‘Big Brother’ Xavier Prather Becomes First Black Winner of the Reality Show

History was made earlier this week on a reality show that has been around for 23 seasons.

According to Today, the reality television show Big Brother crowned a Black winner of a non-celebrity season for the first time in its 23 seasons being on the air. Xavier Prather, a 27-year-old lawyer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Prather took the title after winning by a unanimous 9-0 vote from the members of the house. In doing so, Prather became the first Black winner of the regular version of the show. Tamar Braxton was the first Black winner when she won Celebrity Big Brother in 2019.

It took 21 years and 23 seasons, but a Black person was victorious after the final vote. Prather also walked away $750,000 richer after defeating Derek Frazier. This was also the largest monetary prize in the history of the show.

“Being the first Black winner in BBUS history is an honor. And it’s something that the individuals of the Cookout came together to make it happen because we felt it was something bigger than this game. Representation is important,” Prather told Entertainment Weekly after his historic win.

“And now we want little Black boys and little Black girls to see: Hey, there are ways to be successful. There are ways to make an impact without being an amazing entertainer or being a professional athlete. You can still be successful in other ways. We wanted to show that with this season, and we accomplished that.”

The Cookout that Prather refers to was an all-Black alliance between him and five other Black contestants on the show, Azah Awasum, Derek Frazier, Kyland Young, Hannah Chaddha, and Tiffany Mitchell. Based on that group, and the last two standing was Prather and Frazier, they succeeded in making sure that this season’s “Big Brother” winner would be a Black person.