Who was in The Brigade on ‘Big Brother’ and why were they notable?

During the 23 years Big Brother has aired on CBS, we’ve seen several iconic alliances form and dominate — from Chill Town to The Hitmen, to the Cookout to The Renegades.

Well, one of the most famous Big Brother alliances is The Brigade, which formed during Big Brother 12 in 2010.

If someone just started watching the series this season — Big Brother 25 — they may think keeping secrets in the house is impossible, and outing secret alliances is the norm. But, The Brigade managed to keep their group to themselves while operating in the shadows en route to three of its members filling the final three seats.

So, who was a part of The Brigade?

The four-person alliance was formed on day 2 in the Head of Household (HoH) room. Hayden Moss, a 24-year-old college student from Tempe, Arizona, was Big Brother 12’s first HoH, and three other men joined him in his private suite: Enzo, a 32-year-old insurance adjustor from Bayonne, New Jersey, David “Lane” Elenburg, a 24-year-old oil rig salesman from Decatur, Texas, and Matt Hoffman, a 32-year-old web designer from Elgin, Illinois.

The all-male squad was formed with Enzo as its de facto leader. “We’re The Brigade, bro,” Enzo said.

The charismatic New Jersey native also handed out codenames to each member. Enzo nicknamed Hayden “The Animal,” Lane was “The Beast,” Matt was “The Brains,” and Enzo reserved “The Meow Meow” for himself.

With themselves as the core four, they went on to branch out and create other close relationships. Hayden got close with Kristen Bitting, Matt formed a strong bond with Ragan Fox, and Lane built a friendship with Britney Haynes. While doing so, they kept The Brigade secret (for the most part).

In the first five weeks of Big Brother 12, The Brigade occupied the HoH room three times — Matt snagged the HoH key in weeks 3 and 5.

Week 7 was when The Brigade lost its first member. Enzo, Hayden, and Lane became suspicious of Matt and his allegiance, and Matt realized a week prior he was the odd man out of the squad. Matt and Lane were Brendon Villegas’ final nominations during week 6, and Enzo informed Matt that he’d evict him over Lane. As history has it, Matt secretly had the Diamond Power of Veto which he received by opening Pandora’s Box.

It allowed him to pull himself off the block. Kathy Hillis was nominated in his stead and was given her walking papers.

Well, when Britney won HoH in week 7 and Brendon earned the Power of Veto (PoV), Enzo and Matt found themselves as the final two nominees. The Brains was ultimately booted off to the jury via a unanimous vote.

Before Matt left, he confirmed Ragan’s suspicions that there was a secret alliance between the four of them. However, Ragan didn’t do much with the information and after Matt told The Brigade that Ragan was on to them, ending Ragan’s game became their biggest priority.

Ragan joined Matt in the jury house two weeks later and The Brigade’s secret was still intact.

Hayden won the week 9 HoH and PoV, and with only Enzo, Lane, and Britney in the house, they secured themselves in the final 3. Before sending her off to the jury, they revealed their alliance to Britney, who was shocked. On day 67, Enzo cast the sole vote to evict and their mission of being the only houseguests residing in the house was complete.

Continuing his competition run, Hayden then won the final HoH. Considering Enzo’s social game was revered, Hayden evicted The Meow Meow on finale night. Hayden and Lane then faced the jury of seven, and with a 4-3 vote, The Animal left the Big Brother house $500,000 richer.

Hayden’s competition wins were what put him over the top. All in all, he scored four HoHs to Lane’s one, and out of the two of them, Hayden was the only one to capture a PoV.

Although Season 12 aired 13 years ago, The Brigade is as noteworthy as ever in the Big Brother world. Many times when an all-male alliance forms or is suspected, The Brigade is remembered. Season 25’s Cameron Hardin recently likened his alliance with two other men, Jagateshwar “Jag” Bains and Matt Klotz, to the iconic group.

And even if Big Brother runs for another 20 years, The Brigade’s dominance will always be something for future houseguests to consider while traversing the social strategy game.

We’ve seen Enzo and Hayden back on CBS since Big Brother 12

Although The Beast and The Brains haven’t been seen on CBS since Big Brother 12, Enzo and Hayden have come home to the network. Hayden competed on Survivor 27: Blood vs. Water in 2013, and he placed seventh overall. Although he didn’t cash another massive check, Hayden had one of the most solid plays of the season. When he was a target on day 32, he convinced a few other castaways to engage in a rock draw that left him immune.

Enzo was one of 16 cast members brought back for Big Brother 22 in 2020, the second iteration of All-Stars. Creating “The Root” with Big Brother 16 runner-up Cody Calafiore, the two contestants made it to finale night. Unfortunately for Enzo, his Big Brother campaign once again ended without the grand prize check — Cody received all nine jury votes and Enzo came in second.

Two years later, Enzo popped up on CBS’s spin-off of MTV’s flagship reality competition show, The Challenge. Coined The Challenge: USA, Enzo battled alongside stars from several CBS shows, including other Big Brother houseguests. As usual, Enzo made it to the end of the game. But, he quit during the final challenge, placing fourth on the male’s side.

I had the opportunity to interview Enzo ahead of The Challenge: USA Season 1 (you can check out the full interview here), and I asked him if he’d move back into the Big Brother house for a third time if CBS gave him a call.

Although he said he wanted to try his hands at Survivor, Enzo didn’t shoot down the idea of another Big Brother run.

“Being cooped up in that BB house, man, that s*** is torturous,” Enzo said. “But, to do it one more time, it definitely excites me because I got third and second place. So, to go in there one more time and then get a ‘W,’ get a win, that intrigues me. That definitely intrigues me. But, it’s definitely hard being in that house for almost three months.”

“I’m a legend now, but that puts me into immortality if I win it my third time,” he continued.