Kaysar Ridha

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Kaysar Ridha (born August 10, 1980) was a contestant on Big Brother 6, a reality TV series in the US shown on CBS. Kaysar is a Muslim who was born in Baghdad, Iraq. His family immigrated to the USA when he was an infant. Kaysar is currently residing in Irvine, California, where he is a graphic designer.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Shortly after Kaysar entered the house he was shown being extremely nervous because the houseguests knew he was Iraqi and that would make him a fast target for eviction. His worst fears were confirmed when he went up on the block the first week. Rachel, the Head of Household (HoH) for Week 1, nominated him and Ashlea, explaining that they had not gotten to know her very well. Ashlea was evicted from the house with a 9-2 vote after many houseguests explained that they found her annoying; only Janelle, Ashlea's secret partner, and James voted to keep her in the game.

Kaysar became HoH during Week 3 after winning the competition "Majority Rules". He initially nominated Maggie and James. After the nominations, he built a secret alliance consisting of himself, Janelle, Rachel, Howie, James, and Sarah. In the Power of Veto (PoV) competition played on a huge outdoor "chess" board, Kaysar's alliance members worked to eliminate Maggie and her veto partner Ivette and then threw the competition to James. Once James used the PoV on himself, Kaysar put up Maggie's secret partner Eric and leader of the opposing alliance to replace James. During voting, Kaysar's alliance all opted to evict Eric, and Eric left the house after a 5-4 vote.

During Week 4, August 4, 2005, Maggie won the HoH competition and nominated James and Kaysar, the two biggest threats from the opposing alliance. After James' partner Sarah won the PoV and removed James from the chopping block, Maggie nominated Kaysar's close friend and alliance member Janelle. By a 7-1 vote, Kaysar was evicted from the house because he was viewed as a strategical threat; only James voted to keep him.

At the close of the program after Kaysar's eviction, host Julie Chen revealed to the houseguests that America would vote to return a previously evicted houseguest to the house: Kaysar's partner and house romantic Michael, fireman Eric, or Kaysar. Ashlea had left the sequester house before Kaysar's eviction and was not an option for voting. Viewers could send their votes by using text messaging or voting on the CBS.com web site. The houseguests were stunned because their new strategies had to consider the unknown factor of who would be returning after the next nominations for eviction. On August 11, Kaysar won the "America's Choice" poll with an overwhelming 82% of the 5 million votes; Eric received 13% and Michael received 5%.

Immediately after returning, Kaysar competed in the HoH competition "Pressure Cooker", where the HouseGuest who held down a button the longest would become the new HoH. The competition lasted over fourteen hours until he and Jennifer were left. Jennifer offered through an intense series of negotiations that if Kaysar let her win the competition, she would not put him up for eviction. She also agreed that she would nominate two people from her alliance, use the PoV, and then nominate and evict the truly unpopular James. During nominations, Jennifer went back on her word, nominating Rachel and Janelle for eviction. In the Diary Room, Jennifer said there was nothing in the Big Brother Rule Book prohibiting lying. During discussions with her alliance, Maggie, April, Ivette, and Beau all expressed that they believed Kaysar to be the bigger threat. Rachel won the PoV competition and used it to save herself. Jennifer, breaking the other promise she had made, put Kaysar up for eviction besides Janelle.

Kaysar was evicted by a unanimous vote on August 19, 2005. On August 30, it was announced that Kaysar would appear on the soap opera The Young and the Restless for an episode that aired on October 5 [1].

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Popularity & Current Activities

Kaysar has an extremely loyal fan base; not only because of his apparent sexy good looks but also because of his affable personality. This has caused many to compare him with Chris Evans, another celebrity who also has a loyal fan base due to his good looks, amiablity and unpretentious personality. Kaysar also won many fans over when he appeared to maintain a cool and collected disposition when another contestant, Ivette Corredero, repeatedly vocalized racial slurs about Kaysar to everyone, although not to Kaysar's face. Kaysar has been praised also for maintaining a sense of moral rectitude throughout the show; while many other contestants were accused of sexual harrassment, lying, and double-crossing, Kaysar maintained a relatively clean slate; however this gave him a disadvantage; when he was voted back onto the show he did not realize how badly his rivals wanted him gone, and was thus "caught off guard." One of Kaysar's most famous fans is the actress Shannon Elizabeth, who called into the Big Brother talkshow to tell Kaysar how much she loved his gameplay during the show. Kaysar is currently ranked #1 on MSNBC's "Celebrity 'It' List," just ahead of Johnny Depp. Mr. Ridha's fanbase has repeatedly expressed passionate support for Kaysar to pursue a career in acting; however Kaysar has not announced if he will do so, but did mention he might want to be a part of a "Big Brother All Stars" show. However, some fans note that during an interview on the Big Brother "House Calls" talkshow, when asked by Marcellas Reynolds if he would like to pursue a public career in a field such as film, Kaysar replied, "I will take things as they come." It has been noted by many in the movie industry that Kaysar's widespread popularity is unprecedented; especially for a mere reality TV contestant who did not even win the show. Mr. Ridha recently launched his new clothing start-up, which currently sells fan T-shirts, although rumors persist that Kaysar might add other items to the product inventory later on.