Big Brother 15 Contestants Announced, MVP Voting Begins

It begins! With a week to go until Big Brother Season 15 premieres, CBS has announced the names and details of the 16 houseguests who will compete against one another this summer for the half-million dollar prize. Earlier this week, we learned that there would be a few more houseguests in the BB house than usual this season, thanks to the extra weeks, and that one of the twists means there will be a third nominee on the block each week. The other was that America will be able to vote for a weekly "MVP" contestant, based on how they play the game.

In addition to announcing the contestants, CBS has opened the voting for the new season's first MVP. Of course, we have no idea how any of them is playing the game just yet, but the site includes each houseguest's planned strategy. That's the plan that - for at least some of them - will probably go right out the window once they start to get to know the other houseguests. But still, it gives us some clue as to how these contestants will be trying to play the game.

In addition to not knowing who's playing the best game, we also don't know what the MVP's "special power" will be, so we're really kind of going into this blind from the start, but that's ok. So are the houseguests, assuming none of them know one another.

Here are the photos and some basic information about each of the houseguests.

Kaitlin Barnaby, 23

Hometown: Vadnais Heights, Minn.

Current City: Minneapolis, Minn.

Bartender

Spencer Clawson, 31

Hometown: Conway, Ark.

Current City: Conway, Ark.

Railroad Conductor

Judd Daugherty, 26

Hometown: Englewood, Tenn.

Current City: Etowah, Tenn.

Property Appraiser

David Girton, 25

Hometown: San Diego, Calif.

Current City: San Diego, Calif.

Lifeguard

Aaryn Gries, 22

Hometown: San Angelo, Texas

Current City: San Marcos, Texas

College Student

Andy Herren, 26

Hometown: Aurora, Ill.

Current City: Chicago, Ill.

Professor

Helen Kim, 37

Hometown: Falls Church, Va.

Current City: Chicago, Ill.

Political Consultant

Jessie Kowalski, 25

Hometown: Beaumont, Texas

Current City: San Antonio, Texas

Unemployed

Jeremy McGuire, 23

Hometown: Katy, Texas

Current City: Katy, Texas

Boat Shop Associate

McCrae Olson, 23

Hometown: Zimmerman, Minn.

Current City: Oak Grove, Minn.

Pizza Delivery Boy

Howard Overby, 29

Hometown: Hattiesburg, Miss.

Current City: Hattiesburg, Miss.

Youth Counselor

Elissa Slater, 27

Hometown: Concord, N.C.

Current City: Kannapolis, N.C.

Nutritionist

Candice Stewart, 29

Hometown: New Orleans, La.

Current City: Houston, Texas

Pediatric Speech Therapist

Nick Uhas, 28

Hometown: Hilliard, N.Y.

Current City: New York, N.Y.

Entrepreneur

GinaMarie Zimmerman, 32

Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Current City: Staten Island, N.Y.

Pageant Coordinator

Amanda Zuckerman, 28

Hometown: Long Island, N.Y.

Current City: Boynton Beach, Fla.

Real Estate Agent

You can watch host Julie Chen give a tour of the house here. Big Brother Season 15 airs Wednesday, June 26 at 8/7c on CBS.