Every Big Brother Winner Ranked Worst To Best

Since 2000, "Big Brother" has been one of the most beloved and enthralling reality shows on television. From its enigmatic host Julie Chen to its assortment of charismatic winners, the CBS show is the summer foil to the spring and winter titan of "Survivor." Over the course of 23 years, "Big Brother" has changed repeatedly, going from a barebones social experiment to 99 days of grueling psychological warfare, physical and mental competitions, and alliances attacking each other every week.

Beginning with just 10 people in a "house" built on a California studio lot at the turn of the new millennium, "Big Brother" stands apart from its reality show peers for how daunting of a game it truly is. For nearly four months, complete strangers are tasked with trusting, betraying, and outwitting each other in order to snag a huge cash prize — it was initially $500,000, but the prize money has been $750,000 since Season 23.

There have been 24 winners of "Big Brother," each of them important in their own right. Some of them exist in the show's lore for worse reasons than others, but they are all champions, and that can not be overlooked. Not every winner is loved, but many of them have changed the way the game is played, or, in the case of a few, have redefined the architecture of the show in ways that are still felt in 2023. From bitter juries and controversies to perfect performances, here is every "Big Brother" winner ranked from worst to best.

Eddie McGee winning the first season of "Big Brother" comes with an asterisk. McGee, by all means, wasn't a bad houseguest. The problem is that the first season of the show had no competitions. It was the truest definition of a social experiment, as 10 people spent 88 days in a sequestered house together doing nothing but hanging out with each other. Every week, the house would pick two people to possibly be "banished," and then audiences would vote by phone for who should leave. There was no Head of Household competition and the inclusion of the Power of Veto was still two seasons away. McGee was awarded the victory by America, receiving 59% of the vote over other finalists Josh Souza and Curtis Kin.

During his time in the house McGee was outspoken and brutally honest, often explaining why he wanted to win the $500,000 prize. Even McGee admits that "Big Brother" Season 1 was mostly a bust. The show would go on to revamp itself with competitions and Diary Room confessionals, becoming the "Big Brother" we know today. McGee lives on in "Big Brother" lore forever as the show's first winner, even if his victory will never stack up against any of the other 23 champions. He is ranked last simply because he didn't play the game of "Big Brother" that we know and love.

The ninth season of "Big Brother," subtitled "'Til Death Do You Part," feels like a fever dream, in retrospect. The season was cursed from the jump, given how the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike forced the show to air in the winter instead of the summer. It also had a bogus twist, in which houseguests would be paired with their "soulmate" and play as a couple. On top of that, you'd be hard-pressed to find any fan of the show who can name multiple players from Season 9. Adam Jasinski won the $500,000 prize, and you might be saying to yourself, "Who?"

Jasinski won two Head of Households and one Power of Veto, which isn't that great of a resume, especially considering that the player he beat, Ryan Quicksall, won three Head of Households and two Power of Vetos. Jasinski never made any big moves, he was just liked enough by the jury to eke out a win. It helps that no one on his season, other than Quicksall, was very good at playing "Big Brother."

What makes Jasinski a poor winner comes down to his character, as he could be seen making disparaging remarks about disabled children during the season. After he left the house, he was accused of using his winnings to start an oxycodone distribution racket and was sentenced to four years in prison for drug possession with intent to distribute. Jasinski may have been crowned the victor by a 6-1 vote, but it was on a wasted season that was better off never happening at all.

Has there ever been a "Big Brother" winner who was more annoying than Josh Martinez? When the champion of "Big Brother" Season 19 wasn't berating other houseguests by banging on pots and pans, he was crying his eyes out over the milk he spilled. He's not the only annoying person to take home the $500,000, though. That's not why he's one of the worst winners ever. What makes him rank so low is that he never should have come close to winning "Big Brother 19" to begin with.

In a surprising 5-4 vote, Martinez beat Paul Abrahamian in the finale. Abrahamian had competed in "Big Brother" Season 18 and also lost by a 5-4 vote, making them the only contestant to finish in second place twice. There is a laundry list of reasons why Abrahamian should have won, and an even longer list of reasons why "Big Brother" Season 19 is one of the worst seasons of the show ever.

