Big Brother Hometowns is an Online Reality Game created by Josh Consalvo. The game is modeled after Big Brother, a reality show in which strangers are isolated in a house while competing for power and evicting each other from the game.
Origin[]
Josh Consalvo has been a fan of reality game shows such as Survivor and Big Brother for years. In 2018, Consalvo had an idea: he wanted to simulate the Big Brother experience for his friends and family by creating his own version of the show, but with each houseguest competing from their own home. Thus, Big Brother Hometowns was born. The game has since grown from a small circle of Consalvo's friends and family to the vibrant community of hundreds of fans that exists today.
Premise[]
Big Brother Hometowns generally follows the same rules and format of the reality game show Big Brother. On Day 0, the houseguests and the hosts are added to a Facebook Messenger group chat, known as the "house chat." From there, they are free to socialize with other houseguests in the house chat, one-on-one chats, or alliance chats (which all must include the hosting team). As houseguests are evicted from the game and numbers dwindle, a jury of either 7 or 9 evicted houseguests forms. The jury is then charged with voting for the winner of the season after being given an opportunity to question the final 2 houseguests at the finale.
Gameplay[]
The gameplay of Big Brother Hometowns takes place within the typical framework of a 2-day eviction cycle, with the HOH competition on one day, and the Power of Veto competition and the eviction on the subsequent day. At times, the hosts may decide to run an entire cycle on one calendar day, forcing houseguests to strategize more quickly than normal.
Head of Household[]
At the beginning of each cycle, all houseguests (except for the outgoing HOH) will compete to win the title of Head of Household (HOH) for the round. The Head of Household is responsible for nominating two other houseguests for eviciton from the Big Brother house. Nominating a houseguest for eviciton is also called putting a houseguest "on the block." The Head of Household is safe from elimination for the entire round. No houseguest can be the HOH in back-to-back rounds; therefore, the current HOH is not eligible to compete in the subsequent HOH competition.
Power of Veto[]
After the HOH submits their nominations, another competition is played called the Power of Veto (POV). The competition is played by 6 houseguests: The HOH, the two nominees, and three players chosen by random draw. The winner of the POV has the option to veto one of the Head of Household's nominations, taking them off the block and forcing the HOH to name a replacement nominee. The winner of the POV is safe from eviction that round. The only exception to this rule would occur if one of the nominees wins the POV but elects to not use the POV on themselves.
Eviction[]
After the veto meeting, all houseguests other than the HOH and the two nominees cast a vote for eviction, with the houseguest receiving the most votes eliminated from the game. In the event of a tie vote, the HOH would cast the deciding vote to break the tie. The day after an eviction, the cycle repeats with a new Head of Household competition.
Diary Room[]
The hosts create a group chat with each individual houseguest separately, called the Diary Room. This chat is where houseguests make decisions about nominations, participate in some competitions, send eviction votes, and most importantly, upload confessional videos. Confessional videos are outlets by which houseguests can process strategy, reveal their true intentions, and simply entertain the audience. Diary room videos are edited together to create episodes that document the season in real-time for the viewing audience.
Jury House[]
Once there are either 11 or 9 houseguests remaining in the game, the jury phase begins. From that point forward, any houseguest evicted will not be out of the game entirely, but instead become a member of the jury. As jury members are evicted, they are added to a group chat with the hosts and other jurors called the "Jury House," in which they can wallow in their misery together as they lament the remaining players who had a hand in evicting them. Jurors are not allowed to receive any information about the game from outside of the Jury House, including from players still in the game and the Viewing Party. At the finale, jurors have the opportunity to question the final 2 in order to gain information that will help them cast a final vote for the winner of the season.
Twists[]
Big Brother's motto is "Expect the Unexpected," and Big Brother Hometowns is no different. Throughout the season, any number of twists may appear that alter the course of a normal round. Some twists that make regular appearances in Big Brother Hometowns are:
Double Evictions[]
In a double eviction round, the Head of Household must nominate three houseguests for eviction instead of the normal two. The power of veto is played as normal, except only two other houseguests are chosen by random draw to play in the veto competition. Houseguests then cast one vote to save, rather than to evict. The houseguest with the most votes to save is safe from eviciton, while the other two houseguests are evicted from the game.
Battle Back[]
In seasons with a battle back competition, the houseguests evicted before the jury phase of the competition are invited to compete in the battle back competition, in which the winner earns a spot back into the house. No battle back winner has ever gone on to win the season.
Viewing Party[]
Season 3 ushered in the creation of the Big Brother Hometowns Viewing Party (VP), a private Facebook group in which fans of the game can engage in the action of the game in a variety of ways. The most common Viewing Party content is episodes that describe the events of a particular round through the houseguests' perspectives. At times, a round will be divided into multiple episodes if the amount of content warrants it. The hosts also occasionally will go live in the Viewing Party to conduct cast assessments, drafts, game analyses, live competitions and evictions, and exit interviews. Other viewing party content may include interactive audience polls, power rankings authored by the hosts, or other interactive content.
The Viewing Party exists for the entertainment of the audience only. Houseguests still in the game and jurors are never allowed to receive information from the Viewing Party, otherwise unenviable consequences will ensue.
April 19
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