Following Bunky's eviction, the HouseGuests competed in the "Strange Bedfellows" endurance Head of Household competition. The HouseGuests found a replica of the Head of Household room in the backyard, and had to sit on the water bed in the backyard while holding onto their key that was placed in the nomination box. The last HouseGuests remaining on the bed, without letting go of their key, would be the winner. The competition quickly proved to be dramatic when a banner overhead sent by Nicole's husband accused her of betraying him; this was a result of a rumor spread online that something had happened between Nicole and Will in the hot tub. The competition came down to Monica and Will, with Will dropping out of the competition in exchange for a prize; this made Monica the new Head of Household. Will's prize was revealed to be a large Peanut butter jar used in an earlier competition. Hardy and Nicole were both upset with Will for throwing the competition, as Will and Monica had made a deal that Will would not be nominated. On Day 62, the group played in the "Shop 'til You Drop" food competition, which required the HouseGuests to grab food items and carry them through an obstacle course; the group kept whatever food they got across. On Day 63, Monica chose to nominate Hardy and Nicole for eviction. On Day 64, the backyard was transformed into a "winter wonderland" as part of the America's Choice poll. On Day 65, Gervase Peterson and Susan Hawk, of Survivor: Borneo (2000), and Alicia Calaway and Jeff Varner of, Survivor: The Australian Outback (2001), entered the house to spend the night. The group played in the "Fire and Ice" luxury competition, which saw the Survivor cast compete against the HouseGuests. The groups were bound together at the wrists and had to find the letters to spell out the name of their respective show; they would build the letters into a tower, untie themselves, jump one at a time into the pool to retrieve their keys, and hang their keys on torches at the end of the pool. The first team to complete the challenge would win a $15,000 prize; the Survivor group won the competition. That same night, the HouseGuests paired up with a Survivor member to compete in the "Crack the Code" luxury competition. The competition saw the pairs receiving a coded message, describing a location in the house, and the first pair to decode the location and find a computer mouse would win the right to view a fan-site made in their honor. On Day 68, Will chose to evict Hardy from the house.
Big Brother 2 premiered on July 5, 2001 to a viewing audience of 8.2 million viewers. These numbers were significantly lower than the previous season's premiere, however, it was noted that ratings did increase in the second half hour. The series was later the third most searched topic on the internet according to Lycos days following the premiere. The July 10 episode had a total of 8.3 million viewers, slightly higher than the premiere episode's ratings. The first eviction of the season, which featured both Sheryl's eviction and the expulsion of Justin, garnered 9.2 million viewers; the episode was the most watched in its time slot. Speaking on the topic of the ratings for the series, Les Moonves stated that he felt the series was "worthwhile" but "required diligence." The August 7th episode of the series had 8.9 million viewers, the second highest rated episode of the season at that point. The season finale garnered a total of 12.3 million viewers, making it the highest rated episode of the season; these numbers were noted as higher than the previous year's finale. In July, it was reported that an estimated 14,000 viewers had subscribed to view the life feeds. It was later reported by RealPlayer that over 25,000 subscriptions had been made to the feeds. Following the season finale, it was confirmed that 56,026 viewers paid for the full season of the live feeds, while 41,814 Gold Pass members viewed the feeds. CBS reported that the numbers "exceeded [their] expectations."
On Day 1, the original twelve HouseGuests entered the house. Nicole quickly came off as too strong to her fellow HouseGuests, while Bunky opted not to reveal his sexuality to his fellow housemates. Following the introductions, the HouseGuests competed in their first food competition, "All Stuffed Up". For this competition, the HouseGuests took as many groceries as possible and attempted to fit them inside a 2002 Buick Rendezvous; they would be allowed to keep whatever groceries they managed to keep inside of the car for a total of sixty seconds. The group won the challenge, though learned of a new challenge; the last HouseGuest remaining in the car would be able to keep it. The game down to Autumn and Kent, with Kent ultimately winning the car. On Day 2, the HouseGuests competed in the "Wheel of First Impressions" Head of Household competition. The challenge saw HouseGuests spinning a wheel that would land on two adjectives, with the HouseGuest who spun the wheel having to choose the two HouseGuests they felt the adjectives best described. The HouseGuests not selected would then vote between the two selected HouseGuests as to whom should become the new Head of Household. The HouseGuest with the fewest votes was eliminated, with this process continuing until only Mike and Sheryl remained. The HouseGuests then voted for which of the two should become the new Head of Household, with Mike being the winner. With Mike now in power, Kent attempted to form an alliance between himself, Mike, Justin, Bunky, and Will. Meanwhile, roommates Mike, Will, and Shannon began to form a close bond, and later began referring to themselves as Chilltown. Bunky first revealed that he was gay to Autumn, and slowly began revealing this information to the other women in the house. Despite worries that conservative Kent would be upset, all of the HouseGuests came to accept Bunky. In fact, no one cared at all much to Bunky's disappointment. He thought his sexual preference was of interest but truly no one even bother to mention it other than Kent. Later that week, the HouseGuests competed in the "Dirty Dozen" luxury competition. Mike, as Head of Household, entered an inflatable pool of mud and searched to find a key with the name of a HouseGuest on it; once a HouseGuests key was found, they would enter the pool and search for keys as well. If the group found all twelve of the keys within six minutes, they would earn the hot tub; they were successful.
