September 18, 2014
Frankie Grande Evicted From 'Big Brother 16'
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Frankie Grande, the openly gay player who happens to be the half-brother of pop sensation Ariana Grande, was evicted from "Big Brother 16" Tuesday night, making him the latest houseguest to depart the show.
Grande, the 31-year-old "social media mogul," had a controversial season, and his run on the CBS reality show ended as the result of a new twist called the rewind button.
Last week, Grande held all the power in the house, winning the covered Head of Household challenge as well as the Power of Veto. It was an easy week (boring for the viewers) but it insured him a spot in the final four - that is until everyone decided to push a mysterious button. That decision cost Grande the game, as the entire week he reigned in power was moot.
The twist was revealed to the final five competitors a week ago. They would replay the same challenges in the week, meaning Grande would have to re-win everything to get his power back. Unfortunately for him, that didn't happen and the plan to send him packing went into full effect.
Grande is the seventh member of the nine-person jury after being voted out by a 2-0 vote. His fellow alliance members told him he was leaving so he wasn't blindsided - he saw it coming and threw glitter on his way out of the "Big Brother" house.
One of Grande's biggest moments came when the entire house turned on him and he was ready to go home. He flipped the script, however, and turned things around after revealing he is Ariana Grande's brother and that he was playing for charity, claiming he would donate the $500,000 grand prize to charity to help build schools in Africa. He also told his fellow houseguests he is a "social media mogul," revealing he had millions of followers on social media sites like Twitter and YouTube.
In an email interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the site asked Grande to explain what a "social media mogul" actually means:
"It means that the things that I tweet and post on all of my various social media platforms are read and re-blogged a lot (and that was before I entered the house). For example, New York Magazine recently published that I was one of the top most influential tweeters in New York City," he said.