Janelle Marie Pierzina (born January 10, 1980) was a contestant on the sixth season of the American version of the CBS reality show Big Brother, where she has been seen by well over 8 million viewers at a time[1].

Finishing in third place on Big Brother 6, easily the most successful and watched Big Brother USA ever, Janelle became wildly popular and won many "America's Choice" rewards, in which viewers would choose prize winnings for their favorite houseguest. Pierzina ended up becoming the most popular female contestant in Big Brother USA history, receiving a popularity rating of 93% in the final week of Big Brother 6 on the CBS website. [2]

Her home is in Miami Beach, Florida. She was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

In the summer of 2006, it was announced that Janelle was one of the 20 Houseguests eligible to participate in Big Brother: All-Stars. After a vigorous few weeks of campaigning by these twenty, it was announced that Janelle was among the 14 to enter. Unlike some other houseguests, Janelle was chosen by America, not by the producers, and was the first to enter into the house (Most likely because of her extreme popularity with the US Big Brother viewers)..

The first Head-of-Household competition introduced an interesting twist - instead of the normal one Head of Household, this week there would be two sharing the privileges of Head of Household - one woman and one man. Janelle was the female winner, along with Jase Wirey. By the rules, the two would have to agree on their nominations, or they would be nominated instead.

One contestant, Danielle, saw a benefit in this rule - and proposed to contestant Alison Irwin that Jase should choose not to agree, thus putting Janelle on the block. The house would have enough numbers to eliminate Janelle, who was seen as a threat. Alison took the idea and ran with it, telling many Houseguests of the plan - and Janelle caught wind of it.

In a surprise decision, Jase and Janelle chose to nominate Danielle and Alison. Janelle went on to win the Power of Veto, and she chose to let the nominations stand. Alison was evicted by a vote of 8-2, becoming the first contestant voted off Big Brother 7, with only Nakomis and Diane opting to vote for Danielle.

Janelle went on to win HOH in week four and decided to nominate Erika and Mike "Boogie" for eviction. During that time, Janelle seemed to bond with Will, which benefited Mike "Boogie" because of their Chill-Town alliance. Before the Power of Veto Contest, Janelle went up to Howie, a alliance-member and friend, and said that she didn't want Diane or Erika to win. Howie agreed, not knowing her reasoning. After Will was eliminated by saying "unexpected" when the actual phrase was "Expect the Unexpected", "Boogie" won the competition and used the Power of Veto in himself. Janelle then betrayed James, one of her original allies, and nominated Diane for eviction. Diane was evicted that week by a vote of 8-1. Not surprisingly, the "evil" Dr. Will was the houseguest who threw the vote her way.

In 2005, Janelle was one of fourteen contestants on Big Brother 6, who were confined in a house together, with the objective of outlasting one another. At the beginning of each week, there was a new Head of Household (HoH) determined, who was able to nominate other members for removal at the end of the week. After each nomination, a vote was held amongst contestants to select one nominee to remove. In this, the sixth season of the show, known as the Summer of Secrets, each contestant had a secret partner, that they knew before the show, who would work together on the show. Janelle's secret partner was Ashlea Evans. If two partners had made it to the end, the prize money would have been $1,000,000. However Janelle's partner was the first contestant evicted.

Janelle was "Head of Household" during weeks 7 and 10 and veto-holder in weeks 7 and 9. She also won the second and third "America's Choice" votes, which were a phone call from a loved one (prior contestant and love interest Michael) and a visit to the set of Two and a Half Men, respectively. She also won a "PB&J Pass" which gave her the ability to exempt one houseguest (including herself) from having to eat peanut butter and jelly for the week if they lost the food competition, as well as a trip to the Bahamas with one person of her choosing. Janelle and her alliance "The Sovereign Six", battled with the opposing alliance "The Friendship" throughout the season. Janelle was often criticized by The Friendship, most notably by arguably her biggest rival, Ivette Corredero.

Janelle came in third, being eliminated on Day 76. She then became a member of the seven contestant jury who would decide between the final two. Maggie Ausburn and Ivette remained after Janelle. Finally, Maggie was selected as the winner of the $500,000 prize, despite the fact Janelle had voted for Ivette to win.

Prior to Big Brother Janelle was an actress and model, with most credits under the spelling "Perzina" not "Pierzina" (with the extra "i").

She modeled and did an extended interview for Xposed magazine. As well, she was named as a SBK World Superbike Calendar Girl by FastDates.com. The most famous publisher of her photos was Playboy, who shot Pierzina under the name Elle Brenna for their April/May 2005 Lingerie Special Edition.^[1]

Also prior to Big Brother, she was a part of a travel series called Nautical Angels. She was in the pilot for the show. But the pilot and series were never picked up by a broadcaster. The show featured three women ("angels"), who travelled to various tourist destinations, examining the history, culture, and activities of each location. Janelle was the "action angel", trying out different activities of the area. In the pilot, the girls travelled Southeast Asia. Although she did appear in the pilot, so far, the only video of it, appears on the production company's web site, not on TV.

She also had a bit part in the movie Bruce Almighty, which was cut significantly, but not entirely. As well she appeared briefly as a non-speaking extra in Friends.

The following includes TV and film appearance of Janelle. Appearances prior to Big Brother 6 were generally not officially credited to her originally, but have since been documented by imdb and other sources. Her increased notoriety has been used in marketing some of her past work, especially the TV pilot Nautical Angels.

• Official site of Janelle Pierzina
• Official Forum - Janelle's official forum
• Profile of Janelle Pierzina by CBS for Big Brother 6
• Profile of Janelle Pierzina by CBS for Big Brother 7
• Janelle Pierzina at IMDb
• Template:Tvtome person
• Reality TV Magazine (July 04, 2005) - Profile of Janelle.
• Xposed Magazine - Interview with Janelle.
• FastDates.com - Profile of Janelle. Also, there is a brief mention of the Big Brother connection.
• Nautical Angels