Martinez was carried throughout the season by Abrahamian. The only big item on his resume is that he won the final Head of Household over Abrahamian. Yes, he cleverly exposed Abrahamian's malicious backstabbing in his goodbye messages to evicted houseguests, but Martinez verbally attacked other players regularly, only to cry over their responses in the Diary Room. If Abrahamian had better jury management, Martinez would just be another "Big Brother" afterthought.

"Big Brother" Season 17 had one of the worst winners ever in Steve Moses, who beat Liz Nolan in a 6-3 vote simply because he was the better of two subpar players. Season 17 had a lot of promise: It was the first season to feature a trans houseguest, and we got to witness the rise of Vanessa Rousso, one of the greatest players to never win "Big Brother." That being said, the season also had its failures. The Battle of the Block was brought back for no good reason at all, and CBS tried to recreate the twin twist from "Big Brother" Season 5 with Liz and Julia Nolan. The rest of the house debunked the twins situation pretty quickly, making it clear that the show should never try to do that again.

Moses moaned a lot and he didn't really start playing the game until week seven, when he won his first Head of Household. He'd win four in total, but mostly because his only real competition was Rousso. To his credit, he did pull himself off the eviction block twice by winning the Power of Veto, but his game sits in the shadow of Rousso's near-perfect performance. If you can find anyone who was excited that Moses came out on top on day 98, then you're just as worthy of the $500,000 as he was.

Maggie Ausburn was a villain, but not in the way that Will Kirby was a villain. Kirby's charisma and ability to play without emotion made him a great television character, while Ausburn and her alliance, The Friendship, were just plain mean people. "Big Brother" Season 6 was great because it gave us three of the most likable players ever: Janelle Pierzina, Kaysar Ridha, and Howie Gordon. Once the three of them were out of the house, the show lost its excitement.

When the finale came down to Ausburn and Ivette Corredero, the perception was, "Now that Janelle is gone, do we want either of these houseguests to win?" Ausburn only won one Head of Household and one Power of Veto during the whole season, and she avoided eviction twice.

What made her a better choice than Corredero, who won two Head of Households and a Veto, was that she had better relationships with everyone in the house. She wasn't the worst person in her alliance, and, when no one thinks you deserve to be in the final two, you take whatever points you can get for your resume. When fans look back on Season 6, it's to reminisce about Ridha and Pierzina, not to remember Ausburn's win.

Andy Herren managed to win "Big Brother" Season 15 by being a floater. He ratted on pretty much everyone, stabbing people in the back on numerous occasions. He said mean things about other houseguests, but he wasn't the most controversial player in the house. That says a lot about Season 15, which was marred by racism, antisemitism, and homophobia from many houseguests, particularly Aaryn Gries and GinaMarie Zimmerman.

Herren played the game well in the season's final act, winning three Head of Household competitions and two Power of Vetos, which helped keep him in good standing with the powerful side of the house. For most of the game, he was nothing more than a number in votes, a staple when you're a floater. When it came down to him versus Zimmerman in the finale, a vote for Herren was a vote for the lesser of two evils.

Herren secured a 7-2 vote over Zimmerman, but he was in for a surprise when he left the house — he was reportedly fired from his job for his role in the racism displayed throughout the season, per The Atlantic. Herren might have won "Big Brother," but he'll never be considered a great or worthy victor.

Given how cutthroat and mean "Big Brother" can be, Season 11 winner Jordan Lloyd was a breath of fresh air. She never made enemies with anyone in the house by her own accord, only by proxy because of her showmance partner and future husband, Jeff Schroeder.

Lloyd was a sweetheart, probably the most likable winner until Taylor Hale in Season 24. It was hard to root against her as she played the purest social game ever by a victor. She was also decent at competitions, winning two Head of Households and one Power of Veto. When she won the final Head of Household, she elected to take Natalie Martinez to the finale instead of Kevin Campbell, a decision that proved to be the greatest notch on her belt, as Martinez was mostly despised by the jury and Campbell was revered.

