Jackson Michie has been crowned the winner of Big Brother Season 21, taking home the $500,000 grand prize in Wednesday night’s season finale.
Wednesday night’s finale saw the final three battle it out to grab the final HOH win and win over the jury. Dr. Will Kirby led the jury roundtable, where it was debated who should win the entire season.
The second part of the final HOH competition saw Nicole and Holly battle it out. The ladies had to correctly identify which events from the season happened on which day. Nicole finished in 14 minutes but Holly won after completing the competition in 10 minutes.
Holly and Jackson faced off in the final competition in a question and answer session. Jackson got all eight questions correct as he won the final HOH of the season. To no one’s surprise, he evicted Nicole.
Nicole spoke to host Julie Chen Moonves about her time and said she is grateful for the experience.
“I have learned so much about myself,” she said. “This has been such a transformative experience. I have learned so much about myself and who I am.”
The jury questioned the final two and both Holly and Jackson gave their final pleas before the jury locked in their votes. Before announcing the winner, Julie needed to clear up some controversial moments from the season.
Many fans found Jackson’s behavior to be racist and sexist in the house, including his fellow housemates. The fans also pointed out when Jackson won Camp Director, he banished Jessica, Cliff, Kemi, and David. Fans felt this was due to race and Julie gave Jackson the chance to respond.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “I am not racist. It had nothing to do with race or gender ever.
It was finally time to crown a winner, Julie revealed Jackson won by a 6-3 vote, taking home the $500,000 prize. Holly was the runner-up with $50,000. A stonefaced Jackson exited the house and spoke with Julie following his win.
“I did it for my family. I did for my mom. I did it for my dad,” said Jackson. “At the end of the day, what matters more to me than half a million is that they’re proud of me, and I just hope that everything’s alright.”
Just before the show ended, Julie announced Nicole had won America’s Favorite Houseguest and would take home $25,000.
Big Brother returns to CBS next summer.
