In BB17, James was known for pranking and scaring of houseguests particularly Julia Nolan, unrequited crush on Meg Maley, being a part of the ill-fated Goblins alliance, and going back on his deal with Shelli Poole to protect her and Clay Honeycutt if she threw the HoH competition to him during week 5. He was also a competiton threat, winning 2 HoHs, 2 PoVs, and 2 BoBs. He was eventually the last Goblin standing and ultimately voted out during the second half of the second Double Eviction in a unanimous 4-0 vote, placing 7th and becoming the fifth member of the jury. On finale night, he won the America's Favorite Houseguest award.
He returned for BB18. He was apart of the 8-Pack alliance which controlled the first two weeks. He formed a bond/relationship Natalie Negrotti. In week 7, he won America's Care Package which gave him the power to cancel the eviction votes of two HouseGuests. He used it at the next eviction ceremony to cancel Corey Brooks and Paul Abrahamian's votes which was the key into blindsiding Paulie Calafiore's ShowmanceZakiyah Everette. In week 9, he was positioned as the swing vote, and he ultimately cast the deciding vote against Victor Arroyo. However, this backfired as Victor managed to return to the house, and his friend/ally Nicole Franzel turned on him. His allies Michelle Meyer and Natalie were eliminated at the next two eviction ceremonies respectively. Fortunately, his luck changed after Natalie's eviction as Nicole and her showmance Corey worked with him to finally get Victor out of the house. After Victor's elimination, James decided to work with Paul to split up Corey and Nicole. He ended up casting the sole vote to evict Corey. He ultimately finished in 3rd place after Paul infamously evicted him and took Nicole to the final 2, thus making him the 9th and final member of the jury.
On finale night, James was revealed to be the top three to win America's Favorite Houseguest along with Natalie and Victor, but he ultimately lost to Victor.
James spent the first part of his life being raised in a boys’ home in South Carolina after his mother passed away from cancer and his father was unable to care for him. In his early teens, he was adopted by a Caucasian family and has called them mom and dad since. James loves his southern roots and served six years in the armed forces.
On April 27th, 2017, fellow houseguest and former girlfriend Natalie filed legal action against him for allegedly making troll accounts against her, releasing private photos of her, and posting false information about her on social media.[1]
James is the only returner in Big Brother 18 to remain their previous general placement, placing as a jury member in both Big Brother 17 and 18.
James is the only returning HouseGuest in Big Brother 17 to make the jury stage in that initial season.
If James had made final 2 in Big Brother 18, he would only receive votes from Natalie and Michelle .
If he made it with Nicole, he would receive additional votes from Paul and Victor.
James is tied with Janelle Pierzina for the second most days spent in the US house total with 177 days.
James is the third Asian-American HouseGuest to. make it to the Final 3. The first was Jun Song who eventually won her season and the second being Kevin Campbell from Big Brother 11.