Who Is The History-Making 'Big Brother 24' Winner Taylor Hale?

Taylor Hale is officially a "Big Brother" champ!

The 2021 Miss Michigan USA was crowned the winner of the 24th season of "Big Brother" on Sunday night, following a dominating eight-to-one jury vote from her fellow houseguests. By doing so, Hale became the first Black woman to wear the winner's crown on the CBS reality show, which has been on the air since July 2000.

The celebratory event was kicked into full gear after fellow contestant Monte Taylor chose to take Hale with him into the top two positions, following his final Head of Household competition win. According to Yahoo!, the West Bloomfield native stepped forward to make her last plea to jury members, stating:

"I have overcome so much in this game, and I have come to understand that I am not a shield. I am a sword. I am not a victim. I am a victor. If there is one word that is going to describe the entire season, it is resiliency. If you were to ask yourself who the most resilient person of this season has been, it is me."

Hale continued by challenging jury members to choose the type of winner they wanted to have in 2022 and emphatically highlighting resilience and persistence as the yardstick before adding, "I have never given up on myself, and I refuse to do it tonight when I'm sitting next to such a strong competitor."

The newest show winner further challenged them to "make the hard decision and change the course of the game and choose progress for the course of this game." She concluded by vowing not to waste their votes if they chose her as the show's champion.

In addition to being the first Black woman to be crowned "Big Brother" champion, it was also the first time in the reality series' history that the game champion also won "America's Favorite Houseguest," earning Hale a whopping $800,000 cash prize.

The 27-year-old was also named "Miss Congeniality 2021" at Miss USA and is a personal stylist, per an observation from Hollywood Life. The outlet further noted that the 27-year-old described herself as a "very optimistic" individual during a pregame interview.

Hale said that even though she would not admit to being a "bubbly person," she was "very outgoing" — a trait that usually stops people from "sticking it out in the long run in the game."

Deadline has reported the confirmed return of "Big Brother" for its 25th season in summer 2023. Julie Chen Moonves broke the news of the popular reality competition coming back in a Twitter clip where she said:

"We are coming back for our 25th season of the show. And if you want to be on the show, all you have to do is go to bigbrothercasting.tv to try out. Who knows, expect the unexpected. You might be a house guest. I'll see you next summer. Bye"

The news of the show's return is no surprise as it has continued to thrive in recent years. CBS data claimed that "viewers have spent over 11.56 billion minutes with Big Brother on the CBS Television Network, Paramount+ and CBS.com/the CBS app, according to Nielsen linear viewing and Paramount internal data since season 24 launched on July 6th, 2022."

The report added that "Big Brother" content was ahead of "every series on streaming services in engagement," including the latest season of Netflix's hit show "Stranger Things." The show had 8.99 billion minutes watched, per Nielsen Streaming Data from July 6 - September 18, 2022. 

The reality show's Wednesday and Thursday broadcasts are tied as the "summer's top primetime show" in adults aged 25 to 54, with Sunday episodes tying for third. The three primetime shows were among the top ten programs for viewers and adults of that age range.

"Big Brother" is produced by Emmy Award-winning producer Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan for Fly on the Wall Entertainment in association with Endemol Shine North America.