Derrick Levasseur is remembered to this day as one of the all-time greatest players of Big Brother. Case in point: he was even mentioned in the latest episode of Big Brother 25 that aired Wednesday, with contestants particularly pointing out how impressive his season 16 alliance, The Hitmen, was with fellow houseguest Cody Calafiore.
What exactly made The Hitmen so special? It’s considered one of the most successful alliances of all time in the history of Big Brother due to generating zero casualties throughout its existence and bringing each member to the final two. Though Derrick ultimately won the $500,000 grand prize, beating out Cody in the process, the latter would have his own time to shine down the road. You see, Cody later won Big Brother All-Stars (season 22), making The Hitmen an exclusive winner’s club in retrospect
Who is Derrick Levasseur and why is he considered a Big Brother legend?
At the time Derrick entered the Big Brother competition in 2014, he already had a young daughter at home, Tenley. In fact, the prospect of missing spending time with his daughter during the contest almost made him drop out early on, he later recounted in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. It was only due to a phone call he received from a Big Brother producer that ultimately changed his mind, as he explained:
“I got a call from [then-Big Brother casting head] Robin Kass. Robin said something to me that stuck with me till this day, which was, ‘Derrick, I’ve never had someone go on the show and regret going on, but I’ve had a lot of people call me and regret not going on when they had the opportunity.’ I was just like, ‘You know what? You’re right. I can always go, if I get there and I hate it or I feel like it’s not the right place, I can leave. But if I don’t go, I’ll never know.’
The decision to stick with the contest proved to be a fruitful one since winning the competition not only provided his family with the monetary benefit but it enabled Derrick to parlay his career into becoming a successful media personality in his own right. Prior to winning Big Brother, Derrick had already made quite the name for himself in the world of law enforcement.
Derrick worked as a “decorated police sergeant from Central Falls, Rhode Island,” according to his website. Starting out in the Patrol Division and the Detective Division, he was known as one of the youngest officers in his precinct’s history, having been hired at just 20 years old.
By the time he was on Big Brother, Derrick was 30 years old. However, he was smart enough to hide his law enforcement background from the other houseguests. Though Derrick later explained how he was motivated to win the competition to provide for his family, that doesn’t mean he was afraid to get cunning at times. In fact, he arguably masterminded “almost every eviction yet was still never nominated himself,” as ScreenRant pointed out.
Throughout his law enforcement career, he received a number of commendations, such as the Medal of Valor. With a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s degree in business management, his advanced training in techniques of investigation proved to be invaluable in the part of his career that would unfold with his newfound fame after his Big Brother run concluded.
Retiring from police work
Following Derrick’s Big Brother win, he remained a police officer for a while. In fact, he even won an American Red Cross “Hero Award” in 2017 “after saving seven people from a burning building,” his website states. His family also obtained a number of special gifts, in part thanks to his winnings, such as Derrick buying his wife a new car, buying himself a hot tub, and the family introducing its newest member, his second daughter, Peyton.
Saving people from a burning building turned out to be the perfect high note to end his career as a police officer since he would involve himself in various private businesses and deals after 2017. For instance, Derrick now runs a private investigation firm, called the Break Investigative Group based in Rhode Island. He also hosts and produces a show on Discovery ID, called Breaking Homicide, in which Derrick investigates cold cases.
Derrick also co-hosts a podcast, Crime Weekly, alongside Stephanie Harlowe. That podcast has since launched a spinoff coffee company called Criminal Coffee Company. He also hosts another podcast, The Winners Circle, alongside longtime pal Cody, where they talk all things Big Brother, including interviewing recent evictees.
Expanding his reach in 2023
Derrick is remaining highly active in his new career as a public figure and true crime host. In fact, he launched a new podcast in 2023 called Detective Perspective, which has a perfect 5/5 customer rating on Apple’s website. The first episode launched in July, with each installment focusing on an unsolved case, similar to Breaking Homicide. Speaking of the Discovery ID show, we haven’t seen a new episode since 2019 so it’s unclear what the series status is at this point.
Overall, it’s pretty clear Derrick’s legacy as a Big Brother contestant is as strong as his post-reality show career. That’s a huge accolade for an individual who already had a respectable career before ever joining the show. When asked if Derrick would ever consider joining another season of Big Brother in the future, he understandably expressed hesitation, in part because his first go-round was such a top-notch experience. As he explained in an interview from last year:
“[M]y first experience was so amazing. I don’t want to taint that. It is one of the highlights of my life. I know if I go back, it could never be as good. Even if I won, it could never be as good. So it’s something that I did. It was a bucket-list thing. I had literally the fairy-tale experience. I was voted onto Team America. I won the game. I made some really good friends. It was a cool opportunity before my kids were too old. Now it’s back to being a dad and working hard and working on the next things to create generational wealth for my kids.”
However, don’t lose hope completely when it comes to the prospect of Derrick’s return to the reality show. He said that if the Big Brother producers ever extended the invitation to him for an “all-winners season,” he would feel obligated to participate at that point.