Michael Bruner

Michael Brian Bruner was a houseguest on Big Brother 24 (US).

Being a long-time superfan, Michael was known to be an observant and strategic player who would keep his cards hidden from his housemates. Although he was first nominated and targeted by Head of Household Daniel Durston for being a threat, Michael won the Power of Veto to keep himself safe, starting an impressive competition run. He built great relationships among the people in the house, most notably with Brittany Hoopes and Taylor Hale. He also ingratiated himself with the different alliances that started forming inside the house, but was mostly loyal to the dominant alliance of the season, The Leftovers.

Although Michael was extremely pivotal to The Leftovers' hold on power because of his historic nine competition wins (three Head of Household and six Power of Veto wins), this was also the reason his target grew on his back and several houseguests, including his closest ally Taylor, plotted to get rid of him when the opportunity came. That opportunity arrived during the second half of the Double Eviction on Week 9 when Matt Turner became the Head of Household. While Michael wasn't Turner's original target, Monte Taylor won the Power of Veto and convinced Turner to put Michael on the block instead once the veto was used on Alyssa Snider. When Michael realized that he most likely would go home if he was nominated beside his ally Brittany, he campaigned hard to the house to stay safe. Once Turner made him the replacement nominee, Michael gave a memorable speech that threw Brittany under the bus by exposing her multiple deals with other houseguests. This was all for naught as Michael was deemed a huge threat who would likely win the game by his fellow housemates and he was voted out by a unanimous vote of 3-0, with Michael's exit from the house being regarded as one of the most iconic moments of the season.

On Finale Night, he voted for his close ally and friend Taylor to win the game.

Michael became the first houseguest to win 4 PoV's pre-jury, 6 in a single season and the first male to win 9 competitions tying Janelle Pierzina's Season 7 record for the most in any season. Because of this, Michael has been considered by viewers and fellow houseguests as one of the greatest physical competitors in the history of the show, as well as one of the greatest to not win.

Biography[]

Michael Bruner Biography

Retrieved from Parade.com
Age: 28
Hometown: Saint Michael, Minn.
Current City: Rochester, Minn.
Occupation: Attorney

What’s the best advice you received before coming out to play?
To enjoy myself. Whenever I play a game, I can get really, really intense and focused so much on winning. And I think that could really rub people the wrong way if I'm so intense all the time. So just enjoy myself, lay back and have a good time and really let my personality come out. Make those genuine connections without coming across too intimidating.

What do you think people will perceive you as?
I think the second I walk into the house, people are going to perceive me as a nerdy character. I've got the glasses. I'm 6'4". I've got gangly noodle arms. (Laughs.) I'm clearly not the musclehead bro the season. So I think people are going to clock me pretty quickly that I'm the nerd.

What types of players would you least want in your alliance?
People who are very go-with-the-flow, "I just want to do what the house wants." Ultimately, those aren't allies that you can count on. If I can't count on you to have my back when I need you because you're going to do what the house or HoH wants, I don't want you in my alliance. I want someone who's willing to stick their neck out, fight for a veto to try to pull me off, or try to sway some votes in my favor. Because that's ultimately what I want to do for my allies, and I really want them to do the same.

What’s something the other houseguests may dislike about you?
If I let it peek through, it's definitely my intensity when it comes to games. I like to win at all costs. And I think that can really rub people the wrong way, especially people who aren't superfans of the game and who maybe don't get it quite as much. They're like, "Relax, chill, it's not a big deal." But for me, this is a big deal. So keeping all of that under wraps is gonna be really tough. And if I let it peek through, I think that could rub people the wrong way.