In a 5-2 vote, Lloyd took home the $500,000. What makes her rank so low on this list is that she constantly hid behind Schroeder and let him get blood on his hands. She was just too afraid to get ruthless. Schroeder played the best game in "Big Brother" Season 11, exemplified by his pivotal use of the Coup d'Etat in order to ensure power player Jessie Godderz would go home. This allowed Lloyd to cruise to a victory, even if she didn't have much to do with it.

Few winners have been more undeserving of the $500,000 than Lisa Donahue, who was crowned as the victor of "Big Brother" Season 3. She was part of a near season-long alliance with Jason Guy and Danielle Reyes and they eventually made the final three together. Throughout the season, Donahue won two Head of Households and one Power of Veto, was a likable houseguest due to being in an alliance of underdogs, and made no enemies. However, Donahue only won because of the jury's anger toward Reyes, who had manipulated and run circles around every other player.

Before 2003, evicted houseguests — the jury members — were allowed to go home and watch the show unfold. When the jurors returned on finale night, they were bitter toward Reyes for her unfiltered and seething Diary Room scenes, in which she roasted and lambasted her fellow houseguests. When Donahue brought Reyes to the finale over Guy, it was an act of faith toward her closest ally, not a move of explicit strategy.

Reyes got hammered in a 9-1 vote, but she remains one of the greatest players of all-time and arguably the greatest non-winner ever. If Will Kirby invented "Big Brother" in Season 2, then Reyes mastered it a year later. Donahue will never be a "Big Brother" legend, but it's not her fault she won because of a bitter jury. If her win had been better from a resume perspective, she'd rank much higher.

"Big Brother" Season 5 is one of the most forgettable seasons in the show's history. If you can name a houseguest who isn't Michael "Cowboy" Ellis, Nakomis Dedmon, Jase Wirey, or Diane Henry, then you are probably a superfan. The eventual winner of the flat fifth season was Drew Daniel, who defeated Ellis in a 4-3 jury vote. The best part of the season was easily the fact that Dedmon, along with Marvin Latimer, invented the "six-finger plan," also known as the "backdoor method," which has become a staple on the show ever since.

Looking back on "Big Brother" Season 5, Daniel was actually the best choice for the $500,000 prize. Many of us would have loved to see Dedmon make the final two, but Daniel nominated her in week 10 and she was sent packing. Daniel won a staggering four Head of Households, more than any other player. He was a likable guy, as was Ellis, but the jury awarded his competition prowess, especially since Ellis only won one competition the entire season.

Dedmon, Wirey, and Henry would all return on "Big Brother: All-Stars," but Daniel's legacy was already cemented before then. He never saw the block come eviction night, he made the big yet controversial move of evicting his own showmance partner Henry, and he always had his finger on the pulse when it came to knowing which alliance held the power. You might not remember Daniel's performance, but his win certainly wasn't unearned.

Like Mike "Boogie" Malin, Rachel Reilly, and Cody Calafiore, Nicole Franzel won at her second attempt playing the game of "Big Brother." Franzel originally competed on the boring "Big Brother" Season 16, but her summer amounted to nothing more than a showmance. Her and partner Hayden Voss rode the middle and then got voted out in back-to-back weeks by The Detonators, the power alliance in the house. She won her way back into the house, but was quickly sent packing again two weeks later. Franzel would return two years later for "Big Brother" Season 18 along with fellow veterans Frank Eudy, Da'Vonne Rogers, and James Huling. Again, she put herself into a showmance, this time with Corey Brooks, but she also won four competitions and found herself on good terms with everyone in the house.

Franzel beat Paul Abrahamian in a 5-4 vote because of her jury management, but it is no secret that Abrahamian played a much better and tougher game than Franzel. Abrahamian won three Power of Vetos, escaped the block twice, and won the very crucial final Head of Household competition. Throughout the season, Abrahamian and their ride-or-die ally Victor Arroyo were huge targets and were even nominated together twice. Franzel improved a lot in her second season and made headlines for becoming the first woman to ever defeat a man in the finale (Abrahamian has since updated their Twitter bio to confirm that they prefer the pronouns they/him).

