‘Big Brother’ Season 23 Finale: And the Winner Is…

Andi Ortiz
·2 min read

“Big Brother” has officially crowned its first African American winner, thanks to the hard work of the Cookout alliance. And the person that took home the grand prize of $750k was… Xavier Prather.

It was admittedly a tight race to the end. Xavier, Azah Awasum and Derek Frazier each had different deals with and feelings toward each other — things got particularly heated between Azah and Big D in the final days of the competition — and each person struggled to decide what they wanted their final move to be. In the end though, Xavier became the final head of household, bringing Derek to final two and making Azah the ninth and final juror.

When it came time to cast final votes, the jury voted unanimously in favor of Xavier. For just about every juror, the decision came down to one thing: who played the best overall game. Few jurors factored in the social aspect of the game, instead focusing on who made the best moves for himself when the time came.

Following the reveal of the game winner, host Julie Chen Moonves announced the fan-voted winner of “America’s Favorite Player.” Like the grand prize, this year the AFP prize money was also increased. And the player who took home the $50k was… Tiffany Mitchell.

Regardless of who won though, “Big Brother” history was made on Wednesday night. At the start of this season, an alliance called The Cookout was formed, made up of Tiffany, Kyland, Xavier, Derek F., Azah and Hannah. Their goal? To ensure that a Black person not only won “Big Brother,” but that the final six contestants were all people of color.

Thanks to Tiffany’s master plan, the six successfully picked off the house one by one, without a single person catching on. It wasn’t until the Cookout were officially the only ones left in the house that the rest of the players caught on — well, except for Claire. She pretty much pieced it together when Tiffany told her that she was headed to the block.

The alliance was one that “Big Brother” host Julie Chen Moonves not only supported, but defended from critics who called the alliance racist.

“I think it’s hard for some people who are not of color to understand the importance of the Cookout making it this far,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “I have heard some call the formation of the Cookout a form of racism. In my humble opinion, it is not. As a fan of the show, it’s impressive to see an alliance this big make it this far. That rarely happens.”