10 Times the 'Big Brother' Head of Household Sent Their Ally Home

The Head of Household is a position many covet during the Big Brother season. Free from the threat of eviction, they possess the power to nominate their fellow houseguests for elimination, something that allows them to make incredibly big moves in the game. But throughout 25 seasons of the main show, there has been history of contestants using that overweening power poorly, leading to the people that were previously in their corner walking out the door.

Here are ten times the Head of Household accidentally or purposely sent their ally home on Big Brother.

10 Times Big Brother Head of Households Sent Their Ally Home

Jennifer "Nakomis" Dedmon (season 5)

Occasionally in the game, the HoH will get their hand forced, and someone is automatically nominated by default. Even if that person is the HoH's closest ally, due to the particular circumstances of the endgame, they technically go out under their watch. That was the case at the Final 5 of Big Brother 5 and Jennifer "Nakomis" Dedmon.

When free-spirit houseguest won HoH, she was in an alliance with the women of the house in Karen Gianci and Diane Henry. As such, she nominated Drew Daniel and Michael "Cowboy" Ellis (the latter of whom was actually her half-brother, their shared family only discovered while playing). But things became sticky when Diane won the veto. She decided to yoke herself to the guys, specifically her showmance partner Drew, and surprised her alliance when she used the veto on Drew. Nakomis was forced to put Karen up as the only available option, and the newly minted trio finished the job. As such, Nakomis' closest ally ended up getting evicted on her HoH.

Howie Gordon (season 6)

Big Brother 6 was the story of two alliances: The Friendship vs. the Sovereign Six. When Howie Gordon won HoH in Week 5, the other side had just evicted one of his allies in Kaysar Ridha. And as the HoH who put him up, Maggie Ausburn was feeling the heat. So she threw a Hail Mary, approaching Howie with some key information that his ally James Rhine had been playing both sides. She even mentioned him swearing on the Bible the week before that he would nominate Howie and his partner should he win HoH.

It turns out James was lying just to appease the Friendship. But the pitch absolutely worked on Howie. Wanting to out the supposed snake, he nominated James against his girlfriend Sarah Hrejsa. Though James won the veto, the Friendship still had the numbers to evict Sarah, and essentially got their way two weeks in a row. Howie's HoH reign is regarded as one of the worst moves in Big Brother history.

Jeff Schroeder (season 11)

By the Final 6 of Big Brother 11, the sides seemed clear-cut. The alliance of Jeff Schroeder, Jordan Lloyd, Michele Noonan, and Russell Kairouz had systematically dismantled the group of Natalie Martinez and Kevin Campbell. Knowing his back was against the wall if things kept going, Kevin decided to take a shot in the dark. The week before, he approached Jeff with a lie that he overheard Russell say that he would betray Jeff and evict them the following week. Jeff immediately took this information to his showmance partner Jordan, and they believed him.

When Jeff won HoH, Russell had assumed the status quo would be maintained, and one of Kevin or Natalie would go. And while Jeff did nominate them, he had a much larger plan in mind. After winning the veto, he put up Russell, accusing him of making deals to undercut the Final 4 alliance they had. The two men ended their time in the house together in a similar way to how it started: Getting into a heated argument. 

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Kalia Booker (season 13)

Through the first month of Big Brother 13, the game was being played in duos, with newbies alongside some of the most famous pairs in the show's history. The game then became individual, with an additional twist: The next evicted houseguest would immediately have an opportunity to return to the game. And Lawon Exum's imagination went wild.

Kalia Booker won HoH, and Lawon approached his ally and former partner with one of the boldest moves in the show's history. Believing the evictee would be given a "special power" upon return, he not only asked her to put him up, but also encouraged the house to evict him. They complied with his wishes, only for Lawon to realize how wrong he was. He faced off against fellow evictee Brendon Villegas, lost the competition, and went out after asking his ally to evict him in one of the worst moves ever.

Danielle Murphree (season 14)

At the Final 4 in Big Brother 14, Danielle Murphree held all the power. She won both HoH and the final veto of the season, getting to determine the nominees as well as the sole vote to evict. The plan was simple. She was in an alliance with her showmance Shane Meaney and her former coach Dan Gheesling. And when Ian Terry lost the veto, she was all set on having Shane evicting Ian, guaranteeing she'd make the Final 2 no matter what.

But, like most things in season 14, leave it to Dan to spin up some chaos. Dan had an alliance with Ian, and wanted to put himself in the automatic finals spot as well. So he convinced Danielle to use the veto on him, fearing Shane would take him out for being a big threat and swearing up and down he would evict Ian. But Dan's final stunner of the season was a big one. His closest ally used the veto on him, only for him to turn right back around and evict her showmance. Danielle was shocked to say the least, given her now-iconic expression.

