College student Hayden Moss wins $500,000 grand prize on ‘Big Brother 12′

College student Hayden Moss wins ‘Big Brother 12′

LOS ANGELES — The Animal scored the home run on “Big Brother 12.”

Hayden Moss, a shaggy-haired 24-year-old college student and former baseball player from Tempe, Ariz., won the $500,000 grand prize on the voyeuristic CBS reality TV competition’s season finale Wednesday.

Moss, who was dubbed “The Animal” by his secret four-man alliance, bested bearded 24-year-old oil rig salesman Lane “The Beast” Elenburg from Decatur, Texas.

“It makes me think I can do anything,” Moss said of advancing to the finale.

Moss dominated by both winning several competitions and forming bonds with the other houseguests while always staying loyal to The Brigade alliance, which was formed on the second day in the house.

He defeated Elenburg in the final round of a three-part Head of Household contest, which allowed him to pick Elenburg to battle against for his four jury votes.

Enzo “The Meow Meow” Palumbo, a trash-talking 32-year-old insurance adjuster from Bayonne, N.J., became the seventh member of the jury and cast the deciding vote between his alliance partners for Moss.

Matt “The Brains” Hoffman, a 33-year-old web designer from Elgin, Ill., and the fouth Brigade member who was earlier ousted, also cast his final vote for Moss.

Hoffman, who described himself as a “diabolical super-genius,” caused the most controversy this season for lying and telling the other contestants that his wife had a crippling disease called melorheostosis. He said he did it in hopes of securing “sympathy votes” if he made it to the end of the competition.

The plan backfired when the cast learned the truth.

“Make up a lie about your dog,” Elenburg said. “Don’t make up a lie about your wife.”

Besides the $500,000 prize, Moss may have also won a date with 24-year-old boutique manager Kristen Bitting from Philadelphia. Moss and Bitting kept their fling in the house a secret from most of the contestants.

Bitting said she would be open to a relationship with the newly crowned champ, and Moss replied that he would take her “out to get some pizza.”

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