Big Brother 3 (U.S.)

Big Brother 3 is the third edition of Seth's Big Brother, which premiered on February 15, 2013. The first round of auditions for the series began on February 10, 2013, before Big Brother 2 had concluded. The final cast was initially set to be revealed on February 14, but it was instead revealed the following day. The series is the first to take place along with the Big Brother: The Big Mash-Up spin-off series, which launched immediately following the season premiere. In total, 12 HouseGuests are participating this season. Like the previous season, Big Brother 3 is set to last for a total of 30 days, with the winner being crowned on the final day. Big Brother 1 HouseGuest Ashley designed the logo for this season, as he did with the previous installment. This season will feature a new co-host, which was later revealed to be Big Brother 1 HouseGuest Matt.

The format for Big Brother 3 remains largely unchanged from previous seasons, in which a group of HouseGuests compete to win the series by voting each other off and being the last HouseGuest remaining. One HouseGuest, known as the Head of Household, must nominate two of their fellow HouseGuests for eviction. The winner of the Power of Veto has the ability to change the nominations, and if they choose to do so then the HoH must nominate another HouseGuest. The HouseGuests then vote to evict one of the nominees, and the HouseGuest with the most votes is evicted. The twist, as revealed on the first night, will see a different HouseGuest in a position of power each week, and they must make a decision that could positively or negatively affect the group or themselves.

Development
The series was officially confirmed in January of 2013, after Big Brother 2 proved to be an early success. Seth also confirmed that the spin-off series, Big Brother: The Big Mash-Up would begin airing alongside Big Brother 3, and would feature former HouseGuests discussing the events of the game. Big Brother 3 has been described as a "send off" for the main series, with Seth confirming that Big Brother 4 will not begin until Summer of 2013. He stated, however, that a spin-off series is in the works. Big Brother 3 will be the first season to feature a co-host appearing alongside Seth. This news was first announced on February 9, when Seth revealed that he would like to cast a former HouseGuest to be the co-host. He later stated that the co-host would appear solely for Big Brother 3, and would not be a permanent fixture for the series. He also stated that the series would continue to be known as Seth's Big Brother, and would not feature the name of the new host. The new host was revealed to be Big Brother 1 HouseGuest Matt. Big Brother 3 officially began on February 15, 2013. Much like the previous editions, competitions for the season were pre-planned, however, Matt and Gil were also able to suggest competitions throughout the season. This season featured three main groups that were in use. The Head of Household room, first introduced in Big BRother 2, is made available again this year, along with the main group where events take place. The third group, known as "The Toolshed," is where Seth, Matt, and Gil discuss plans for the season. Seth has stated that a group for the Jury house will not be made, due to the fact that it remained largely unused in the previous edition.

Casting
Much like the previous season, the casting process featured three rounds with numerous in depth questions about a HouseGuests time spent on Tengaged as well as their gameplay techniques. The first round of auditions for the season began on February 10, 2013. This round asks basic questions about an applicant. The second round featured more in depth questions about an applicants playing style and other information about what kind of a HouseGuest they would be. The third and final round confirms some of the mechanics of the game with the applicants, and they must agree to these terms. During the casting process, Seth was joined by the new co-host, Matt, and Big Brother 2 winner Gil to help select the 12 participating HouseGuests. Initially, Seth confirmed that the cast for the series would be revealed during the season premiere. However, hours before the live launch Seth revealed two HouseGuests, Tyler and Aileen. Her later revealed a third HouseGuest, Thomas, an hour later.

Schedule
The schedule used for Big Brother 3 remains largely unchanged from that of the previous seasons. Most events for the series occur at 8 PM Eastern, however, there may be some exceptions. Though no schedule was set for each day of the week, the season did maintain a schedule. The first night of a new week saw the eviction, followed by the Head of Household competition. The following day, the HouseGuests would participate in the nomination ceremony. The Have-Not competition, which was featured in the first season, was not used for this season due to a negative reception the previous year. In an attempt to keep the day interesting, however, the Power Player competition will be held on this day each week that the twist is in effect. The following day, the HouseGuests competed to win the Power of Veto, with the ceremony occurring immediately after the competition. The following day saw another eviction, followed by the Head of Household competition. This season does see alterations from the previous season. Aside from the inclusion of the Power Player competition, the first eviction of Big Brother 3 is set to occur on Day 5, rather than Day 4 as it was in the last season.

