Xavier Prather was a man on a mission this season on “Big Brother.”
“Losing is not an option,” the Milwaukee attorney said this week on the show. “I refuse to be denied what I’ve worked so hard for.”
Prather, 27, was not denied.
He won “Big Brother” on Wednesday night and captured the $750,000 grand prize — the largest ever awarded on the CBS reality-competition series. In the process, he became the first Black champion in the show’s 21-year run.
Prather earned all nine of the jury’s votes in a clean sweep.
“It’s surreal,” Prather said on stage with host Julie Chen Moonves after walking out of the “Big Brother” house with confetti coming down.
Here are five things to know about Prather and what made him the winner of “Big Brother.”
Xavier Prather was playing for his brother Arrion, who died this year
The audience watching at home knew some personal details about Prather during the season, but it wasn’t until the last week that Prather revealed his motivation.
His family — specifically his late brother, Arrion, and his nephew, Kobe.
“My desire to win this season is to pay homage to my late brother,” Prather said in a diary-room session that aired during Sunday’s show. “My brother passed shortly before I entered the ‘Big Brother’ house and he left behind a son, and I made a promise to my brother when he was still living that as long as I was around his son would want for nothing if I had anything to do about.
“I made a promise to my brother, and I’m not going to let anything get in the way of that.”
Prather joined many alliances this season, including a final two with Derek Frazier, son of boxer Joe Frazier
One way Prather made it this far on “Big Brother” was his ability to successfully navigate all the relationships and alliances he built over the course of the show’s 85 days. And there were many.
As Prather said, “the best way to gain protection” is through alliances.
He was part of alliances called the Slaughterhouse and the Royal Flush, groups formed early on. While they weren’t his No. 1 alliances and they gradually fell apart as others were eliminated, they allowed him to stay under the radar and in favor with whoever was in power. He also was a member of a strong four-person Kings team (“Big Brother” put players in teams during the first part of the game).
He also formed final-two deals. One was with Derek Frazier on Day 1, and the other was with Kyland Young late in the season. Those two members were part of Prather’s “most important” alliance, the Cookout, formed during the first week.
Frazier, the son of legendary boxer Joe Frazier, finished as the show’s runner-up.
The Cookout made ‘Big Brother’ history
The Cookout advanced all six of its members to the final six on the show, the largest alliance ever to successfully get to this point.
All six of them — three men and three women — are African American.
“As a Black man in America, the mission of the Cookout was extremely important to me,” Prather said. “Representation matters.”
The group’s mission was clear: Make sure “Big Brother” crowns its first African American winner.
“Big Brother” has come under fire over the years for race-related controversies. Last year, CBS said it would adjust its casting so it would have at least 50% of its casts Black, Indigenous and other people of color.
While the members of the Cookout had a plan to keep each other safe, it wasn’t always easy and their personalities often clashed. But they had a winning strategy with each forming side duo alliances with other unsuspecting houseguests. This ensured the numbers were always in their favor when they didn’t win a competition, though they won many.
“I was definitely the glue that kept the Cookout together,” Prather said. “I was able to help the group stay strong, stay together and stay focused on the mission at hand.”
Prather said Wednesday he “wouldn’t have been here without the Cookout. We all made history, so we should all be proud.”
Prather’s strategy was to not reveal that he was a Division II college basketball player, and an attorney at Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren
Prather had a plan and he stuck to it throughout the season.
“I was very strategic when it came to competing,” Prather said. “Throwing competitions early on was essential for maintaining a low threat level.”
But he did win one Head of Household early on and nominated the person everyone wanted to target, which he said showed his houseguests that “this was someone you can trust” when the roles are reversed.
Prather also said a key to his success was not revealing his complete identity. He’s a former college basketball player — he played at Division II Spring Arbor University in Michigan — and is an attorney at Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren. But Prather told the houseguests he was a bartender (which is admitted he does for weddings on the side and is a model). While some of the houseguests, including those in the Cookout, suspected he was an attorney, he kept it a secret.
“Coming into this game, I knew that people might want to target me because I have an athletic build and usually people who are viewed as physical threats go home first,” Prather said. “I feel like if I didn’t conceal my identity from the rest of the houseguests I wouldn’t have made it this far.”
He revealed his complete identity to his fellow houseguests after the jury issued their votes Wednesday.
Prather helped remove his threats like Tiffany Mitchell and Kyland Young down the stretch
After the Cookout made it to the final six, Prather’s social, strategic and competition skills were on display. He joined a final two with one of the other biggest male threats in the house, Young, and then helped vote out his biggest strategic threat in the house, Tiffany Mitchell, and her closest alley, Hannah Chaddha, to set up the final four.
He then won not only the Head of Household and Veto at the final four but persuaded Frazier to eliminate Young. Although Young promised to take Prather to the final two, Prather said “Kyland’s a big threat” and “when it came time to take that shot, I took it.”
Prather won the three-part final HOH Wednesday night, correctly answering all eight of the questions in a head-to-head competition with Azah Awasum.
After Prather won, he cast the sole vote to evict Awasum, making her the final member of the jury.
The jury — the houseguests who were voted out after the sixth week — then asked questions of the final two before casting their votes for the winner.
Prather outlined his résumé to the jury and stressed how his all-around game made him the best choice to win “Big Brother.”
The jury unanimously agreed.
Contact Christopher Kuhagen at (262) 446-6634 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @ckuhagenand our newsroom Instagram accounts at MyCommunityNow and Lake Country Now.
