- "Big Brother" contestant Luke Valentine was ejected from season 25 in 2023 for using a racist slur.
- He's not the first contestant to use a racial slur, but he's the first to get the boot because of it.
"Big Brother," a CBS reality show that puts strangers in a house together and requires them to use deception, as well as mental and physical skills, to win a six-figure prize, has been on the air since 2000.
Since its early years, the series has been surrounded by controversy because of contestants' unregulated behavior — production doesn't intervene unless absolutely necessary. Way back in season two, someone threatened a fellow houseguest with a knife and was ejected from the game. That was arguably the first major incident in the history of the US version of the show, but it was hardly the last.
From (many) contestants using racial slurs on-camera, to allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior, here's a look back at some of the biggest controversies surrounding "Big Brother" players behaving badly in the house.
Season 2: Justin Sebik holds a knife to Krista Stegall's throat
In 2001, New Jersey native and 26-year-old bartender Justin Sebik was ejected from the second season of "Big Brother" after taking a kitchen knife and holding it against fellow cast member Krista Stegall's neck while they were kissing.
After Sebik's removal, "Big Brother" producer Arnold Shapiro told The New York Times that Sebik had previously been warned twice about his behavior after making threatening comments to other contestants.
Shapiro told the Times that Stegall "was not alarmed in any way" by Sebik holding the knife to her throat, and explained that the show's staff hadn't intervened because the incident had ended within seconds. He also denied that the incident was staged and said that Sebik, like all contestants, had undergone an extensive background check and production found nothing on his record.
According to Shapiro, he brought in the show's psychologist to speak with Sebik. After speaking with the psychologist, Shapiro told the Times, Sebik was told he was being removed from the game, expressed disappointment in the decision, and argued that the knife incident had been a joke.
In 2002, Stegall sued CBS for not screening Sebik more vigorously ahead of his casting on the show, after it was reported he'd actually been arrested five times (three of those for assault) before appearing on "Big Brother." Stegall's case was ultimately dismissed in 2003, according to court documents viewed by Insider.
Season 4: Scott Weintraub melts down over his ex-fiancé's potential elimination
Scott Weintraub was part of "Big Brother" season four's "X-Factor" twist in 2003, when players unexpectedly had to compete in the game against their ex-romantic partners.
The Chicago native was in the house with his ex-fiancé, Amanda Craig, and expressed he still had feelings for her. So when Craig became a nominee to leave the house in week one, Weintraub got emotional. He'd sleep all day and threw kitchen chairs around the house at one point to let "off a little steam," in his words.
Weintraub held a meeting with the houseguests to apologize for his behavior and told them he didn't want to leave the game. But soon after, as his fellow houseguests recounted in footage that aired on the show, he was sent to the diary room to speak with producers and didn't return to the game.
A spokesman for CBS declined to comment on Weintraub's removal from the game (beyond confirming that it had happened) when reached by Entertainment Weekly at the time.
Season 8: Amber Siyavus Tomcavage makes anti-Semitic remarks
Not every "Big Brother" player who exhibited bad behavior was expelled over the years. Season eight player Amber Siyavus Tomcavage stirred up controversy with anti-Semitic remarks in a conversation with fellow houseguest Jameka Cameron.
"The majority of people I know from New York are Jewish, and the majority of Jewish people I know, my gosh, so many are so selfish. So weird," she whispered under her breath to Cameron in footage that aired on Showtime's "Big Brother After Dark" (a late-night show that curated footage from the live feeds), but not the CBS primetime show.
That season, one of Tomcavage's fellow houseguests was Eric Stein, a Jewish man from New York. Cameron told Tomcavage that stereotyping and generalizing would be bad for her "Big Brother" game. Tomcavage agreed with Cameron.
After viewer backlash over the anti-Semitic comments, CBS issued a statement condemning Tomcavage's remarks, but she didn't face any consequences for them.
