Big Brother crowned houseguest Derrick Levasseur its sixteenth-season champion during Wednesday night's live broadcast of the CBS reality competition's finale.
ADVERTISEMENT
After 97 days, 44 competitions and 14 evictions, Derrick, a 30-year-old police sergeant from Providence, RI, took home Big Brother 16's $500,000 grand prize via a landslide 7-2 jury vote over fellow houseguest Cody Calafiore, a 23-year-old sales account executive from Hackensack, NJ.
Cody received $50,000 for finishing in the runner-up spot.
Derrick received jury votes from the following previously-evicted Big Brother houseguests: Hayden Voss, Zach Rance, Nicole Franzel, Christine Brecht, Frankie Grande, Caleb Reynolds, and Victoria Rafaeli. Cody earned votes from jury members Jocasta Odom and Donny Thompson.
After Derrick's victory was announced near the end of the 90-minute broadcast, host Julie Chen also revealed Donny had won the season's "America's Favorite Houseguest" viewer vote and will therefore receive $25,000. Over 10 million votes were cast for this award, the most in Big Brother's history. In addition to Donny, who earned more than half the votes, Nicole and Zach were also in the running for this honor.
ADVERTISEMENT
Victoria, a 22-year-old photographer from Brooklyn, NY and Holon, Israel who currently resides in Weston, FL, finished just shy of making it to the Final 2.
Big Brother's sixteenth-season finale began with Victoria, Derrick and Cody competing in the first part of the season's last Head of Household competition.
Victoria was the first one out, leaving "The Hitmen" alliance standing. Derrick decided to throw the endurance challenge to his closest ally Cody with the determination and confidence he'd beat Victoria in the next round. As a reward for finishing in first place, Cody got to automatically advance to Part 3 of the competition.
In the second phase of the HoH competition, a memory-based task, Derrick defeated Victoria with ease.
The results therefore left Cody and Derrick to compete in Part 3 against one another. Victoria hoped Derrick would honor their "Final 2 deal," because that's all she had left, but he obviously planned to stay loyal to Cody. The two guys had worked together since the beginning of the game, and Cody admitted if either guy betrayed the other, it would be considered the biggest backstab in Big Brother history.
ADVERTISEMENT
In the HoH competition's third and final round, Cody and Derrick were questioned about how well they knew the eight jury members. They had to guess how a juror would complete a given statement. Cody was declared the final HoH, so he got to determine whom he'd like to evict and whom he'd like to take to the end.
Cody then cast his vote to evict Victoria.
"I definitely played this game with my heart. I fought. I have been nominated week after week... I stayed extremely loyal, didn't throw anyone under the bus, and I'm extremely proud of my gameplay," Victoria told Julie in her post-eviction interview.
Jocasta, Hayden, Zach, Donny, Nicole, Christine, Frankie, Caleb, and Victoria then joined Julie on the stage.
The nine jury members got to collectively ask Derrick three questions and Cody three questions which they had previously agreed upon as a group. The questions ranged from moral and ethical issues this season to what their biggest moves were, and more simply, why they deserved to win Big Brother.
ADVERTISEMENT
Derrick owned up to playing an intricate, strategic part in every nomination while never allowing himself to stand out for making those decisions. Frankie accused Cody of just being Derrick's puppet. In response, Cody argued he single-handedly convinced Frankie's best friend in the game, Caleb, to flip on him and send him home. Derrick insisted he never crossed the line by talking about his family to get ahead in the game.
Derrick told the jury he deserved to win Big Brother because in 55 nominations and re-nominations, he had never once been put on the chopping block. Cody explained his social game allowed himself and Cody to progress in the game, as he was able to retrieve information easily from fellow trusting houseguests.
Victoria asked Derrick whether it was his plan all along to remain loyal to "The Hitmen" over her. He admitted they were friends and he wanted to bring her as far into the game as possible without jeopardizing his own. Derrick said if he was to betray Cody, his best friend with whom he made most decisions, he wouldn't expect the jury to vote for him in the end.
Afterward, Derrick and Cody were each allowed to make a final statement and then the jury members got to cast their votes for Big Brother's sixteenth-season champion.
Cody didn't like the fact Frankie had called him Derrick's puppet and reiterated the fact how he had gained people's trust to ultimately use it against them. Cody said he sent Caleb, Donny and Frankie out of the house -- all of whom were "beasts" in the game.
ADVERTISEMENT
Derrick then talked up his own social game in addition to winning four HoH competitions.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski