Big Brother Season 26 is on the way, which means another season full of twists, turns and probably some Have-Nots as well. Being a Have-Not and forced to a diet of slop or something else that's unpleasant is never fun, but the real pain is usually the room Houseguests are forced to sleep in. There have been some pretty awful ones over the years on the United States version, so I decided to rank the nine worst.
I briefly revisited each of the below rooms using my Paramount+ subscription, and I believe these are, without a doubt, the worst Have-Not rooms players were subjected to in the history of the game. Of course, I've ranked it from bad to the absolute worst, with the reasons for them being chosen varying from entry to entry.
9. Big Brother Season 21
As a fan, there are a lot of things about Big Brother Season 21 that feel icky. Perhaps the biggest part is that the Have-Not portion only lasted a couple of weeks beyond the ending of Camp Comeback, which essentially became the Have-Not room with a different name. The living conditions weren't awful, but the fact they shared a room with four other people they had to eliminate to re-enter the game was pretty brutal. This one was also bad due to the controversy of the white-majority Houseguests putting nearly all the minorities into Camp Comeback, and then the one white evictee, Cliff Hogg, returning.
8. Big Brother Season 22
In terms of comfort, the Big Brother Season 22 room might be the best on this list. In fairness, the season happened during pandemic lockdowns, so perhaps the production team didn't want Houseguests to suffer too much. They did, however, create a unique problem in that everyone who stayed in the room could only enter via a small door that required crawling to get inside and leave. This made it very hard to make an entrance or exit without being spotted, which made private conversations next to impossible.
7. Big Brother Season 20
If you like sleeping like a dog or cat, the Have-Not Room in Big Brother Season 20 wouldn't be that bad. Most humans don't, however, so sleeping on a circular satellite-like disc would be a real pain for people who don't like curling up to sleep. I think this is one where smaller people at least wouldn't be quite as put out by the beds, but I don't think there's any chance of a showmance sharing a disc to sleep.
6. Big Brother Season 16
Some people prefer to sleep in the cold, but how would it impact readers who like some warmth, but couldn't have it? The Have-Not room in Big Brother Season 16 would be a nightmare for some, as Houseguests were forced to sleep in a cold room with no blankets. When I watched Season 16 for the first time, I was stunned more people didn't complain about it. Then again, it seems like many Houseguests complain about the temperature of the house and how cold it is every season.
5. Big Brother Season 12
For as unpleasant as Have-Not rooms often are in Big Brother, I wouldn't call many of them disgusting. The sole exception to this would be Season 12's room, which had literal maggots in the room where people slept. Granted, they were in jars, but the smell was strong enough that Houseguests complained, and I'm sure sleeping in lawn chairs wasn't a picnic either.
4. Big Brother Season 14
I don't think I've ever been in a room that would make me want to vomit after spending too long in it, but if I was on Big Brother Season 14 and made into a Have-Not, that would've happened. The hypnotic black-and-white swirls make for a headache, but that wasn't the only terrible bit Houseguests had to endure. The curved beds with a slope made it very hard to get comfortable unless you laid down a very specific way, so if you didn't like sleeping like a crescent moon, tough. Imagine laying in bed at night in one of these while witnessing one of the wildest Big Brother moments of all time, Dan's Funeral, and thinking it couldn't get any worse for your game than this.
3. Big Brother Season 15
Big Brother Season 15 might be known for its more problematic moments the show would rather people forget, but it also had one of the worst Have-Not rooms of all time. Flying on a plane is convenient because it's the fastest form of travel, but it's fair to say unless you're in first class, it's not exactly a comfortable ride. So when the Houseguests saw they had to sleep on airline seats, they were not too pleased. The seats couldn't even be reclined, so the best Houseguests could do was raise the middle arm rest and lay across painful seatbelts. It was inventive, though Season 15 winner Andy Herren likely theorized it was another cheap cost-cutting measure by BB.
2. Big Brother Season 13
Living in the Big Brother house can make you feel like you're losing your mind, but the Season 13 Have-Not Room would really have you questioning your sanity. Houseguests were forced to sleep in a padded cell side by side with bright lights that never turned off. Typically Have-Not rooms are overly gaudy and colorful, but the lack of stimuli in a room that is basically all-white would give me a headache, and sleeping directly beside every other Houseguest being punished would make it hell too.
1. Big Brother Season 18
I don't think I've ever been more confident about a number one choice in my life. The Season 18 Big Brother Have-Not room had bumper cars for beds. Those aren't even comfortable to ride in when you're using them for their intended use, and Houseguests were expected to sleep in them at night. With next to zero legroom, no one could even really do much besides huddle into a ball and hope that exhaustion would ultimately win over the feeling of discomfort of being forced to sleep in the equivalent of a stuffed clown car.
There's still time before the premiere of Big Brother Season 26, so feel free to stream classic seasons right now on Paramount+. There are so many seasons worth watching and even rewatching for those who have seen them all, and I know that I love taking a trip back in time to see how reality television has changed over the years.
