Who Will Be America’s Favorite On ‘BB17’?

As the season finale of Big Brother draws closer (it’s on Sept. 18, for those of you wondering), there is more than just the $500,000 prize to get excited about. I mean, sure, that’s the biggest prize of the night, and the one that everyone in the house is gunning for, but the houseguests also have the possibility of winning America's Favorite Houseguest on Big Brother 17. If you’re new to Big Brother, you might not know exactly what this prize is, so I have all the details for you, including who is the most likely to win it based on past winners, and on how the season has been going so far.

First of all, the America's Favorite Houseguest is a prize that is given to the houseguest who gets the most votes from viewers. Earlier in the season, voting for the Fan Favorite opened to viewers everywhere, giving the power of the prize money entirely to the people who love the show the most — the fans. Whichever houseguest wins America's Favorite Houseguest not only wins the feeling of being loved by millions of fans (last year’s prize brought in over 10 million votes), but he or she also wins $25,000. Not too shabby when you think about it. I wish I could win money just for being likable.

So let’s take a look at who has won the prize in the past. It might help to determine who is going to win it this year.

First of all, no one has ever won the prize who has not been in either the jury house or the house itself. That means that all of the players you loved, and who were voted out early (sup, Da'Vonne!), are probably not likely to win America's Favorite Houseguest. That narrows it down to jury members, and the people currently in the Big Brother house.

And then there is the fact that the prize has mostly been won by men. But, when a girl has won it, she has almost always been a blonde. So let’s see who that gives us. All the guys in the jury house or in the house (John, Steve, Austin, James), and all of the blonde girls (Vanessa, Meg, Julia, and Liz).

That doesn’t really help narrow it down by much, but I also think there’s something else to take into consideration: America loves the houseguests who play the most honest game, right? I mean, for the most part. So, bye bye Vanessa (for playing all sides of the house), Austin (for cheating on his girlfriend), and Liz (for being the other woman).

That leaves us with John, Steve, James, Meg, and Julia. I have a strong feeling that one of these five will take it, but my money is on either Meg or James. I’m not sure how America will react to Meg’s sweetness, but I think people are pretty smitten by how James has played the game, and how he has entertained everyone in the house with his awesome pranks and personality. We’ll have to wait until the finale to find out for sure, but at least we’re all a little bit closer to knowing who is most likely going to be America’s Favorite.

For more on this season of Big Brother, check out Bustle's podcast The Diary Room.

Image: CBS (3)