'Big Brother' Winner Xavier Prather Makes History

(CBS4)- It was an exciting finale on Season 23 of "Big Brother" as Xavier Prather was crowned the winner. The 27-year-old lawyer from Kalamazoo, Michigan, took home $750,000, the largest cash prize in the game's history. Prather's win was also one for the history books, as he become the first Black winner of Big Brother US (Celebrity Big Brother and Big Brother Canada have previously crowned Black winners).

We talked with Prather on CBSN Denver to ask him about his win and some of his favorite memories from the house.

"It's historic, it's groundbreaking. I hope I am able to not only make the Black community proud, but be someone little Black boys and girls can look up to and say, 'if he can do it, so can I.'"

Prather made it to the end as a member of the 6-person alliance, The Cookout. He told us his favorite memory was the day the members of that alliance made it as the final six houseguests.

"We not only made history by ensuring 'Big Brother' would crown its first Black winner, but we made history by being the only alliance of six to make it to the final six. I think that speaks to how well we played the game."

Prather says he will always be grateful to the other members of his alliance.

"It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I was the winner, but I owe everything in my win to those five other people. They're amazing people, and I couldn't pick a better group of people to play this game."

Prather says he plans to use the prize money to set up a college fund for his nephew, whose father died recently. He also plans to pay off some of his college loans and help friends and family.

"Winning the prize money wasn't necessarily for me," says Prather. "It was primarily about what that money could do for the people I care about."

Big Brother returns this winter with Celebrity Big Brother coming February 2022 on CBS or streaming on Paramount+.