day 82
($50,000) |
| Diane Henry | Day 78 |
| Jennifer Dedmon | Day 75 |
| Karen O'Neil Ganci | Day 70 |
| Marvin Latimer | Day 65 |
Adria Montgomery-Klein
(twin) | Day 63 |
Natalie Montgomery-Carroll
(twin) | Day 56 |
| Will Wikle | Day 49 |
| Jase Wirey | Day 42 |
| Scott Long | Day 35 |
| Holly King | Day 28 |
| Lori Valenti | Day 21
($10,000) |
| Mike Lubinski | Day 14 |
The fifth season of ''
Big Brother '', the
American reality TV show, ran for thirty-one episodes during the summer of
2004 , from July 6 to September 21.
Like the
Previous Season's ''Ex-Factor'', this season also had a twist theme. It was called ''Project Do Not Assume'' or ''Project DNA'' for short and had two aspects. The first was that two of the contestants, Michael and
Jennifer were half-siblings who were unaware of each other before the show. They discovered this in the second week and revealed it to the other houseguests.
The second ''Project DNA'' aspect was a pair of twins who switched places every few days, appearing as one person, ''Adria'', to their housemates. If they were not discovered after five weeks in the house, they would be able to live in the house simultaneously as individuals. The twins evaded eviction in the fourth week when ''Adria'' was nominated as a veto replacement by the Head of Household, ''Drew''. Host Julie Chen introduced ''Natalie'' to the other houseguests on Day 35, minutes following ''Scott'''s eviction.
The ''Golden Veto'' was tweaked slightly to increase the possibility that the veto would be exercised. From this season on, only a maximum of six players could participate in any veto contest: the two nominees and the ''Head of Household'' all getting to select one person each. The winner was free to use or decline to use the veto as he or she saw fit, but with so few players playing, there were indeed more vetoes this season than in the previous two seasons combined.
A new strategic move known as ''backdooring'' also originated during this season. Backdooring occurs when a Head of Household puts two players up for nominations whom the Head of Household actually doesn't have any intention to get evicted. Instead, the Head of Household and the two nominees have agreed to ban together to rid the Big Brother house of a common threat. During the veto challenge, these three players only choose players whom they feel will use the veto if it is won (the common threat isn't given a chance to participate in the Power of Veto challenge). The player who won the veto uses it, and the common threat goes up for nomination and gets evicted.
Backdooring has greatly impacted on how this game was played. During this season, Jase Wirey and his alliance dominated the Big Brother house for weeks until Diane Henry won Head of Household. Diane attempted to evict Jase during her reign, but she failed when he won the veto and removed himself from the nomination block. The next week, Jennifer (also known as "Nakomis") won Head of Household. Jennifer put a plan into motion that would later become known as backdooring. Jennifer put Diane and Marvin up for eviction without any intention of getting them evicted. Instead, Jennifer's plan was to finally get Jase evicted from the house. Drew won the veto, he used it to take Diane off the nomination block. Jase figured out what had happened before being nominated, but by then, it was too late. Michael Ellis said to Jase as they figured out the scheme, "You just got bitch slapped." Jase became nominated, and he was evicted in a 6-1 decision.
Many have argued whether backdooring is fair or not. Some argue that backdooring doesn't give the common threat a chance to save himself or herself using the Power of Veto. Others feel that backdooring is just another strategic move in the game. Fair or not, backdooring remained in the minds of future players. The show attempted to shake things up a bit in ''
Big Brother 6 '' when it was revealed that there could be Power of Veto challenges that could result in no player winning the veto. Despite this twist, three contestants were still evicted using this risky move. These three contestants were
Eric Littman ,
Kaysar Ridha , and
James Rhine .
An additional twist was a "Double Elimination Week" in the tenth week of the game, in which the entire process of selecting a Head of Household and veto holder, and evicting a player all occurred twice in one week.
Adria and Natalie were already considered a big threat before Adria made her bold move. Even her own alliance started questioning her. Saying the twins are "solid" and they know they can count on each other. When Adria won HoH, after revealing that Natalie was her twin, she put up Marvin, A floater in the game, and Will, from her alliance. Adria's plan was to form 3 different alliances in the game, since there was already two alliances. Everyone was stunned by this and was determined to evict the twins. In the Power of Veto competition, Will wanted to win so that he could stay and evict the twins for their forsaken move. However, Adria won the Power of Veto. Will was Hoping she would use the Veto to save her alliance; she did not use the Veto and set the plan in motion. Will was evicted and was the first person to be sent to the jury house. Afterwards, the power shifted. Adria and Natalie were nominated for eviction. In the veto competition, the twins showed their power when Adria won the power of Veto two weeks in a row. The twins debated which one should stay. Natalie wanted Adria to stay because she was a better competitor. When the Veto was used, Adria chose to save herself. It wasn't safe for her because her twin, Natalie was later evicted, which meant Natalie was the second person in the jury house. After losing the HoH competition, Adria was put up again. In the veto competition, Adria almost won but lost to
Karen , which was her first victory in the game so far. Talking strategy to Karen, Adria wanted Karen to save her. Saying to Karen, she was just a pawn in their group. She'll get evicted because they don't see you as a useful competitor. She also said that if she gets evicted this week, they'll come after Karen. Karen wanted to save Adria, but didn't want to break the promise of her alliance, so she didn't use the power of Veto, and Adria was evicted, and was sent to the jury house.
Season 5 also saw the introduction of a companion talk show on the web. "House Calls" aired weekdays during the entire season and was hosted by former Big Brother 3 houseguest
Marcellas Reynolds and radio personality Gretchen Massey. The show featured telephone calls from viewers and interviews with evicted houseguests, houseguests from past seasons and the producers of "Big Brother" Arnold Shapiro and Allison Grodner.