Jackson Michie represents the biggest "what could've been" in "Big Brother" history. When he was crowned the victor of "Big Brother" Season 21 by a 6-3 vote over his showmance partner Holly Allen, he did so after winning eight competitions and never touching the block once. The only problem is that he lives on in infamy as arguably the worst person to ever win "Big Brother."

"Big Brother" is a ruthless game. You're bound to make enemies before finale night, and sometimes you have to enact emotional warfare on your fellow houseguests in order to get closer to the final two. Michie, however, destroyed any good reputation he, or "Big Brother," had left when he and his closest ally, Jack Matthews, bullied every minority houseguest until they were evicted by the power alliance. Michie and Matthews said racist, sexist, and misogynistic things about the non-white men in the house, and they were both grilled about it by host Julie Chen and other players on finale night.

Michie may have played one of the best technical games ever, establishing himself as a competition beast and an alliance leader, but his victory is forever tainted by his actions in the house, especially on the live feeds. His red-faced frown as confetti rained down on him was the last chapter on one of the worst "Big Brother" seasons ever. Him telling his mom "I'm not racist" as the credits began to roll was the epilogue that topped it all off.

It's hard to look at "Big Brother" Season 22 as anything but a season written exclusively so Cody Calafiore could take home a victory. For the first time in 15 years, CBS opted to do an All-Stars season, bringing back show legends like Janelle Pierzina, Kaysar Ridha, and newer fan favorites like Nicole Anthony and Da'Vonne Rogers. Sadly, they were all evicted before week eight.

Season 22 is the epitome of an uninteresting, borderline unwatchable season. From the jump, the alliance of Calafiore, Enzo Palumbo, Nicole Franzel, Christmas Abbott, Memphis Garrett, and Tyler Crispen ran the house and picked off their enemies one by one. With a power alliance six people deep, there was no wiggle room for any of the other houseguests to even come close to challenging Calafiore and his crew.

You can look at Calafiore's victory as redemption for his loss to Derrick Lavasseur in "Big Brother" Season 16, but it was obvious from the first episode that Season 22 was his to lose. He beat Palumbo in a 9-0 vote at the finale, but only because he ran the entire house and never let his foot off the gas. A unanimous victory looks good on paper, especially paired with eight competition wins, but nobody even challenged Calafiore once. He stayed off the block the entire season and ran away with $500,000. He'd rank higher if his victory didn't look like a gift from CBS.

"Big Brother: All-Stars" was one of the best seasons in almost every regard except for one: It had one of the most unexciting finales possible. The seventh season of the show was highlighted by the return of the greatest and most beloved "Big Brother" legends from the first six summers, including Will Kirby, Janelle Pierzina, and Danielle Reyes. It's too bad none of them made it to the final two.

Instead, Mike "Boogie" Malin and Erika Landin sat in the nomination chairs as the jury voted for one of them to take home $500,000. There have been worse final two pairing since, but Malin and Landin became the first bonafide finale dud. Malin was a good player, winning four competitions, including the last two Head of Households. Sadly, Landin was a floater carried to the end by Malin solely because he could never beat Pierzina, who finished third.

If you asked Malin, he would probably rank himself among the very best of the "Big Brother" winners, given that his ego is on the big side. But the fact is, he's only great because Kirby made him so. In a perfect world, Kirby would have eked out his first ever competition win and saved himself at the final four to become the only two-time champion. Instead, "All-Stars" sputtered at the finish line. Malin played maybe the third or fourth-best game of the season overall, but it can't be denied that he deserved the win much more than Landin, so at least the jury made the right choice.

"Big Brother" Season 20 was a breath of fresh air after the trainwreck that was Season 19. The houseguests were much more likable, albeit very boring and unmotivated to make big moves. Much like its predecessor, Season 20 was filled with unnecessary gimmicks and twists that didn't actually impact the game at all. Even so, it was arguably the first season where both houseguests in the finale both deserved to win the whole thing.

