‘Big Brother’ Crowns Rick Devens Season 28 Winner and CBS Renews the Series Through Season 30

Big Brother just wrapped one season and immediately made sure fans would not have to wonder about its future.

Rick Devens was crowned the winner of Big Brother Season 28 during Thursday night’s live 90-minute finale, taking home the $750,000 grand prize after beating fellow finalist Taylor Brown. Brown finished in second place and earned $75,000, while Devens walked away with one more victory before the night was over: viewers also voted him America’s Favorite Player, adding another $50,000 to his haul.

Not a bad night at the office. Devens, 42, entered the game as one of this season’s three “Icons,” joining Big Brother alum Angela Murray and Survivor 45 winner Dee Valladares. That put a target on him immediately, but he still managed to stay in the game long enough to build a résumé the jury could not ignore.

During his run, Devens picked up two Head of Household wins, two Power of Veto victories and a BB Blockbuster win. More importantly, he managed to turn what could have been a giant “vote me out first” sign into a winning game, convincing the jury that his risk-taking and ability to survive as a major target deserved the top prize.

His win also makes Big Brother history. Devens becomes the first Survivor castaway to go on and win Big Brother, which feels very on-brand for someone who clearly does not mind signing up for reality-TV stress more than once.

CBS also used the finale to make another major announcement: Big Brother has been renewed for two more seasons, taking the franchise through Season 30. That is a pretty big vote of confidence for a show that has been part of CBS summers for more than two decades. According to the network, Season 28 generated 14.8 billion minutes watched, up 9% from last summer, while averaging 5.1 million viewers in seven-day multiplatform viewing, up 8% year over year.

The season also hit a major franchise milestone by becoming the first primetime series to reach 1,000 original episodes. CBS says Big Brother also earned two Guinness World Records titles this season and delivered more than 52 hours of original programming, the most in the show’s 26-year history.

And somehow, after 28 seasons, the show is still finding new ways to make summer TV feel like a social experiment nobody can stop watching. Devens will continue his victory lap Friday morning with an appearance on CBS Mornings, where he is expected to talk about his journey through the game and what it feels like to leave the house with both the grand prize and America’s Favorite Player title.

For now, Season 28 belongs to Rick Devens, but the bigger story for longtime fans may be that Big Brother is not going anywhere anytime soon. Seasons 29 and 30 are officially on the way.