Josh Martinez evolved from Big Brother past

When we first met Josh Martinez in the Big Brother house in 2017, we all thought this guy would be evicted in no time and he would go down in the annals of the show’s history as just another loudmouth who had no game who we would never hear from again.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Josh not only made his mark on the show on Big Brother 19 but has also gone on to do other reality TV competition shows and has big plans for 2025 with three more shows he is set to compete on. Let’s look at what Josh has done and what he has planned for the future. 

About Josh Martinez

Josh was 23 years old when he entered the Big Brother house and was a haircare sales guy who lived in Homestead, Florida, a suburb of Miami located between Biscayne National Park and the Everglades National Park in Miami-Dade County.

He attended Everglades High School in Miramar, Florida, and then attended the private Catholic school St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens.

Josh, who has an older brother and an older sister, has always been very driven by the plight of his parents who moved to the Sunshine State.

“My family is my biggest motivation. My purpose now is to serve and give back to my family,” Martinez told the South Dade News Leader in 2020. “I think it stems from being a first-generation American. They left Cuba for a better life. They had to leave because they were in poverty. They didn’t have money for food and struggled.”

Big Brother 19

On Big Brother 19, Josh was extremely loud and polarizing and got into many arguments with other Houseguests early on including Mark Jansen, Elena Davies, Cody Nickson, Jessica Graf, and Kevin Schlehuber.

In one of the funniest moments in Big Brother history, Josh got into a nasty verbal brawl with Mark in the kitchen and eventually grabbed two pans and started banging them together and then danced toward Mark—who was dressed in a lime green tutu he was forced to wear for losing a competition—and sang circus music as he taunted him.

Josh, who would call other houseguests “Meatballs”—made two decent allies in Paul Abrahamian and Christmas Abbott and would make it all the way to the Final 2 with Paul, who he beat by a 5-4 vote, winning the $500,000 grand prize and becoming an improbable winner.

Over the 92 days, Josh won three Head of Households (Week 6, Week 11, Week 12), one Power of Veto (Day 79), and was nominated three times (Week 2, Week 4, Day 95). The win changed his life and a reality TV star was accidentally born.

Big Brother: Reindeer Games

Josh returned to Studio City last winter for Big Brother: Reindeer Games for the six-episode Christmas-themed show. He lasted four days and finished in sixth place and won an ugly sweater for his troubles. Merry Christmas?

He made the BBRG Naughty List one time (Episode 3), was nominated once (Episode 4), and won one Head of Household (Episode 2) in the quaint spinoff.

The Challenge 

Josh’s evolution into more reality TV competition shows led him to MTV’s The Challenge where he first competed on Season 33, The Challenge: War of the Worlds in 2019 where he competed against players from other reality shows including a number of Big Brother alum.

Paulie Calafiore (Big Brother 18), Da’Vonne Rogers (Big Brother 17), Julia Nolan (Big Brother 17), identical twin sister Liz Nolan (Big Brother 17), and Natalie Negrotti (Big Brother 18) all also competed in that season which was won by Turabi "Turbo" Çamkıran (Survivor Turkey 8).

Josh made it to Episode 8. He has also competed in Total Madness, Double Agents, Spies, Lies & Allies, The Challenge: USA 2, and The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras, which is currently airing on Wednesdays (8 EST/8 PST). Josh was eliminated in Episode 14 after losing the Daily Challenge with the Vacation Alliance member forced to compete in an Elimination in The Arena against Cory Wharton who sent him home packing.

He later revealed he suffered an injury during the season’s first or second challenge. Expect to see Josh onThe Challenge again.

Destination X

Premiering this coming spring of 2025, NBC has a new competition series based on the Belgian format called Destination X which will take contestants on a bus with blacked-out windows on a trip that offers challenges and clues to their ultimate location where the players try to figure out their ultimate destination.

Produced by Twofour—a branch of the British company ITV Studios that does The Traitors—Destination X will feature Josh, Peter Weber (The Bachelor), JaNa Craig, (Love Island USA), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Walking Dead), and others. There will be both US and UK versions of the show.

Los 50 

Los 50 is a reality TV competition show that made its debut on July 13, 2023, on Telemundo and has aired for two seasons. Adapted from the French series Les Cinquante, this show sees a group of 50 contestants living together in a luxurious estate and fighting it out for the $350,000 grand prize.

Josh revealed on his IG account that he would be a part of the next and third season of Los 50. Season 1 was won by actress and former St. Mary’s University soccer player Ana Parra while Season 2 is still airing and can be seen on Peacock and weeknights on Telemundo.