Every summer, a group of 16 strangers (it changes depending on what twists are thrown into the different seasons) are put into a house together. They have zero privacy. Every single move is caught on one of over ninety cameras, and every single sound is recorded on small, portable microphones.

During their stay in the house (and later in the jury house, for those who make it that far in the game), there is no contact with the outside world. The houseguests are not allowed to use phones, computers, radios, televisions, or anything that could provide contact with anyone other than their fellow houseguests and the production staff.

The house guests must participate in three different competitions every week: Head of Household (HOH), Battle of the Block (BOB), and Power of Veto (POV).

Once they win the competition, the Head of Household for the week held all the power … until a new twist changed all of that. This past season, there were two Heads of Household. They both nominated two houseguests for eviction.

That leads to the Battle of the Block, in which both sets of nominees compete to be taken off the block. Whichever pair wins earns their freedom, as well as removes the HOH that put them up from power.

A handful of the house guests, including the remaining nominees, participate in order to win the Golden Power of Veto. The POV can take one of the nominees off the block, which results in the HOH putting up a new nominee.

At the end of each week, one of the nominees are voted out of the house, two new Heads of Household are crowned, and the whole cycle starts over again.

After a predetermined amount of house guests have been evicted, the evictees afterward are sent to the Jury House, a secluded house where they will live until they vote for the winner during the finale at the end of the summer.

As with any “reality” show (after all, how realistic is the situation these people are in?) the viewers get caught up in the drama.

“The show overall is amazing and is a very clever social experiment,” Freshman Katy Houk said. “This is season in particular was twisted in many ways and was full of competitors with egos the size of the moon.”

The twists and turns are what keep viewers watching.

“It’s all purely for entertainment and lives up to every expectation,: sophomore Sarah Travis said. “It’s really cool that there’s a new episode three days a week and that it really keeps the contestants away from all knowledge of the outside world.”

And as with any reality TV show, the final outcome is what keeps viewers coming back week after week.

“I honestly think that Derrick deserved to win and that he played a smart social game in a addition to being a strong competitor in mental competitions as well as physical,” junior Jaylee Hullum said. “Also, Donny deserved to win America’s Favorite Player because he always stuck to his morals and treated everyone in the house equally.”