Big Brother 13 (U.S.)

Big Brother 13 was the thirteenth season of the American reality television series Big Brother. It is based upon the Netherlands series of the same name, which gained notoriety in 1999 and 2000. The series premiered on CBS on July 7, 2011 and lasted ten weeks until the live finale on September 14, 2011. The 13th season continued to have an increase in ratings, much like the previous two seasons had. The season premiered to a total of 7.89 million viewers, a slight increase from the previous season's launch. The season finale had a total of 7.78 million viewers, only slightly lower than the previous season. In total, the series averaged 7.95 million viewers, higher than that of the previous three seasons and the highest since Big Brother 5 in 2004. Big Brother 13 featured a total of 14 HouseGuests, six of which were previous HouseGuests from past seasons. The series ended after 75 days, in which returning HouseGuest Rachel Reilly was crowned the Winner, while new HouseGuest Porsche Briggs was crowned the Runner-up.

Big Brother 13 was produced by Endemol USA and Fly on the Wall Entertainment, with Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan returning as executive producers. This season of the program was announced on September 15, 2010, before the season finale of Big Brother 12 was transmitted, due to significant increases in the ratings over Big Brother 11. Casting for season began in mid-April with applications and video tape submissions that did not have a set deadline. Applicants chosen to be a finalist went to Los Angeles, from which applicants were narrowed down to a pool of 40 finalists. Robyn Kass, casting director for Big Brother, revealed on her Twitter account on June 8, 2011 that the semi-finalist were contacted while no final decision on who would be selected for the program had been made. The selected group of HouseGuests were put into sequester on June 25, 2011 and interviewed by the media with their identities revealed on Yahoo TV on the morning of June 30, 2011. The 8 original cast members entered the house on July 2, 2011 as did the 6 returning players a few hours later. Nine HouseGuests new to Big Brother were revealed on June 30 through Yahoo! and WeLoveBigBrother, a fan site which was able to interview the HouseGuests. Jason Thomas, a 26-year-old boxing promoter, was dropped from the list of HouseGuests due to "a casting decision" that trimmed the number of new HouseGuests this season down to eight.

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