Wisconsin attorney Xavier Prather made history as the first Black winner of Big Brother during the two-hour live season finale on Thursday night.

The 27-year-old was crowned the season 23 winner of the reality show after a unanimous 9-0 vote from the jury of evicted players.

The Black lawyer also took home the largest monetary prize in the history of the competition, walking away with $750,000. 

The win marks a historic victory in the 21-year existence of the regular version of the competition. In 2019, Tamar Braxton became the first Black winner of Celebrity Big Brother.

Prather predicted that the show would crown its first Black winner ahead of season 13, but it seemed like an unrealistic possibility due to the history of the show.

“Being the first Black winner in BBUS history is an honor,” Prather said to Entertainment Weekly after his win. “We want little Black boys and little Black girls to see: Hey, there are ways to be successful,’ says the new champ. ‘There are ways to make an impact without being an amazing entertainer or being a professional athlete.”

Big Brother is an American reality competition show that first premiered on CBS in July 2005.

The show is formatted as a social experiment where 10-16 “houseguests,” which are randomly chosen applicants, live together under 24/7 surveillance. It is a strategy game where contestants politic and campaign ahead of the weekly house votes, where one houseguest is voted out.

The high-rated series has captivated audiences who tune in each season to watch the experiment unfold. 

However, the show has been criticized for not only its lack of diverse contestants, but for its majority-white winners.

Several instances of racist bigoted commentary have also been aired on the show and illuminated the ways that non-white contestants are treated. Last year, cast member Memphis Garrett was heard saying the N-word during one of the off-air live streams of the show.

In another instance of racism, Asian cast member Helen Kim was told to “shut up and go make some rice,” along with other derogatory comments by Aaryn Gries.

CBS responded in a statement saying that it found the comments to be “offensive” and are “ weighing carefully issues of broadcast standards, an obligation to inform the audience of important elements that influence the competition, and sensitivity to how any inappropriate comments are presented.”

However, the show has continuously sidelined contestants of color who tend to be voted out of the house first.

Determined to be the change they wanted to see, “the Cookout,” the name for six Black contestants on season 23, made a secret alliance the first week to be last people standing.

When the top 6 list was official, the group proved to be successful meaning that there was guaranteed to be a Black winner of the show.

From left, Kyland Young, Hannah Chaddha, Derek Frazier, Tiffany Mitchell, Azah Awasum, and Xavier Prather on “Big Brother” Season 23. (PhotoCred: CBS)

“It’s something that the individuals of the Cookout came together to make happen because we felt it was something bigger than this game,” Prather told Entertainment Weekly about the group. “It’s kind of surreal. I wanted to make a difference. I wanted this season to be different from past seasons and luckily I had five other like-minded individuals in the house to help me with that goal and we accomplished it.”

The other members of the Cookout are Kyland Young, Tiffany Mitchell, Hannah Chaddha, Azah Awasum and Derek Frazier.

Prather and Frazier, a security officer from Philadelphia, were the last two standing.

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The post ‘Big Brother’ sees its first Black winner in 23 seasons and 21 years appeared first on TheGrio.