Big Brother 3 (U.S.) - Format

Format

The third season of the series featured very little change from the previous season. HouseGuests are sequestered in the Big Brother House with no contact to or from the outside world. Each week, the HouseGuests take part in several compulsory challenges that determine who will win food, luxuries, and power in the House. The winner of the weekly Head of Household competition is immune from nominations and must nominate two fellow HouseGuests for eviction. After a HouseGuest becomes Head of Household, he or she is ineligible to take part in the next Head of Household competition. HouseGuests also take part in food competitions in which they must win in order to eat regular foods. Losers of the competition are put on a peanut butter and jelly diet.

On eviction night, all HouseGuests except for the Head of Household and the two nominees vote to evict one of the two nominees. This compulsory vote is conducted in the privacy of the Diary Room by the host Julie Chen. In the event of a tie, the Head of Household must cast the deciding vote, announcing it in front of the other HouseGuests. Unlike other versions of Big Brother, the HouseGuests may discuss the nomination and eviction process openly and freely. The nominee with the greater number of votes will be evicted from the House on the live Thursday broadcast, exiting to an adjacent studio to be interviewed by Chen. HouseGuests may voluntarily leave the House at any time and those who break the rules may be expelled from the house by Big Brother. Following their eviction, all of the previously evicted HouseGuests return home until the show's finale. The evicted HouseGuests then vote on whom they feel should win the $500,000 prize.

In a new twist for this season, the Silver Power of Veto (or PoV for short) was introduced, in which the holder of the Veto could save a nominee from the block. A nominee could not Veto themselves, and had to be saved by someone else. A weekly competition was held a day or two after nominations to determine the weekly holder of the power, similar to the Head of Household competitions. Throughout the season, the Power of Veto was only used once, which was the first week. The final Power of Veto was called the Golden Power of Veto, and allowed a nominee to remove themselves from the block. This is the only season to feature the Silver Pov, as the Golden Power of Veto would be featured in all seasons following this one. A second twist in the game, with the title Expect the Unexpected, saw the return of a previously evicted HouseGuest. The remaining players in the game were given an option between two previously evicted HouseGuests they would like to see return, and voted on which of the two they would like to see come back. The previously evicted HouseGuest returned on Day 41.