‘Big Brother’ delivers its biggest audience in 3 years as viewers tune in to watch Ashley wipe the floor with Vince

The final battle between the shower enthusiast and the mustachioed fibber resulted in Big Brother‘s largest audience in three years.

Ashley Hollis, a 25-year-old attorney from Chicago, was crowned the winner of BB27 on Sunday night and walked away with the $750,000 grand prize. Her journey included a #showergate fiasco (where the other players accused her of taking a two-hour shower) and a failed attempt at trying to change her vote on live television (with host Julie Chen Moonves simply telling her, “No, no, no, no”).

The runner-up was Vince Panaro, a 34-year-old unemployed Californian and Big Brother superfan. He made so many enemies in the house with his unnecessary lying that even his close allies, Lauren Domingue and Keanu Soto, ended up voting for Ashley. She received six of the seven jury votes, with only Morgan Pope, the third-place finisher and Vince’s bestie in the house, supporting him.

CBS reports that the two-hour finale of Season 27 was seen by 4.25 million viewers. It’s now the most watched Big Brother episode in over three years, since 4.47 million viewers tuned in on Sept. 18, 2022 to watch Season 24’s Monte Taylor win the final Power of Veto and secure his spot in the finale alongside Head of Household (and eventual winner) Taylor Hale.

The final episode of Season 27 was up 33 percent from last year’s Season 26 finale. That one brought in 3.19 million viewers on Oct. 13, 2024, and resulted in Chelsie Baham winning unanimously over Makensy Manbeck.

Additionally, the Season 27 finale ratings were up 33 percent over the summer’s cumulative average. It was the No. 1 entertainment program on Sunday night, and it rated a 1.3 in the coveted 25-54 demographic.

Some fans had assumed that, after self-proclaimed “BB Queen” Rachel Reilly was shockingly eliminated from the game in a controversial twist on Sept. 9, the ratings for the rest of the 27th season would decline. Clearly, that wasn’t the case. (Note that Rachel did return for the finale as a juror, where she voted for Ashley to win.)

After being named the winner, Ashley just wanted to “get out” of the house, she told Gold Derby. “I wanted to see Julie. I wanted see the cast, wanted to see my family. I couldn’t believe it. I was in shock.” After being cooped up in the house for 83 days, the things she missed the most were her phone, going to restaurants, and seeing her family. “You have literally no connection to the outside world when you’re in the show,” she added. “So, it’s crazy.”

Ashley confirmed that her infamous shower was only “like 30 minutes.” She explained, “And may I just add, I felt very vindicated because after the live show ended, Julie told me she had watched it back. She said it wasn’t two hours, it was 30, maybe 40 minutes max. She told me, ‘You weren’t crazy — it wasn’t a long shower out of the ordinary.’ So, I felt very validated having Julie in my corner on that one.”

All episodes of Big Brother 27 are streaming now on Paramount+. Season 28 is expected to debut on CBS next summer.