Season 11: Braden Bacha goes on a racist rant
In 2009, "Big Brother" season 11 contestant Braden Bacha came under fire for making racist remarks to fellow houseguests Kevin Campbell and Lydia Tavera. CBS aired the fight between the players but edited out the slur Bacha used completely instead of censoring it. (In a statement to press, the network said it had edited out the derogatory language because it was offensive and didn't meet CBS's airing standards.)
So, viewers didn't hear Bacha tell Campbell and Tavera he was "fuckin' white and American" and thus didn't have the proper context for why Tavera told Bacha to "kiss my Latin fuckin' ass" in response. But footage of the uncensored fight is available on YouTube.
Bacha was the first houseguest evicted that summer, and he addressed his argument with Campbell and Tavera, and the racism allegations, in post-eviction interviews.
"It got heated and things were said out of maliciousness, things I obviously didn't mean," Bacha told TV Guide. "But when you're stuck in a house for so many days with people who are driving you nuts, it's hard not to do anything about it. But I did apologize. "
Season 12: Matt Hoffman lies about his wife having a rare progressive disease
"Big Brother" contestants use a variety of tactics to maneuver their way through the game. But few went as far as season 12 contestant Matt Hoffman, who lied to fellow contestants about his wife having a rare disease in order to gain their sympathy and avoid being voted out of the house.
According to the New York Post, Hoffman told the other houseguests that his wife had melorheostosis — a rare, progressive bone disease that can lead to chronic pain and limb deformities — and that, if he should win, he intended to use the $500,000 prize money towards her treatment. But he gleefully admitted in his confessionals that his wife didn't have melorheostosis "or any other disease."
"Who would vote off a guy who's just trying to save his wife's leg?" he reportedly said on the show, per the Post.
Hoffman's actions horrified the families of those affected by the condition. "If Matt thinks melorheostosis is funny, he should look at the video on our Web site showing some of the beautiful little children afflicted with this catastrophic disease," Melorheostosis Association chair Kathleen Harper told the Post at the time.
CBS responded in a statement to the Post, disavowing Hoffman's tactic: "At times, the houseguests make comments, reveal prejudices and other beliefs that we do not condone."
Hoffman, for his part, didn't seem to regret his lie in his post-elimination interview with Entertainment Weekly's Dalton Ross, reiterating that he'd planned to stick with the lie up until the point where it would've no longer been useful for his gameplay.
Season 13: Jeff Schroeder makes homophobic remarks about Dumbledore
Jeff Schroeder played "Big Brother" on season 11 and returned to the game in 2011 for season 13. He had a lovable persona during his first season on the show, so it was surprising when he faced criticism for homophobic remarks related to the Harry Potter series and Dumbledore's sexuality during his second turn.
Schroeder and other houseguests, including Kalia Booker, were seen on live feeds discussing the book series one night. The fact that author J.K. Rowling had announced the character Dumbledore was gay came up, and Schroeder, who didn't appear to have read the books, said: "He's in a school with little kids, you don't want to make that guy gay."
When Booker asked him to explain why, Schroeder replied, "I don't think it's right to have a little kids' book and have the headmaster that you're locked away in this magical land be gay. I don't think that's the right thing to do."
Schroeder went on to chastise Booker for her "PC view" and curse at her when she said there was nothing wrong with it.
CBS didn't air Schroeder's comments on TV but did release a statement to Entertainment Weekly addressing them.
"At times, the houseguests make comments, reveal prejudices and other beliefs that we do not condone," the statement read. It went on to say that Schroeder's beliefs were his alone and didn't represent CBS. However, Schroeder didn't experience any consequences for his comments while in the "Big Brother" house and went on to work as a "Big Brother" correspondent for the network.
Schroeder was, however, questioned about his remarks post-show. Entertainment Weekly's Dalton Ross reported that Schroeder was "clearly annoyed" when Ross and his podcast cohost asked Schroeder about the incident after he was eliminated from the game. Schroeder also said on the podcast that he has "no problem with gay people whatsoever."
