Singer and reality star Tamar Braxton won the second season of Celebrity Big Brother last night (Feb. 13), becoming the first black winner of the reality competition series’ U.S. version.
Braxton beat out former NFL player Ricky Williams in a unanimously decided vote, 9-0. This is the first time since season 10 that the winner had a clean sweep of jury votes. The last player this has happened with is Dan Gheesling, largely considered to be the greatest Big Brother player of all time.
Braxton’s prize was $250,000, while Williams went home with $50,000. In her last bid to the jury for their votes, Braxton passionately discussed why she deserved the win.
“I am a huge fan of this show. I played the game to the best of my ability,” she explained. “I lost my job publicly in front of everybody. I lost my husband. . . And I almost lost my life.” In 2016, Braxton was dropped from her co-hosting gig on The Real, and she filed for divorce from Vince Herbert just one year later. Recently, she revealed on The Wendy Williams Show that she was molested as a child.
During the game, Braxton won one Head of Household competition and one Power of Veto competition, which gave her control and power of the game. She also had a few spats with fellow houseguests, including Olympian Lolo Jones and comedian Tom Green.