The jury vote came down to Kaycee Clark and Tyler Crispen, who had been in the Level 6 alliance together throughout the season. Crispen had won three Head of Households and three Power of Vetos, while Clark won two Head of Households and five Power of Vetos, a "Big Brother" record. Ultimately, the jury decided that Crispen had betrayed too many side alliances in an effort to be in good standing with every houseguest, while Clark had almost no blood on her hands by the end of the season.

Clark won a 5-4 vote, while Crispen took home America's Favorite Houseguest. Though her win wasn't unwarranted, it's hard to overlook Clark's lack of strategy, as she did ride Crispen and Angela Rummans' coattails for much of the season. She was mostly a number in votes and in keeping Level 6 in power, not fully coming into her own until she won five of the last six Power of Veto competitions.

Hayden Moss is a good "Big Brother" winner, but not a great one. You could make the argument that Moss is actually the epitome of a dull winner. He was likable, no doubt, but he failed to stand tall in the shadow of Dan Gheesling's win two years prior. His victory was well-earned, especially in the context of "Big Brother" Season 12, though many of us would have loved to have seen Britney Haynes make it to the end and take home the $500,000 instead of Moss. Nevertheless, Moss was instrumental in almost every eviction, mostly due to The Brigade, an alliance he shared with Enzo Palumbo, Lane Elenburg, and Matt Hoffman.

The Brigade was the first power alliance to truly dominate an entire season, something "Big Brother" fans have grown accustomed to in recent years. Moss only hit the block twice and only received one vote to evict during the entire season. Nobody can deny that his competition abilities were great, as audiences saw him win four Head of Households and one Power of Veto. Moss was in control for three out of the last four weeks, which all but sealed his place in the finale.

Moss won in a narrow 4-3 vote over Elenburg, earning the crucial support of his evicted alliance members. He would eventually compete on "Survivor" and do well, but it's his "Big Brother" win that remains his claim to fame. If he were to ever come back, it's likely that his alliance-first mentality would serve him well.

Ian Terry is a great winner who arguably didn't deserve to win. When it comes to "Big Brother," this can happen. Just ask Paul Abrahamian, who deserved to win twice but fell victim to bitter juries. If Terry had been sitting next to anybody not named Dan Gheesling at the Season 14 finale, he'd probably be ranked much higher on this list. Gheesling played a much better game but alienated every other player in the process, and he paid the price for it.

Terry's game was great, though. He won four Head of Household competitions and even helped orchestrate the eviction of his mentor (and sometimes biggest critic) Mike "Boogie" Malin. What made Terry such a great foil to Gheesling was how genuine he was, even when he was playing a cutthroat game. He got just as much blood on his hands as Gheesling, but he did it in a way that didn't anger the other houseguests. Terry also took chances, including opening Pandora's Box, which awarded him with a Power of Veto. He beat Gheesling 6-1 in the finale, cementing his legacy as one of the most likable winners ever.

"Ruthless" is probably the best word to describe just how much of an antagonist "Evel" Dick Donato was during the eighth season of "Big Brother." Season 8 had the tough task of following up the smash hit "Big Brother: All-Stars" and elected to introduce a new twist on the house where three pairs of enemies would have to play against each other. Paired with his estranged daughter Daniele, the two prioritized gameplay over rehashing their troubled history and found themselves in the final two together. Combined, they won 11 competitions, with Daniele winning the Power of Veto five times and Dick winning Head of Household three times.

Both Daniele and Dick would have been worthy winners, and the final vote could have gone either way. When it was all said and done, Dick won by a 5-2 vote. He was mean to other houseguests, especially Jen Johnson, but it was his psychological warfare that made his social game so much better than Daniele's. However, she was a competition beast who held her own and kept the two of them in power for most of the season.

Dick didn't talk about other houseguests behind their backs, he told them how he felt directly. He is one of the greatest characters in the show's history and the ultimate "Big Brother" villain, which makes his performance all the more impressive, given that villains rarely win the game.

