5 Big Brother contestants who won beauty contests

We have seen a bevy of beauties in the Big Brother house through the years, including a number who actually competed and won in beauty pageants. Here are five of them.

Jamie Kern, Big Brother 1

The first US season of Big Brother was a weird one in so many ways, be it the newness of the concept, the peanut butter-and-jelly punishments instead of slop, and the audience voting for the winner and not a jury of the houseguests. In that first season that all began on July 5, 2000, the last three players left standing were all men in Eddie McGee, Josh Souza, and Curtis Kin.

Eddie would win the vote (59%) and the $500,000 grand prize over Josh (27%) and Curtis (14%), and the 4th-place contestant that year and the last woman banished—yes they were “banished” that first season—(Day #86) was 22-year-old Jamie Kern, a model from Seattle, Washington.

Although she won no BB prize money, Kern has done pretty well for herself after leaving the Big Brother house, becoming the first-ever female CEO for L'Oréal, the company which bought the company she co-founded, IT Cosmetics, for $1.2 billion back in 2016.

Jamie, who graduated as the valedictorian of her class at Washington State University, was a beauty queen and won Miss Washington USA in late 1999 and competed in Miss USA 2000 in Branson, Missouri before heading to the Big Brother house for that historic inaugural season.

Candice Stewart, Big Brother 15

Candice finished in 11th place on Big Brother 15, and won zero HoHs and PoVs and she was nominated three times (Week 1, Week 5 and Week 6) and made it to Day 49 and earned $5,000 in prize money. Now 41, Candice was 29 when she played as a pediatric speech therapist from Houston.

Candice competed as Miss Louisiana in the 54th Miss USA Pageant in Baltimore, Maryland on April 11, 2005, eight years before Big Brother 15 (2013). Candice is a native of Metairie and won pageants in the Miss Teen USA competition as well.

Holly Allen, Big Brother 21

Big Brother 21 runner-up Holly was Miss Wyoming USA in 2011, and the native of Lander, Wyoming won $50,000 for finishing in 2nd-place in her 99 days behind Jackson Michie, and had moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in modeling. She is now 27.

Holly won two HoHs (Week 5, Week 9) and was nominated three times (Week 11, Week 12, Week 13) and was in seven different alliances including Gr8ful, Six Shooters, Threemance, and Final Four.

Taylor Hale, Big Brother 24

Big Brother 24 winner Taylor has the best Big Brother résumé of all of these beauty queens, with the 27-year-old personal stylist from West Bloomfield, Michigan winning the $750,000 grand prize along with $50,000 for being voted America’s Favorite Houseguest, making her the biggest single-season prize money winner ($800,000) and first to win both of these honors in the same season.

Taylor defeated Monte Taylor in an 8-1 vote, had two HoH wins (Week 6, Week 11) and was nominated six times (Week 1, Week 2, Week 4, Week 8, Week, 10, Week 12) en route to her victory.

Taylor also finished in 2nd place on Big Brother: Reindeer Games, so with one season winner and another 2nd-place, Taylor knows how to win. And she did win as a beauty pageant contestant, winning Miss Michigan USA in 2021 and being awarded the Miss Congeniality crown at the 2021 Miss USA Pageant in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Brooklyn Rivera, Big Brother 26

Like Jamie and Candice, 34-year-old business administrator from Dallas, Brooklyn has a similar, bland Big Brother résumé, with zero HoHs and zero PoVs and one nomination (Week 5) and a 12th-place finish on Big Brother 26, being evicted on Day 38.

Brooklyn was a beauty pageant champion, winning Mrs. America 2021, on March 27, 2021 at the Westgate Resorts in Las Vegas as she represented Texas. Brooklyn was born in Covington, Georgia and now lives in McKinney, Texas with her husband and their three children.

Brooklyn is the founder of 17:20 Coaching to help young beauty pageant contestants.