And the Big Brother winner is…
SPOILER ALERT: This article covers the events of the Big Brother season 24 finale. If you do not want to know who won, you probably should not read it. Just our advice. Take it or leave it.
The 24th installment of Big Brother came to a close Sunday night, ending a season that was high on drama. Taylor Hale was ostracized by the house at the start of the season — including a very public tongue-lashing from Daniel Durston — yet made it all the way to finale night along with Monte Taylor and Matthew Turner after the formation of an alliance named the Leftovers.
Sonja Flemming/CBS (3) 'Big Brother' contestants Monte Taylor, Taylor Hale, and Matthew Turner
That alliance appeared destined to blow up after an enforced mid-season house split separated the contestants into two groups (Big Brocella and Dyre Fest), with Turner joining fellow Dyre-Fest survivors Terrance Higgins, Alyssa Snider, and Kyle Capener to form a new alliance called the Afterparty. The battle lines were drawn. But after revelations were spilled about Kyle's previous fears of an ethnicity-based Cookout 2.0 alliance, the game — and alliances — shifted again.
So did the showmances. Taylor and Monte formed a love connection (sorry, Joseph!) that seemed at times as tenuous as their strategic one, yet they made it to finale night along with Turner, whom Taylor wanted out, but Monte protected when he instead voted out Brittany Hoopes at the final four. That set the stage for the three-part final head of Household competition, which began with — and we are not making this us — the contestants fighting to hang on to a giant spinning wiener for as long as possible. Even though he called himself out for having a terrible fear of spinning and being prone to massive bouts of motion sickness, Turner won part 1 on the competition.
That left Taylor and Monte to face off in part 2, in which they had to zipline around the backyard placing competition titles in the correct order and identifying them as ones for either the Veto or Head of Household. Monte won by 23 seconds, putting him into part 3 against Turner, and putting Taylor's fate into someone else's hands.
CBS Taylor Hale, Monte Taylor, and Matthew Turner on 'Big Brother' season 24
The final part of the HOH competition had Monte and Turner separating fact from fiction as they had to name the false statements in cheesy juror video clips. Monte got 7 out of 8 answers correct, defeating Turner and becoming the season's final Head of Household. That automatically put him into the final two and enabled him to choose the person that sat next to him.
Saying that he needed a big move with the jury, Monte cut Turner loose, setting up a jury battle between him and Taylor. After answering questions from the jury, the final two gave their final speeches to the jury, including an emotional appeal from Taylor who told the jury they could vote for the person who won more competitions in Monte "or do we want a winner where we choose resiliency, we choose persistence as a reason to win this game?"
Taylor then brought it home to tears from the jurors and whoops from the live studio audience by ending with: "Jury members, I am challenging you to make the hard decision and change the course of this game and choose progress for the course of this game. I can be the winner of this season and I promise you will not do it in vain if you do it tonight."
Taylor was rewarded for that resiliency (and that speech) with a dominating 8-1 jury win and the $750,000 prize that came with it. With her improbable comeback and victory, Taylor made history as the first Black woman to win a non-celebrity edition of Big Brother. (Tamar Braxton won season 2 of Celebrity Big Brother in 2019.) Check out our finale interviews with winner Taylor Hale, runner-up Monte Taylor, and third place finisher Matthew Turner.
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