Format
Tengaged contestants who apply for the series will be notified of whether they made the series or not. Each week, the HouseGuests took part in several compulsory challenges that determined who would win power in the House. The winner of the Head of Household competition was immune from nominations and was instructed to nominate two fellow HouseGuests for eviction. After a HouseGuest became Head of Household he or she was ineligible to take part in the next Head of Household competition. The winner of the Power of Veto competition won the right to save one of the nominated HouseGuests from eviction. If the Veto winner exercised the power, the Head of Household then had to nominate another HouseGuest for eviction. On eviction night all HouseGuests except for the Head of Household and the two nominees voted to evict one of the two nominees. Before the voting began the nominees had the chance to say a final message to their fellow HouseGuests. In the event of a tie, the Head of Household would break the tie and reveal their vote in front of the other HouseGuests. The nominee with the most votes from the other HouseGuests was evicted from the House. HouseGuests could voluntarily leave the House at any time and those who broke the rules were expelled by Big Brother. The last seven evictees of the season form the Jury that voted for the winner on the season finale, they were known as the jury members. None of the HouseGuests are aware of how the voting process went until after the season. Those playing the game had to abide by numerous rules to continue in the game. All competing HouseGuests were required to vote for eviction, and could be punished if they failed to do so. They were also required to post in the forums every two days, otherwise expulsion could be used as a punishment. HouseGuests were required to participate in non-live competitions, though appearing at live competitions was not required. Another rule to the game was that HouseGuests would compete in the Have-Not competition, with the losing team receiving penalties in the HoH and PoV competitions. If a HouseGuest were to be banned from Tengaged, even for the shortest amount of time, they would be expelled from the game. Showing up to evictions was not a rule, but was greatly encouraged.

The twist for this season saw one HouseGuest, known as the Power Player, rising to power each week and being given an important decision to make that could positively or negatively affect the house as a whole or one specific individual. This twist later changed the format of the premiere, in which HouseGuests competed for the title of Power Player instead of Head of Household. When Dylan won the Power Player competition, he was asked to choose the twelfth HouseGuest to enter the game. It has since been revealed that the rules this season will be much more strict, and will feature punishments being handed out to those who do not follow the rules.

Summary
On Day 1, the original eleven HouseGuests entered the house. Six of the HouseGuests were informed they had been cast a mere hours before the premiere, with the final five learning they had been cast at the very beginning. The group of eleven met in the living room, where they learned of the "Power Player" twist, in which each week one HouseGuest would earn the title, and would be given a big decision to make in the game. Following this, HouseGuests competed in the "Hello, My Name Is..." Power Player competition, in which they had to guess which HouseGuest a certain fact belonged to. Dylan later beat out Missy in a tie-breaker round, and became the first Power Player of the season. Dylan was then given the task of selecting the twelfth HouseGuest, and was given the option to choose either Kenta or Patrick; he chose Patrick, who entered the house moments later. It was then revealed that Patrick was immune from the first eviction of the season. On Day 2, HouseGuests competed in "The Game of First Impressions" Head of Household competition, in which a HouseGuest would use a given adjective to describe one of their fellow HouseGuests. The others would then select one of these two to eliminate from the competition, thus making them ineligible for the Head of Household competition. The game ultimately came down to Alicia and Thomas, with Thomas being selected as the first Head of Household of the season.

That same night, Aileen caused an argument in the Kitchen area when she accused Alicia, Dylan, Missy, and Thomas of being in an alliance together; the four of of them quickly denied this. HouseGuests Alicia, Missy, Thomas, and Aileen all received an official warning due to breaking the "no cursing" rule, and were warned that repeating the action would result in their first official strike. On Day 3, Chance chose to walk from the game as he feared that he would be nominated that week. That same day, HouseGuests participated in the "Welcome Home!" competition, in which they had to be the first one to answer a question based on facts about their fellow HouseGuests. The winner of the competition would receive immunity from the nomination ceremony that night; Aileen won the competition with a score of 40. Thomas later chose to nominate Dominic and Missy for eviction.

Cancellation
On February 19, Day 5 in the game, Seth confirmed that the series had officially ended. He posted this information, stating "When I first began Seth's Big Brother, I didn't plan out a billion season like most people do. I didn't want to have a billion returning HouseGuests this season. I wanted a fresh cast each time a new series began. I thought that Big Brother 1 would be the death of me. I made some mistakes as a host, like, making the game super long, and thus some people chose to leave the game. Even then, I never once thought about quitting, and I adapted to the situation. Then Big Brother 2 came, and it was so much fun hosting! Everyone in the game has expressed enjoyment with it, and I really enjoyed hosting it. Before beginning this season, I wanted to quit the series. I just felt like it was the right thing to do. Unfortunately for me, I've always tried to please others before myself, and I began auditioning for this season... Then the game began. The first night went really well, but ever since then it's went downhill. I've been accused of rigging the game, something that deeply offends me as I would never do that. This just added on to the feelings I had about not wanting to continue Seth's Big Brother. Last night was really a wake up call for me. I realized that this was the first night in a while that I had done something fun and not had to focus on this series. I realized then that I really just didn't have the will to continue with this series. I kept telling myself to at least finish out Big Brother 3 for the benefit of you guys, but the thought of continuing for 30 days just sounds bad. I honestly love you guys as a cast, however, hosting just isn't something I enjoy doing anymore. Like other great BB hosts before me (Janelle_Pierzina, BigBruv, to name a few :P) it's officially time for me to say goodbye. I'm sorry to those of you who were truly devoted to this game, and wasted time and effort on it, but this is what I feel I should do. Hope you don't hate me."