Big Brother Houseguests who were related

Throughout the 26 American seasons of Big Brother we have seen many Houseguests who have actually been related. Let’s take a look at 12 contestants who were family.

Cirie Fields and Jared Fields

On Big Brother 25, it was a secret to most that Cirie Fields, a 53-year-old surgical director from Jersey City, New Jersey, was the mother of Jared Fields, a 25-year-old exterminator from Norwalk, Connecticut. But not all.

Early on, Izzy Gleicher figured out that Jared was Cirie’s son, and Jared also confided his fling in the house, Blue Kim, that his mom was also in the house, but he never told his mom. And Bowie Jane also eventually knew that the two were related.

Cirie (evicted Day 93) and Jared (evicted Day 51) were the second-ever parent-child duo to compete on Big Brother, with Evel Dick and Daniel Donato being the first. Before playing on BB25, Cirie won Season1 of The Traitors. And was also on four seasons of Survivor (Panama, Micronesia, Heroes vs Villains, and Game Changers), finishing in the top 6 three times.

Now 54, Cirie was also on Snake In The Grass (USA Network), where she was a co-winner with two other Big Brother icons, Janelle Pierzina and Rachel Reilly, splitting the $100,000 prize. Many didn’t like this secret mother-son twist, but the producers don’t care what we think.

Evel Dick Donato and Daniele Donato Briones

On Big Brother 8, we were introduced to Evel Dick and Daniele Donato, who were part of a surprise rivals twist upon entering the house with six Houseguests not knowing someone they had a tense connection with would also be playing the game.

Besides Dick and Daniele, Joe and Dustin and Carol and Jessica and Carol were the other two, and although the latter pairs never really allied and worked together, Dick and Daniele joined forces early on after an emotional conversation, and ended up navigated their way to the winner (ED) and runner-up (Dani) spots in the Final 2.

Dick won $500,000 and Daniele took home $50,000, and to date, the remain two of the best teammates in the show’s history and would return for one of the All-Stars seasons where Daniele met her future husband, Dominic Briones on Big Brother 13.

When Dick entered the house on BB8, he was 44 and a bar manager in Los Angeles while Dani was just 20—the youngest contestant ever at that point—and worked as a waitress in Huntington Beach. Dick is still the oldest winner in Big Brother history.

Adria Montgomery-Klein and Natalie Montgomery-Carroll

In 2004, on Big Brother 5, the fun Twin Twist saw identical twins Adria Klein and Natalie Carroll both playing the game, but the other houseguests were unaware they were switching places every few days and trading information. They both turned 50 this past June.

Natalie finished in ninth place while Adria followed her out a week later in seventh place. Both attended Troy State University in Troy, Alabama where they graduated with Bachelor of Science degrees and played for the Trojans softball team.

Rachel Reilly and and Elissa Reilly Slater

After falling short on Big Brother 12, Rachel Reilly returned the following season and won Big Brother 13 in an all-women’s Final 2 with Porsche Briggs. Two seasons after Rachel’s win, her sister Elissa was a houseguest on Big Brother 15 where she was evicted on Day 77.

Elisa was smoked out in the first week of the season as Rachel’s sister by Judd, Jessie, and several other contestants and seeing this secret definitely didn’t help her game.

Cody Calafiore and Paulie Calafiore

Two brothers who have played Big Brother, but in different seasons and didn’t hide the relationship, were Cody Calafiore (Big Brother 16 and Big Brother 22) and Paulie Calafiore (Big Brother 18), residents of Howell, New Jersey.

On BB16, Cody finished as the runner-up with his partner in crime Derek Levasseur winning the show when Cody decided to take Derek, and not Victoria, to the Final 2. Cody would return and win BB22: All-Stars, playing the perfect game by not receiving a nomination all season and winning by a unanimous vote and the $500,000.

Paulie was evicted on Day 65 on BB18 and has gone on to be on other reality TV shows like Ex on the Beach 1 and several seasons of MTV’s The Challenge. Paulie was a finalist on Final Reckoning and War of the Worlds 2 and is currently dating another icon from The Challenge, Cara Maria Sorbello.

Julia Nolan and Liz Nolan 

On Big Brother 17, we saw the return of the Twin Twist when 23-year-old identical twins from Miami, Julia and Liz Nolan, played as one player for the first part of the game, and also switched places, like Adria and Natalie on BB5, trading information and keeping their secret as long as possible.

The two needed to last five evictions before both were allowed to play. And they did.

After ultimately entering as two players, Julia—who officially entered the game on Day 43—was evicted on Day 85 while Liz marched to the end and the Final 2, only to lose to Steve Moses, but still taking home $50,000 and finishing the highest of any Twin Twist player ever. Will we ever see the Twin Twist again? Odds are we will at some point.

Cowboy and Nakomis

On Big Brother 5 in 2004, the unique Project DNA twist introduced us to Jennifer “Nakomis” Dedmon and Michael “Cowboy” Ellis—and introduced them to each other as half-biological brother and sister. Before the show, neither knew they were related.

Nakomis, who was also on Big Brother 7, executed the first backdoor ever on Big Brother when Marvin Latimer on Big Brother used the Power of Veto to vote out Jase Wirey on Day 42. Jase would also return on BB7 where Nakomis was evicted on Day 18 and Jase a week later on Day 25.

Cowboy (age 23 at the time) and Nakomis (age 21) both finished in the top four on BB5 with strategist Nakomis finishing in 4th place and being evicted on Day 75 and Cowboy making it to the Final 2 where he lost to Drew Daniel on Finale Night but still won $50,000.

Will we see other future houseguests related to each other or to any past houseguests? This has almost become in the DNA of the show and never forget that everyone crawling in Team Ants and Zingbot 3000 and Zingbot 900 are also related.