Few "Big Brother" winners have had as much of a storybook arc as Xavier Prather. He was a member of the historical Cookout alliance, built by Prather, Azah Awasum, Derek Frazier, Kyland Young, Hannah Chaddha, and Tiffany Mitchell in an effort to ensure that a Black contestant would win for the first time ever.

Though Prather helped build the Cookout, he was consistently at the bottom of the alliance. He was a big target throughout the season, landing on the block four weeks in a row. But what separates a good winner from a great winner is their ability to pull themselves out of the trenches when eviction night is looming. Prather did just that, winning two Power of Veto competitions while nominated and taking himself off of the block. He won three Head of Households, including the last two competitions, ensuring his spot in the finale.

Prather didn't just need to outwit the entire house, he had to outwit his own alliance. "Big Brother" Season 23 ran into a similar problem that many of the most recent seasons have struggled with: One big alliance controls the house for the entire season. Beyond Prather, Young, and Mitchell, the cast was one of the weakest ever, which does diminish Prather's win. His 9-0 victory over Frazier in the finale was well-earned, despite Frazier being one of the worst runners-up ever.

"Big Brother" Season 13 winner Rachel Reilly is the pinnacle of a returning houseguest who learned from their mistakes in a previous season. In Season 12, Reilly quickly proved to be a competition threat, but she couldn't outwit the Brigade alliance that would run the table all the way to the final three. When she returned a year later alongside her fiancé Brendan Villegas (who was evicted twice, on day 34 and again on day 48 after winning his way back in the house), it was a bittersweet redemption arc.

Watching Reilly battle against Daniele Donato for the first six weeks of the season will live on as one of the ultimate showdowns in any "Big Brother" season. Reilly won key competitions, four Head of Households and two Power of Vetos, and evaded eviction five times. She's one of the few victors to have been a major threat throughout a season. Though Reilly was seen frequently crying in the house and in Diary Room confessionals, she often targeted other houseguests directly, especially the "floaters" in the house. The jury awarded her competition prowess and cunning social game with a narrow 4-3 victory over Porsche Briggs.

If you ask a casual "Big Brother" fan who the greatest or most memorable winner of the show is, it's likely they won't say Jun Song. That's not a knock at Song's game, it's just that the reason she won "Big Brother" Season 4 is also the reason she isn't held in as high a regard as Dan Gheesling or Will Kirby.

Song perfected the "floater" game, flying so low under the radar that she was largely forgotten about during the season. That might not sound like a game worth rewarding with $500,000, but Song's partnership with ex-boyfriend Jee Choe helped her survive, along with two competition wins. She delivered great, memorable Diary Room confessions, and the final two pact she made with her nemesis Alison Irwin was one of the smartest plays in the early seasons of "Big Brother."

At the finale, Song beat Irwin by a vote of 6-1 and cemented her legacy. Sadly, "Floaters" no longer win "Big Brother." The game has turned into a rat race where alliances with too many people hold season-long power and pick off the stragglers. That's what makes Song's victory so refreshing in retrospect. She never made herself a threat, going the entire season without receiving a single vote to evict, one of the few winners to ever accomplish such a feat.

Taylor Hale's show arc is unlike any we've ever seen in the history of "Big Brother." After the first four weeks of Season 24, she had been on the block three times and was firmly at the bottom of the social ladder. But some good fortune came in week six when she won Head of Household and found herself in good standing with everyone else in the house. Her ability to charm other houseguests came from her time competing in beauty pageants and ultimately became her greatest strength.

Her solid social standing propelled her to the final three, where she lost the crucial last Head of Household competition. Monte Taylor elected to bring Hale with him to the final two, and though she didn't have the same competitive resume as him, she tapped into the heart of "Big Brother" by showing that making good personal connections with other houseguests can make all the difference. If that wasn't enough, Hale's final jury speech remains one of the most moving monologues in the show's history.