Unlike the first season, Big Brother 2 was well received by critics and fans. A CBS executive said that the revamped series was "compelling and interesting." Variety said of the season "The HouseGuests of 'BB2' are louder, bawdier and meaner than the comparatively tame folks of the first 'Big Brother'." On the online success of the series, RealPlayer stated "The popularity of the [program] is a testament to the power of the Internet as a new vehicle for television networks to deliver subscription programming to viewers." Shapiro later stated he wished he could edit what was shown on the live feeds, feeling that the feeds took from the "suspense" of the episode being broadcast. The second season is often noted by fans as a favorite, with numerous HouseGuests from the season coming back for Future installments. Will is often regarded by fans as the greatest player to ever play the game following his appearance on the show. Shannon's decision to use Hardy's toothbrush to clean the toilet later became one of the more infamous moments in the series history, and is often remembered by fans. HouseGuests Bunky, Mike, Monica, and Will were all candidates to appear on Big Brother: All-Stars (2006), though only Mike and Will were selected to return. HouseGuests Hardy and Nicole both made appearances that season as well. Bunky later made an appearance on Big Brother 10 (2008) during a food competition that featured one representative from each past season. Mike was interviewed during Big Brother 11 along with three other former HouseGuests. Mike later joined the cast of Big Brother 14 (2012) initially as a mentor to new HouseGuests before becoming an official HouseGuest himself. This made Mike one of two former HouseGuests to have competed in the series three times. Will made an appearance on every season from Big Brother 15 (2013) to Big Brother 19 (2017) as the moderator at the Jury roundtable discussion for the final three.
Mike Malin and Will Kirby returned for Big Brother: All Stars. Malin won the season, while Kirby placed 4th. Bunky Miller and Monica Bailey were also candidates for Big Brother: All Stars but they were not selected to compete. Nicole Schaffrich made an appearance on Big Brother: All Stars to host a few competitions. Mike Malin also returned for Big Brother 10 to host a food competition along with other Big Brother alumnus. Mike Malin was also a coach on Big Brother 14 where he later competed as a player and ultimately placed 10th.
The final three HouseGuests then competed in the first round of the three-part final Head of Household competition. For the first two rounds the HouseGuest completed for points which would determine who would proceed to the final round. The first part of the competition saw Monica, Nicole, and Will determining which HouseGuest was being described by a specific adjective used by a former HouseGuest, with points being given for correct answers. Will was the winner with 5, Nicole in second on 4 and Monica in third with 3 points. The second round of the competition saw the HouseGuest complete an obstacle course of various household chours with in 6 minutes. Time was not a factor, instead points were awarded for each task completed; Nicole was the winner with 7, Monica was in second with 6 and Will came in last with 5. Once the scores were added up, it was Nicole(11 points) and Will (10 points) who would progress to the final round of the competition. Following the September 11th attacks, the rule stating that the HouseGuests would not be informed of world news was broken, and Monica learned that her cousin Tamitha had been in the buildings at the time of the attacks. Though the HouseGuests were initially only given the basics of the events that had occurred, they were later given a more detailed description of the events. On Day 77, Nicole and Will competed in the final round of the Head of Household competition, which saw the two being asked seven questions about their former housemates' experiences during their time in the house. Nicole was the winner, making her the final Head of Household of the season; she then chose to evict Monica from the house, making Nicole and Will the final two HouseGuests.
The expulsion of Justin came with much controversy, as Justin had previously received warnings from production for intimidating behavior, threatening other housemates, and drunkenly urinating on a window. Justin's antics led several to request he receive a penalty nomination, while Hardy debated walking due to Justin's actions. Following the incident in which Justin held a knife to Krista's neck, he was expelled from the house. Krista, who was drunk at the time, later claimed to have no memory of the incident, and felt that CBS had "[blown the incident] completely out of proportion." Despite this statement, Krista later hired attorney L. Clayton Burgess and sued CBS for "damages for negligence on the part of CBS and the producers, pain and suffering, mental anguish, medical bills, mental impairment and loss of enjoyment of life." Justin felt that he should not have been removed from the house for his actions, telling host Julie Chen "If there’s anyone that could perceive that as an act of violence or as a threat, then you’re an idiot." Other events in the house, namely Autumn and Mike engaging in arguments over which one tried to seduce the other at one point, caused a stir amongst viewers. Several of the HouseGuests came under fire for having previous arrest records. Mike "Boogie" Malin had been arrested for filming footage of the then-unreleased film Batman & Robin (1997), receiving five misdemeanor charges. Justin had previously been arrested once for "simple assault" and twice for "minor robberies." Krista had been arrested for battery after an argument with a boyfriend, though lied about this to producers prior to entering the house. Shannon and Mike came under fire for numerous slanderous remarks about Hardy, including calling him a "future rapist and child molester" and plotting to spread a rumor that he was gay; they were not spoken to by production for these comments.
