There have been many players coming in and out of the Big Brother house over the years. While most of them use their own game tactics to compete inside the famous house, some have had similar game strategies to those of fellow past Big Brother players. Former Big Brother winners Dan Gheesling and Cody Calafiore are two players who have had similar Big Brother journeys that ultimately led to victories. Being the older one of the two, Dan first competed on Big Brother during season 10 in 2008. At just 24 years old, Dan became $500K richer after he was crowned the winner on finale night. Then, two summers later, Dan returned to the game for season 14, during which he initially started as a coach. As the season went on, Dan, and the other returning players who were aiding the new players as a coach, all began to play their own individual games as well. Dan ultimately came in second place at the end of the season. Throughout both seasons, Dan played a unique, yet very successful, game in which he utilized his mental strengths over physical strengths.
Similar to Dan, Cody has also competed on two seasons of Big Brother. Cody first entered the famous house in 2014 when he was one of 16 houseguests competing on Big Brother 16. Unlike Dan, who became a winner in his first season of being on the show, Cody came in second place in season 16. He later returned to the famous house for Big Brother: All Stars in 2020. This time around, Cody was determined to take home the grand prize, and he did just that. Most recently, Cody competed on the brand-new spin-off show Big Brother: Reindeer Games, during which fans were shocked to see he was one of the first players eliminated from the competition. But he shares similar traits to his BB predecessor.
Dan and Cody Have Different Game Strategies But Are Masters at the Game
With their biggest similarity being that they are both Big Brother legends and winners, Dan and Cody have a lot in common. Although Cody competed in Big Brother: Reindeer Games this past winter, both he and Dan have competed in two regular seasons of Big Brother. During their two opportunities to compete inside the house, the legends never saw the jury house nor do they know what it is like to be evicted. Instead, Cody and Dan both made it to the finale night of each of the seasons they have competed in. Dan and Cody have each won a season and came in second place in another season. Being that this is an extremely hard task to do once, let alone twice, this is just one of many reasons why the two former Big Brother winners are considered to be legends.
There is also something quite impressive about both Dan and Cody’s season wins. When Dan sat in one of the final two chairs on finale night, he anxiously watched host Julie Chen Moonves reveal each of the jury votes. He quickly realized that vote after vote was for him and not for season runner-up, Memphis Garrett. After being crowned the winner of the season, Dan also became the first Big Brother player to ever win a season by a unanimous jury vote. Then, over ten years later, Cody sat in the final two chairs next to Enzo Palumbo on Big Brother: All Stars. As the jury votes were revealed, Cody began to feel the same emotions Dan had so many years prior. Cody then became the second player ever to win the season unanimously. Aside from Dan and Cody, the only other player to ever do this in the history of the show was season 23 winner Xavier Prather, who sat next to Derek Frazier in the final two.
As if winning a season of Big Brother by a unanimous jury vote was not impressive enough, both Dan and Cody also came in second place on a separate season of the show. This means they have each had the opportunity to become the first-ever two-time Big Brother winner, but ultimately fell just short of achieving this accomplishment. During their winning seasons, both Dan and Cody won the final, and most important, Head of Household competition. By doing so, they could choose who they wanted to sit next to in the final two. Unlike Dan, who only won this competition during his winning season, Cody won the final Head of Household reign during both of his seasons competing. Cody stayed loyal to his best ally, Derrick Levasseur, his first time around, despite knowing he would likely not win next to him. Then, during the All-Star season, Cody made his decision based on who he believed he could win next to.
Ironically, both Dan and Cody were just 24 years old when they started their reality TV journeys. Because Dan returned to the show much sooner than Cody did, he was younger than Cody was during his second time compete. While Cody recently returned to the Big Brother house for a third time, Dan has yet to compete for a third time. Instead, Dan was recently one of 22 reality stars competing on season 2 of The Traitors. In the first episode of the murder mystery show, Dan was chosen to be one of the three traitors for the season. Similarly, Cody competed in the first season of the reality show last year, during which he was also chosen to be a traitor. Unfortunately for Cody, he was not as successful on The Traitors as he was on Big Brother. So far, Dan has not succeeded on The Traitors as easily as he once did on Big Brother. Because both Dan and Cody are known to be such strong, and successful, Big Brother players, they are the first players to be targeted when competing on other shows like The Traitors. There is no doubt that these former Big Brother winners are indeed legends on the show, but they may also be the most similar past Big Brother players as well.