Meet 'Big Brother's' three contestants with Georgia ties

Nobody with strong Georgia ties has won CBS’s “Big Brother” over the reality show’s first quarter century on air.

But the show’s casting department keeps trying.

For the fourth season in a row, “Big Brother” has brought in multiple cast members who were raised in Georgia and/or reside in the state.

Season 27’s three local contestants Mickey Lee, Katherine Woodman and Zach Cornell will enter the home with 13 others during the 90-minute debut at 8 p.m. Thursday on CBS. (A mystery 17th guest will arrive at some point.) The winner will pocket $750,000.

The contestants were not made available to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution before being sealed inside the Big Brother house for up to three months. Get to know more about them here:

Credit: SCREENSHOT

Credit: SCREENSHOT

Mickey Lee

Age: 35

Residence: Atlanta

Hometown: Jacksonville, Florida

Job: Show describes her as an “event curator.” Her Instagram account identifies her as a “director of immersive experiences” at a company called Mingle Experience.

Her strategy: “I have the talent of being very charming, being a person that people don’t think is a threat. And I think I’m gonna use that to my advantage. I’m going to be a neutral party. I’m gonna be everyone’s favorite person. And then when it’s time, I’m gonna strike and make my move,” she told Parade magazine.

Any shot at a showmance? “I live in Atlanta, Georgia,” she noted in Parade. “There’s a plethora of men out there. I can find one easily. I’m not here for that at all. I’m here for the money.”

Credit: CBS screenshot

Katherine Woodman

Age: 23

Residence: Columbia, South Carolina

Hometown: Gwinnett County, Georgia (CBS did not provide a city, just the county)

Graduate of: University of South Carolina in 2024

Job: Restaurant server

Her strategy: “Outside of this game, I am a waitress,” she said in a quote provided to USA Today. I accommodate to people’s needs all the time. I can keep a straight face when I genuinely don’t like people very much, and they have no idea, and still end up giving me money at the end of their service. I think that’s a skill that’s really going to help me in this house because there’s a lot more money on the line in this house than there is at a tip at a table.”

Credit: CBS screenshot

Zach Cornell

Age: 27

Residence: Cartersville

Job: Marketing manager

Graduated: Liberty University in 2025

Formerly: A minor-league baseball player in the Washington Nationals system.

His background: “I was a pastor’s kid that grew up very shy in a very sheltered home, and I had to come out of my shell when I got to college,” he told Parade. “I mean, it was my first day in college when I saw somebody smoking weed for the first time. So I had to really adapt. And then you ultimately moved from there to into professional baseball. You’re living with seven people in the same house all at once. And so there’s a lot of different aspects in my life that I’ve had to really change myself to understand what’s going on in my environment.”

Open to a showmance? Yes. “I am gearing up for very beautiful women to come into this house,” he said to Parade. “Now I will say this. My mom is very religious, and she’s Filipino. And she told me, ‘Zach, if I see you even sleeping next to another girl, when you get back to our house, I’m going to murder you.’ So I do have that in the back of my head when it comes to a showmance. But look, I already told her. I said I’m gonna do whatever it takes to win the $750,000.”