Big Brother 2

The second season of Big Brother, the American reality TV show aired twenty-nine episodes during the summer of 2001 from July 5 to September 20. New rules were introduced in this season and have been used since. Under these rules, viewers do not vote for housemates to be evicted. Each week, the housemates compete for the title of Head of Household (HOH). The contestant who wins this competition is given additional privileges, and also nominates two other housemates for eviction. The remaining housemates then vote their choice of the two nominees, and the one with the most votes is evicted. The HOH breaks a tie, if necessary. At season's end, the winner is selected by a vote of the evicted houseguests rather than by the viewing public (although the audience would decide who would win in the event of a tie). In a special twist this season, the two remaining houseguests got to decide which houseguest's vote they could void, in hopes that their vote was for their opponent, and that they would gain an advantage over the other player.

Early in the second season, a houseguest, Justin, placed a knife to the throat of fellow houseguest Krista. Both competitors were under the influence of alcohol, but Justin was quickly disqualified and evicted.

Contestant Shannon became known for her temper. After a snit with fellow houseguest Autumn, she placed a bag of chips on Autumn's pillow to make Autumn feel that one of the houseguests thought she was fat, without a note, so that Autumn would not know who did it and would become paranoid. After a fight with fellow houseguest Hardy, Shannon stormed off to the bathroom, where she picked up his electric toothbrush and scrubbed the toilet with it, in an ostensible act of revenge. The voice of Big Brother alerted Hardy to Shannon's actions, however.

The houseguests received a short visit from some contestants of the other CBS reality show Survivor. Gervase Peterson and Susan Hawk from Survivor: Pulau Tiga and Alicia Calaway and Jeff Varner from Survivor: The Australian Outback visited the house for a few hours in an episode that aired on September 5.

About two weeks before the end of the second season, the September 11 attacks pre-empted television for an entire week. In a move away from the rule of not letting the houseguests in on information from the outside world, the three remaining houseguests were told of the news. The "Big Brother" voice asked Monica to enter the diary room, and she was told that her cousin Tamitha was as yet not located at the World Trade Center. The week after the attacks, the game continued as normal.

On finale night, the audience was updated that former houseguest Sheryl was diagnosed with breast cancer and needed to undergo chemotherapy, as well as the news that Monica's cousin Tamitha had died at the World Trade Center.

At the end, a group of nine evicted contestants were gathered to decide who would win. Each finalist excluded one person, leaving a jury of seven to vote for the winner. Five voted for Will, who won the $500,000 grand prize. With only two votes, Nicole was awarded the runner-up prize of $50,000.