Vanessa Rousso (season 17)

Poker player Vanessa Rousso was sitting pretty at the Final 5 of Big Brother 17. She was in the middle of two duos, with the quirky Steve Moses and John MacGuire on one side, and the showmance of Liz Nolan and Austin Matelson on the other side. When Vanessa won HoH, she sided with the latter pair, nominating Steve and John. After John won the veto, she put up Austin, but the showmance was confident Vanessa would break any tie vote in their favor.

But as the strategist of the season, it's only logical that Vanessa was entertaining other options. After having worked with the couple all season, with the endgame growing closer, she was nervous they would take each other to the Final 3 over her. So, as Austin and Liz predicted, the eviction vote was a tie. But Vanessa gave them a dose of the unexpected when she betrayed Austin and evicted him. The wrestler was so shocked by his elimination that he walked out of the house barefoot, telling Vanessa to her face she just lost the game.

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Jessica Graf (season 19)

When Jessica Graf won HoH in Big Brother 19, her showmance partner Cody Nickson had just returned to the house after an absolutely epic fail of his own HoH reign back in the first week. Finally wielding power after being an underdog, she went straight for the jugular in nominating Josh Martinez against pawn and friend Ramses Soto. Like Danielle, Jessica also won the veto and chose not to use it, confident that Josh's time causing conflict was up.

But season 19 offered under one cardinal rule: Whatever Paul Abrahamanian wanted would happen. The season 18 runner-up saw value in keeping Josh as an ally moving forward. And so they organized yet another blindside against Jessica and Cody. Jessica learned firsthand one of the show's unofficial edicts: Pawns go home. Paul's newfound coalition evicted Ramses, and the couple became pariahs once more.

Kaitlyn Herman (season 20)

Kaitlyn Herman hit the ground running in Big Brother 20, a foundational part of the initial "FOUTTE" alliance. But simultaneously, she was building a relationship and trust with HoH Tyler Crispen. Over the course of the first week, he was able to convince her that her alliance had distrust in her and felt she was erratic. That caused her to vote against FOUTTE in the first eviction. And little did that alliance know, another one was coming straight up.

Kaitlyn won HoH, and it seemed like FOUTTE would be safe. But Tyler got in her ear again, convincing her that backdooring her own alliance leader Christopher "Swaggy C" Williams was the right thing for her game. She went ahead with Tyler's plan, nominating Winston Hines and Scottie Salton (the latter of whom was also one of her connected allies) initially. And when Tyler used the veto on Scottie, Kaitlyn, apologizing through tears, put Swaggy up. It was the second time that FOUTTE was stunned by something their allies did, but it would be far from the last.

Faysal "Fessy" Shafaat (season 20)

Six weeks after Kaitlyn's HoH, the FOUTTE alliance had dwindled down to a select few. Faysal "Fessy" Shafaat came through with a clutch win, and on the surface, it seemed like him, ally Scottie, and showmance partner Haleigh Broucher would finally get to be in power. But things got complicated when Fessy asked the house who was the one vote to keep ally Angela "Rockstar" Lantry in the house. Scottie immediately (and truthfully) claimed it, but Brett Robinson caused confusion when he also said it was him.

This was the perfect moment for JC Monduix to strike. He had been slowly trying to turn Fessy against Scottie for weeks, saying he was untrustworthy and was even flirting with Haleigh. As Fessy himself said, "If it looks like a duck," and he was ready to go shooting. He nominated Scottie and Brett next to each other, saying one of them would be outed as a liar. Somehow, despite having only two allies left in the game, Fessy nominated one of them. And the dominant "Level 6" alliance was able to maintain control despite not having any power that week. Alongside Howie, Fessy is considered to have one of the worst HoH reigns in Big Brother history.

Felicia Cannon (season 25)

Our last entry comes very recently, from the current ongoing season. In the first week, after HoH Reilly Smedley helped create an eight-person majority, a counteralliance formed on the other side of the house. Known as "The Professors," it consisted of nominee Felicia Cannon, as well as first veto winner Hisam Goueli. The alliance kept Felicia safe from eviction, and when Hisam continued his competition streak, it put them in the seat of power. Hisam was the most vocal cheerleader of this group consisting of the older houseguests, but his mouth proved to be his undoing as well.

By the end of Hisam's HoH week, he had called out Reilly as his target, accusing her of prematurely splitting in the house and even asking everyone to vote her out at the veto meeting. He wasn't any quieter behind closed doors, as he came across as domineering, interruptive, and uncaring in a meeting with the Professors. His behavior turned off his alliance so much that Felicia, Cirie Fields, and Izzy Gleicher no longer wanted to work with him. When Felicia won HoH, she got the entire house in on the plan to backdoor Hisam. And while Hisam was thrilled to see one of his closest allies continue to wipe out Reilly's side, he was stunned to be sitting in the nomination chair at her hands.

Next, here's a list of all the Big Brother houseguests who have been ejected or quit the game.