Big Brother 2 had thirty episodes during the summer of 2001 from July 5 to September 20. It was drastic change from the Big Brother 1 and laid the groundwork for all future seasons . Out of 12 players Will Kirby wins and the runner up is Nicole Schaffrich. There was one twist with this season which allowed each of the final 2 to void a houseguest vote. The Big Brother 2 house was new this season and had no theme. The set became the permanent location for the show (CBS studio stage 18). All 30 episodes of Big Brother 2 are available on youtube. There isn’t many but a few players from this season are on our Houseguest Twitter list
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CBS introduced several new changes to the second season of Big Brother:
- An increase to 12 house guests compared to 10 on Big Brother 1.
- Instead of giving eviction nominations that were voted on by the public, the house guests competed in challenges for the Head of Household (HOH). This new format sparked house guests into talking about strategies, game play and nominations.
- This season was also the start of the grand prize winner being chosen by the evicted house guests rather than the public. Season 2 and season 3 were the only seasons where all evicted house guests were able to vote for the winner. The rules changed for future seasons where only the house guests that lasted until the final weeks became jury members.
- A unique twist to this season was that the 2 remaining house guests were able to decide which house guest’s vote they wanted to void. The house guest use of the void was done in hopes that their vote was for their opponent so that they would have one less vote.
- This was also the first season that the house guests competed in food competitions. The House guests competed for the right to win food, where the losers could only eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the rest of the week. This punishment of peanut butter and jelly lasted until Season 7 when the punishment was changed to “Slop”.
- Big Brother 2 was also the end of the free internet live feeds, where CBS introduced the subscription fee based live feeds.
- The evicted house guests exited the house into a courtyard that connected to a studio where they were interviewed by Julie Chen. In addition, this was the only season where evicted house guests would meet up with their friends and family.
Season 2 events / highlights:
- Approximately two weeks before the finale the September 11th terrorist attacks pre-empted television programming for a week. Due to the seriousness of the matter the rule of not letting the house guests hear of news in the outside world was overlooked to fill the remaining 3 house guests in on the news. Executive producer, Allison Grodner, informed Monica Bailey in the diary room that her cousin Tamitha was presumed missing at the World Trade Center.
- Under the influence of alcohol, house guest Justin Sebik threatened fellow house guest Krista with a knife to her throat asking her “Would you get mad if I killed you?” Due to the violent nature of the incident producers immediately evicted and disqualified Justin.
- The very first Big Brother alliance was formed by house guests Mike “Boogie” Malin and Will Kirby, which they named it the “Chilltown” alliance. Shannon later joined the alliance.
- Volatile house guest Shannon, became known for her temper. Shannon was soon known for her volatile personality and temper where she was scolded by producers for using Hardy’s toothbrush to scrub the after they had had a fight. In addition to that incident, Shannon also put a bag of potato chips on Autumn’s bed to suggest that she was fat; Autumn cried uncontrollably as a result.
- The CBS reality show Survivor (Borneo) contestants Gervase Peterson and Susan Hawk and Survivor (The Australian Outback) Alicia Calaway and Jeff Varner visited the house guests on an episode that aired September 5.
- On finale episode the viewing audience was told that former house guest Sheryl Braxton was diagnosed with breast cancer and would need to chemotherapy. In addition, Monica’s cousin Tamitha was identified to have died in the World Trade Center terrorist attack.
- Also on the finale, Mike “Boogie” Malin proposed to fellow house guest Krista whom he had had a Big Brother Showmance with during the season; however the relationship was short lived after the finale.