On eviction night, would you rather flip the votes against the house to help your individual game, or go with the house to help your overall alliance?
I am more than willing to flip a vote. And I would much rather flip a vote to try to further my individual game than just go with the house to help a larger group of people. Ultimately, an alliance is going to crumble. We're going to have to turn on each other. There are only two chairs in the finale and one winner. So I'm going to do everything that I can to set myself up for success.^[1]

Player History - Big Brother 24 (US)[]

Competition History[]

Week 1	HOH Part 1	Loss
	HOH Part 2	Ineligible
	POV	Win
Week 2	HOH Part 1	Win
	HOH Part 2	Loss
	POV	Win
Week 3	HOH	Loss
Week 3	Co-POV	Win
Week 4	HOH Part 1	Loss
	HOH Part 2	Ineligible
	Co-POV	Not Picked
Week 5	HOH	Win
Week 5	Co-POV	Win
Week 6	HOH	Previous HOH
Week 6	POV	Not Picked
Week 7	HOH	Win
	POV	Loss
	POV	Ineligible
Week 8	HOH	Previous HOH
Week 8	POV	Win
Week 9	HOH	Win
	POV	Win
	HOH	Previous HOH
	POV	Loss

Have/Have-Not History[]

Week 1	Have-Not
Week 2	Have
Week 3	Have
Week 4	Have
Week 5	Have/Have-Not Phase Over
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9

Voting History[]

Week	Position	Voted for	With Majority?
1	Used POV on Self	Nominations Void
2	POV Holder	Pooch Pucciarelli	Yes
3	Used POV on Self	Ameerah Jones	Yes
4	–	Nicole Layog	Yes
5	HOH/POV	–	–
6	–	Terrance Higgins	No
7	HOH	–	–
8	POV Holder	Kyle Capener	Yes
9	HOH/POV	–	–
9	Post-POV Nominee	–	–
Finale	Jury Member	Taylor Hale	Yes

HOH History[]

	Original Nominees			Post-Veto Nominees		Intended Target
Week 5	Joseph	Monte	Terrance	Evicted Daniel	Kyle	Daniel
Week 7 (Group 1)	Jasmine	Monte		Evicted Jasmine	Monte	Jasmine
Week 9	Alyssa	Terrance		Alyssa	Evicted Terrance	Terrance

Post Big Brother[]

Michael and his fianceé Hayden got married on October 13, 2023. Ameerah Jones, Brittany Hoopes, Joseph Abdin, and Taylor Hale were in attendance.

Trivia[]

Michael is the first houseguest on Big Brother 24 (US) to win HOH more than once.
Michael is the fastest houseguest to win four Power of Veto competitions, winning his fourth POV by Week 5.
- He is also the fastest houseguest to win five POV competitions. The first four houseguests who won five POVs, Janelle Pierzina (Big Brother 7), Daniele Briones (Big Brother 8), Paul Abrahamian (Big Brother 19) and Kaycee Clark (Big Brother 20) had the Final Power of Veto competition be their fifth win, while Michael earned his fifth win in Week 8. Jag Bains (Big Brother 25) earned his fifth win in Week 12.
- He is the only one to not finish in the final 3, finishing in 6th place.
Michael is the seventh houseguest to complete a "Trifecta Veto", in which they won the POV as a nominee, as the HOH and as a picked player. He follows Daniele Briones, Shane Meaney, Paulie Calafiore, Corey Brooks, Jason Dent and Jackson Michie. He was followed by Jag Bains and Makensy Manbeck.
- Michael is the only person to complete the Trifecta twice.
Michael is the first person to win the Power of Veto six times, breaking the record of five, first set by Janelle in Big Brother 7 (US). Coincidentally, Janelle is Michael's favorite player. His record would later be broken by Jag Bains, who won seven.
- With Michael's sixth POV win, he also tied Janelle's other record from Big Brother 7, the most competition wins in a single season, with nine (3 HoH's and 6 PoV's). He also tied her exact win ratio, as they both won 9/15 competitions they competed in for a 60% win rate. Coincidentally, both lost only 4 HoH's and 2 PoV's during their seasons as well. This record would also later be broken by Jag, who won ten.
- He is the first male to ever win 9 competitions in a single season, followed by Jag.
Michael has the lowest place finish for a Houseguest who won 7 competitions or more in a single season, finishing in 6th place.
During the Week 11 eviction night episode of Big Brother 17, one of Michael’s tweets was shown on screen.