In a 2021 interview with Heavy, Schroeder said he'd since learned from his mistake. "I've apologized and again, I am sorry, and I'll continue to apologize and I don't ever want to make excuses for what I said. I want to take full responsibility for what I said and have it as a learning experience," he said.
He added that he was embarrassed and regretted his words, but said that he'd used it as an opportunity to grow as a person and become a better father than he would've otherwise been.
Season 14: Willie Hantz gets kicked out of the house after head-butting Joe Arvin
Willie Hantz became the fourth person ever removed from the "Big Brother" house by producers when he head-butted fellow contestant Joe Arvin during season 14 in 2012.
The incident was precipitated by an aggravated Hantz cursing at the other houseguests while in the kitchen. Alvin then said something bleeped out in the footage that offended Hanz, who began taunting Arvin in the bathroom area of the house, yelling "Hit me!" Hantz then moved to head-butt Arvin. He was called to the diary room and immediately removed from the house, as seen in footage from season 14, episode five.
Hantz is related to two "Survivor" contestants — his brother, Russell Hantz, and his nephew, Russell's son Brandon Hantz. The Huffington Post reported that after being ejected from the "Big Brother" house, Hantz shared his side of the story in a phone call with Brandon and Russell, which Brandon shared in a YouTube video that has since been made private.
"If I could go back, I would change a lot of things," Hantz reportedly told his brother and nephew, per the Huffington Post. "I didn't go on that show to be a violent person, I went on that show to play the game."
Season 15: GinaMarie Zimmerman and Aaryn Gries have a racially-charged confrontation with Candice Stewart
The cast of "Big Brother" season 15 was one of the most controversial in the show's history. Multiple houseguests expressed such problematic and prejudiced views and behaved badly enough in the house that at least three contestants — GinaMarie Zimmerman, Spencer Clawson, and Aaryn Gries — lost their jobs when they left the "Big Brother" house, Insider's Kirsten Acuna previously reported.
Runner-up Zimmerman used the N-word while in the house and, alongside her friends Gries and Kaitlin Barnaby, regularly made derogatory comments about housemates from minority communities like Candice Stewart and Helen Kim.
But in one particularly bad incident, after Gries flipped Stewart's mattress, Zimmerman, Grier, and Barnaby had a confrontation with Stewart and Zimmerman asked Stewart when her "Black" was going to come out.
Along with flipping Stewart's mattress and regularly making racist remarks, Gries also made homophobic comments about season 15's eventual winner, Andy Herren.
When the season ended in 2013, many of the contestants didn't know they would experience backlash in the real world, since they'd experienced no consequences from production while in the house.
In a post-exit interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Zimmerman said she regretted her behavior and would take it back if she could. She also expressed regret at losing her job as a pageant coordinator.
Gries told THR in the same story that she was surprised by how "serious" the reaction to her behavior was and said that some of her comments were "taken out of context." She also said she never meant to "hurt or offend anyone" with her remarks.
Clawson, who was heard on camera using homophobic slurs, calling Hitler a gifted speaker, and saying the C-word, told THR that some of his remarks were taken out of context, but apologized for his "bad judgement."
Season 18: Frank Eudy slaps Da'Vonne Rogers on the butt
Frank Eudy competed on seasons 14 and 18 of "Big Brother" and was accused of slut-shaming and sexually harassing women, including Da'Vonne Rogers, on season 18.
"Big Brother" addressed some, but not all, of his behavior on episodes of the show in 2016, including footage of Rogers crying in the diary room after Eudy slapped her on the behind. (Rogers said in her exit interview that Eudy had apologized to her, but later swore the butt slap "never happened.") Fans shared footage from the live feeds that showed how far Eudy's behavior went and even petitioned to have him removed from the game.
