Fantasy's best players who didn't win Big Brother
· 3 min read
Every Big Brother season ends with one check and a lot of "what ifs". Fantasy keeps a different ledger. We scored BB2 through BB28 with our league rules and looked only at Game Score: the points a houseguest earns week to week from HOH wins, vetoes, nominations and surviving the block. No jury bonus, no finale, no AFP.
Under our scoring, three of the four biggest Game Scores in 27 seasons belong to people who didn't win.
The board
| Houseguest | Season | Finished | Game Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Abrahamian | BB19 | Runner-up | 36 |
| 2 | Janelle Pierzina | BB7 | 3rd | 35 |
| 3 | Jag Bains (won) | BB25 | Winner | 35 |
| 4 | Michael Bruner | BB24 | 6th | 33 |
| 5 | Makensy Manbeck | BB26 | Runner-up | 31 |
| 6 | Vanessa Rousso | BB17 | 3rd | 29 |
| 7 | Jackson Michie (won) | BB21 | Winner | 29 |
| 8 | Daniele Donato | BB8 | Runner-up | 28 |
Six of the top eight never won the game.
Paul, BB19: the fantasy MVP who lost 5–4
Paul's BB19 is the highest Game Score we've computed for any houseguest. He spent almost the whole season off the block (one nomination) and kept piling up HOH and veto points. Add the endgame and he finishes at 59, ahead of the actual winner, Josh, at 46.
And he'd done it before. BB18 Paul also out-scored his season's winner, Nicole, 51 to 45. If you drafted Paul, you won your league twice, then watched him lose the real thing twice.
Janelle, BB7: All-Stars, all comps
Janelle's 35 came in an All-Stars house where everyone knew she was the threat. Her BB7 win count in our grids matches the nine comps credited to her in our returnee data, which is why she sits a point behind Paul despite five trips to the block.
Michael Bruner, BB24: the sixth-place outlier
Bruner is the strangest line on this list. He finished sixth, not even in the final four, and still put up 33 Game Points, the most we've computed for anyone who didn't make the final three. That's what a comp-heavy run does in fantasy: the points are banked the week they happen, even if the house finally gets you out.
Makensy, BB26: Block Buster points
Makensy is the only three-nominee-era (BB26–28) houseguest in the top eight, and part of her score is new-era scoring: two Block Buster wins (+4 each) on top of vetoes and HOHs. Her 31 is the best Game Score of the three-nominee era under our scoring.
The honourable mentions
- Vanessa Rousso (BB17, 3rd), 29. Four HOHs' worth of points and only one nomination.
- Daniele Donato (BB8, runner-up), 28.
- Tyler Crispen (BB20, runner-up), 28. Tyler also out-scored the actual winner, Kaycee, on the full fantasy total.
- Morgan Pope (BB27, 3rd), 26.
Why this matters for your draft
Game Score is the part of fantasy you can see coming. Comp beasts score early and often, but the house tends to take them out before the jury hands over the check. A roster that pairs one comp beast (steady weekly points) with one survivor (the endgame payout) beats a roster of either kind.
See the full all-time leaderboard, or dig into Paul's BB19, Janelle's BB7, Bruner's BB24 and Makensy's BB26.
Scored under BB28 rules. Social and drama categories can't be scored for past seasons, so they're left out.
Fantasy Through BB History
Every season from BB2 to BB28, scored with our rules. See the numbers yourself.
Sources (1)
- “Fantasy Through Big Brother History,” Big Brother Fantasy, accessed November 13, 2026, https://bigbrotherfantasy.com/bb-history/fantasy.
Big Brother Fantasy is an independent fan site, not affiliated with CBS.
