Big Brother 10 recap: Dan Gheesling runs the table as America’s Player

Big Brother 10 was a noteworthy season, as Dan Gheesling became one of the most infamous players in the history of the show. At the time, though, the TV ratings were some of the worst that the reality competition show had received.

For the summer 2008 season, producers dropped the cast to just 13 houseguests, started the show later (July 13), and had them play the game for just 71 days. It is the shortest season of the show, not counting the celebrity editions, but it also returned some very memorable moments. When Dan Gheesling was named the Big Brother 10 winner, he became the first one to do so unanimously.

The Big Brother 10 cast

There are a number of houseguests from the BB10 cast that are still very memorable, years later. Catholic school teacher Dan Gheesling, bodybuilder Jessie Godderz, beauty salon owner Renny Martyn, mixologist Memphis Garett, telecom manager Brian Hart, and waitress Keesha Smith were some of the more notable names.

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America’s Player twist

The main twist of the season was that fans were allowed to vote on someone becoming America’s Player. This person would then be tasked with carrying out missions. Fans would get to name someone that would be a target of each mission. For example, fans tasked Dan with trying to get Jessie nominated for eviction. In a later week, Dan was tasked with voting to evict Jessie over Memphis. He completed all the tasks, winning $20,000 each time he did so.

The Renegades alliance of Dan and Memphis

Midway through the season, Dan and Memphis made a deal to get to the end of the show together, forming The Renegades alliance. It turned out to be a very powerful partnership, which did succeed in getting them both to the final two. The alliance could be blamed on Jerry MacDonald, who called Dan “Judas” due to his vote the previous week. That vote had been to evict Jessie, which was a tie-breaking vote that saved Memphis, turning Jerry against Dan.

With this 7-0 jury vote, Dan Gheesling quickly became one of the most memorable faces the game has seen. It would lead to him getting invited to play in Big Brother 14 as one of the coaches. Jessie Godderz also found popularity, with producers bringing him back for Big Brother 11. Dan would certainly be a good addition to any future All-Stars season, with fans still continuing to debate whether the Big Brother 10 winner was a villain or not.