Derrick Levasseur, the 30-year-old police sergeant from Providence, R.I., won the 16th instalment of Big Brother on Thursday night.
During CBS’ 90-minute finale, which also aired on Global TV in Canada, contestants Derrick and Cody Calafiore competed in the final round of the Head of Household competition. Cody ended up winning the tie-breaking question and voted to evicted Victoria Rafaeli out of the house and decided to bring longtime alliance member Derrick to the final two.
Victoria then voted with eight other evicted houseguests to crown Derrick the winner of this summer’s Big Brother (Derrick winning 7-2). Derrick wins the grand prize of $500,000 (plus an extra $25,000 since he was a Team America member who won) while runner-up Cody is awarded $50,000. In a record-breaking turnout, fans voted for America’s Favourite Player, giving Donny Thompson a much-deserved $25,000.
Prior to the finale, CBS announced that it has renewed the Julie Chen hosted reality competition series for two more seasons (the 17th edition airing in summer 2015 and the 18th season airing during the summer of 2016) as it has posted year-to-year gains in viewers and adults (aged 18-49) in the United States. The series has also been a big hit for Canadian viewers on Global.
The two-year pickup is great news for fans as CBS has only renewed Big Brother on yearly basis since its debut in 2000 – although a winter edition aired in early 2008 due to the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike.
“Big Brother continues to be one of the summer’s most dominant programs, and with each season, Allison [Grodner] and Rich [Meehan] produce the most twisted ways to evolve the series creatively,” said Chris Castallo, CBS Executive Vice President, Alternative Programming. “With its one-of-a-kind format, coupled with its passionate, socially engaged fan base, no other show comes close to duplicating it.”
Big Brother fans in Canada can look forward to the third season of Big Brother Canada premiering in early 2015 on Global TV (moving over to Shaw Media’s main network after two successful seasons on specialty network Slice). Those who thing they’ve got what it takes to have cameras (and the country) watch their every move can apply online or in person beginning next month — click here for more information.
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