But Eudy wasn't removed from the game by production, instead becoming the first returning player to be voted out of the house that season. He wasn't directly asked about his behavior in interviews when he left the house, but did respond generally to viewer criticism.
"If you are not a fan of me, that is your cup of tea and it doesn't really bother me. It has been four years and maybe I have changed or maybe the fans have changed," Eudy, who'd previously been voted "America's Favorite Houseguest" in season 14, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Season 19: Jason Dent jokes about raping another houseguest's wife
In 2017, season 18 contestant Jason Dent drew ire for making jokes about raping fellow houseguest Kevin Schlehuber's wife if Schlehuber put him up for eviction in the game. Schlehuber's wife, Deborah, told TMZ at the time that the comments were the worst thing she's ever seen.
Dent wasn't removed from the game after the comment and later became the 11th person evicted from the house that season. Dent doesn't appear to have addressed the backlash in any post-exit interviews, but after the season ended, Dent and his wife Holly posed for a photo with Schlehuber and Deborah at the "Big Brother" wrap party.
Season 19: Paul Abrahamian plans to dress in Blackface
Season 19 runner-up Paul Abrahamian sparked controversy online in 2017 when he detailed a plan, as seen in the live feeds but not on an aired episode, to dress up in Blackface during a veto ceremony to confront fellow houseguest Dominique Cooper, a Black woman.
According to Bustle, Abrahamian reportedly said he wanted to confront Cooper for calling him a "snake" in the game. The outfit he was wearing was black and white, and he was deciding whether to put a black or green face mask on to complete the outfit. He didn't appear to know the racist history of Blackface and none of the houseguests who were aware of the plan educated him. But according to Mic, he did refer to the makeup as both "blackface" and a "black mask."
Abrahamian thankfully didn't go through with the plan, and his mom defended him to TMZ at the time as the season was airing, insisting that he was not racist and had in fact faced racism himself as a Lebanese-Armenian.
In a since-deleted September 2017 Instagram post after the season wrapped, Abrahamian addressed the incident. He reportedly said it hurt his heart that anyone would think he'd "try to mock a houseguest with racism," apologized to those who were offended, and expressed that he hoped his post "clears all the nonsense."
Season 20: JC Mounduix inappropriately touches other contestants' genitals with an ice-cream scoop
In 2018, contestant JC Mounduix was at the center of several misconduct and sexual harassment accusations while he competed on season 20.
First, earlier in the season, he inappropriately touched fellow contestants' genitals with an ice-cream scooper and received a warning from producers, according to The Hollywood Reporter. At the time, CBS issued a statement saying that he'd been warned about "inappropriate behavior."
Later in the season, Mounduix caused controversy again with two separate incidents. In one, he was seen kissing contestant Tyler Crispen's armpit while Crispen was sleeping and touching Crispen's body. He also opened the bathroom door when castmate Haleigh Broucher was using it and refused to close it until producers gave him a warning.
"Big Brother" producers Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan issued a statement to The Hollywood Reporter regarding Mounduix's behavior, in which they said that they'd spoken to the houseguests involved in the incidents who confirmed they didn't feel unsafe. "Tyler and Haleigh explained to producers that they in no way felt threatened, unsafe, or sexually harassed," the producers' statement read in part. "If there was any indication from our houseguests of sexual misconduct, we and CBS would have taken immediate action."
Mounduix also used the N-word in conversation. His use of the word was not directed at an individual and was addressed on an episode of "Big Brother."
Upon leaving the house, Mounduix issued an apology for his behavior in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. "I am so sorry if anyone out there is offended. I swear that I, nothing evil ever came out of my brain and stuff," he said.
Season 20: Kaitlyn Herman sings the N-word
Mounduix wasn't the only contestant on season 20 to behave badly. Kaitlyn Herman was captured on the live feeds using the N-word while singing "0 to 100" by Drake. The other person with her paused singing and didn't say the word when he got to those lyrics.