No winner has ever gone from the bottom to the top of the pyramid in such an immense, emotional way before. Hale became the first Black woman to win "Big Brother" and was awarded America's Favorite Houseguest. She's the most likable winner ever, and her historical perseverance will live on in the echelons of the show's halls of greatness. "It is mind boggling that I even pulled it off considering where I was on the first week and second week," she told Entertainment Weekly. "I just want future Black women 'Big Brother' players to know that they can come into the game and they don't have to be bullied or harassed or painted as a villain. They can just be themselves. And win."

It would not be a stretch to call Derrick Levasseur the architect of modern "Big Brother." His win in "Big Brother" Season 16 was the only "perfect" victory the show has seen — he evaded 53 different nominations throughout the season, not seeing the eviction block once. Though Season 16 introduced the floundering Battle of the Block competition, the fact that Levasseur was able to outwit the one competition designed to get everybody nominated is a feat of its own incomparable merit.

You might be wondering why someone who played a "perfect" game is not the greatest "Big Brother" winner ever. The one great knock against Levasseur's performance is that he played with one of the weakest casts ever assembled. His only real competition were the members of his own alliance. Runner-up Cody Calafiore made a $500,000 mistake by winning the final Head of Household and electing to bring Levasseur, his ride-or-die, with him to the end. By not taking Victoria Rafaeli, a floater who couldn't win competitions or hone any kind of strategy, Calafiore cemented Levasseur's victory in a 7-2 jury vote.

Levasseur was not a particularly ruthless player. Instead, he was a behind-the-scenes puppeteer, having a firm hand in almost every single eviction. It's a shame that two houseguests believed Calafiore was more deserving of the win, given that Levasseur delivered one of the greatest final jury speeches of all-time.

If it weren't for a bitter jury in "Big Brother" Season 14, Dan Gheesling would be a two-time winner and he would be sitting firmly at the very top of this list. He took home the $500,000 in "Big Brother" Season 10 over his ride-or-die ally Memphis Garrett after winning a unanimous 7-0 vote, the first to ever do so. He was a master manipulator who angered the jury but was ultimately rewarded for playing one of the greatest social games "Big Brother" has ever seen, back when cunning, strategic players were often recognized for playing emotionless games inside the house.

Of course, Gheesling's greatest "Big Brother" move came in Season 14, when, facing his own eviction, he staged his own "funeral" and was able to convince Jenn Arroyo to pull him off the block with her Power of Veto and blindside fan-favorite Britney Haynes. Though he had to settle for a silver medal when the jury awarded Ian Terry the prize money, he carved out a place on the "Big Brother" Mount Rushmore with his second appearance on the show.

There is a reason why "Big Brother" Season 10 is often placed among the show's all-time greatest seasons: Gheesling's domination over one of the strongest casts ever assembled remains unparalleled. He was only on the block on eviction night once, and he would win five competitions, including the pivotal final Head of Household competition that cemented his victory.

When people discuss the greatest "Big Brother" winners ever, the vote is usually split between Dan Gheesling and Will Kirby. Even longtime fans of the show who've been along for the ride ever since Eddie McGee's win can't decide between the two. As great as Gheesling was, "Big Brother" would not be what it is now without Kirby's innovation. On top of that, Gheesling got to hone his game by sitting at home and watching nine seasons unfold. As Kirby himself put it during an interview with Entertainment Weekly: "When it comes to 'Big Brother,' I am the Alpha and Omega."

When he entered the house in 2001, the show was on the brink of cancellation and was in desperate need of a revamp. Instead of asking America to evict a houseguest each week, the power was thrust upon the players themselves. Compared to what "Big Brother" is now, Season 2 is a barebones early draft. The show was wet clay ready for molding, and Kirby seized the moment fully.

After hitting the nomination chair four times throughout the season without winning Head of Household once, Kirby would defeat runner-up Nicole Schaffrich by a vote of 5-2. Schaffrich's jury speech focused on Kirby's evil tactics, but he was ultimately rewarded for playing ruthlessly and being the biggest threat in the house while evading eviction every week. This also happened when there was no Power of Veto in play, making Kirby's achievement all the more incredible. To this day his performance has yet to be topped.