CBS released a statement addressing Herman's N-word use (among other racist moments that season) and said they don't "condone" the behavior.
Herman later apologized and said she was "mortified" by her actions on an Instagram live after she'd left the house.
Season 21: Jack Matthews refers to Black contestant Kemi Fakunle as a 'bitch' and 'dogshit'
"Big Brother" contestant Jack Matthews was at the center of controversy the next year for racist comments he made during season 21, which was filmed in 2019.
Matthews was seen on the live feeds speaking negatively about contestants of color like Kemi Fakunle. He referred to her as a "bitch" and "dogshit" and said he wanted to "stomp a mudhole through her chest." He also used the term "rice pudding" when talking about houseguest Isabella "Bella" Wang. Matthews also reportedly used the N-word in the house, per Entertainment Tonight Canada.
Host Julie Chen Moonves confronted Matthews about some of his comments in his exit interview after he was evicted.
"I don't think there was any personal vendetta behind saying that. My statements were playful in a group of people," Matthews told Chen Moonves. "I do apologize for what I said, and that's very sincere. I think Kemi was, and is, a great person."
He added: "This game, being in a 24-hour view of people, you say things. I wouldn't say that I fully support the things that I said in the way that I said them. If I could take them back, I would."
Season 21: Jackson Michie calls a Black contestant the 'cancer of the house' and speculates that he'd been in prison
Jackson Michie also made racist remarks while playing "Big Brother" in 2019, which included calling David Alexander (a Black houseguest) a "cancer" in the house, remarking that Alexander wasn't "on Bravo or BET," and speculating whether Alexander had been in prison.
On finale night, Chen Moonves and other contestants grilled Michie, who was still in the house and went on to win the game, over his remarks. Michie, for his part, has maintained that he's not racist, telling Entertainment Weekly's Dalton Ross in a post-finale interview that he doesn't "see race or gender."
Season 22: Nicole Franzel, Daniele Briones, Memphis Garrett, and Christmas Abbott mock Ian Terry's autism
During "Big Brother" All-Stars in 2020, many contestants came under fire for appearing to mock fellow player Ian Terry's autism.
Memphis Garrett, Nicole Franzel, Christmas Abbott, and Daniele Briones were repeatedly caught on camera talking about how Terry's behavior scared them, mocking his movements, and laughing at him.
Franzel apologized in an interview with ET Canada upon her exit from the house and said she was "shocked" by the public's reaction.
According to Us Weekly, Briones issued a since-deleted apology to Terry and America on Twitter.
In an interview with ET Canada, Garrett said he "meant no harm" mocking Terry.
Abbott, who also wondered aloud if she was going to get "shot" by Da'Vonne Rogers or Bayleigh Dayton for putting the Black women up for eviction when she was Head of Household, apologized on Instagram Live, per Heavy.
Season 23: Luke Valentine gets kicked off the show after using the N-word
Luke Valentine was expelled from "Big Brother" season 25 in 2023 for using a racist slur in front of three other houseguests just a week into the competition.
Full clip of Luke on the Big Brother live feeds saying the N word + the reactions of the other houseguests #bigbrother #bb25 #livefeeds #bigbrother25 #bigbrotherluke #lukebigbrother #bigbrotherlivefeeds pic.twitter.com/KSZGLW8YTF
— Siobhán (@siobot) August 9, 2023
"Luke violated the 'Big Brother' code of conduct and there is zero tolerance in the house for using a racial slur," CBS and "Big Brother" producers said in an email statement to Insider. "He has been removed from the house." He was the first person in "Big Brother" history to be removed for such an offense.
When he returned home, he released a video statement to Instagram, seen by Insider.
"Hey guys, just letting you know, I'm alive, I've arrived, and you gotta keep the flames stoked until next time. We can't burn out, no, no, no, the fires of love will continue to burn, baby. So thank you for all the memes, thank you for all the support, all the kind words," Valentine said. He didn't apologize.