Who is ‘Big Brother 16’ star Caleb Reynolds and where is he now?
Dylan Hughes A season brimming with personalities, Big Brother 16 provided a home for several memorable and eccentric houseguests in 2014. And one of those reality stars was Caleb Reynolds, the Kentucky-born 26-year-old showman known as “Beast Mode Cowboy.”
Recommended VideosCaleb stormed into the game as a tattooed hunting guide with a military background and as he claimed, only about seven percent body fat. Known for his wild stories and overtly masculine nature, Beast Mode Cowboy is a one-of-a-kind character.
Fueled by four Head of Household victories and his undying loyalty to the season’s dominant secret alliance, “The Hitmen” (Derrick Levasseur and Cody Calafiore), Caleb placed fourth overall after they backstabbed him and ended his run on day 90.
Paul and Teresa Reynolds were spotlighted during an episode of Big Brother 16 and they spoke about their son’s unique personality.
“Caleb as a kid was a happy-go-lucky kid, always a smile on his face,” Paul said. “Always a jokester. He really is like that. Caleb’s been a beast his whole life — muscle and brawn and bravado. That’s Beast Mode Cowboy!”
“[If] there’s a group of people around and they’re telling stories, he’s going to put a twist on it to make his story better than anybody’s,” Teresa said.
“In his defense, out of the eight or 9,000 stories that he’s told since he’s been in the house, there is a degree of truth to almost every one of them,” Paul then chimed in.
Teresa then pegged Caleb’s blind loyalty to Derrick and Cody on the ethics he learned while serving in the US military. “I think Caleb’s time in Iraq taught him to appreciate America, the freedom that we have here,” Teresa said. “It taught him loyalty.”
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But, she went on to share her belief that Caleb’s loyalty was “going to hurt him.” The interview with Caleb’s parents took place when he was the final-5 Head of Household. Beast Mode Cowboy elected to nominate Victoria Rafaeli and Frankie Grande for eviction, thus keeping The Hitmen safe.
It appeared Frankie was all in on working with Caleb through the end game, but Beast Mode Cowboy chose to ride with Derrick and Cody instead. The move ultimately led to Frankie’s eviction after Cody won the Power of Veto and kept nominations the same.
As usual, moms know best.
Caleb was sent out the door the following eviction night. Derrick captured the Head of Household and Cody secured the Power of Veto. And instead of keeping their final-3 promise with Beast Mode Cowboy, they took Victoria to finale night instead. After Cody became Big Brother 16’s final Head of Household, he sent Victoria to the jury house. Derrick won the $500,000 grand prize later that night with a 7-2 vote — Caleb voted for Derrick to win.
Caleb played Survivor twice after Big Brother and is currently living the dad life
Big Brother 16 wasn’t Caleb’s last reality TV stint. In fact, he’s one of only two CBS personalities to cross over from Big Brother to Survivor. And he did it twice, although the results were not what he was looking for.
Caleb appeared on Survivor Kaôh Rōng, the franchise’s Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty iteration. It was filmed under a year after Beast Mode Cowboy’s first CBS gameshow, and he battled on the Beauty tribe for nine days before his first attempt at becoming the “Sole Survivor” came to an abrupt halt.
After a grueling challenge kept the players out in the beating Cambodian sun for over an hour, Caleb collapsed on the ground. The on-site medical staff tended to Beast Mode Cowboy, but once they determined that they couldn’t get his heart rate back to a regular pace, they ejected him from the game and sent him to the hospital. He made a full recovery.
He returned around a year later for season 34’s Game Changers, and once again, he didn’t make it past day 9. But, he was ceremoniously voted out at Tribal Council rather than getting airlifted off of a beach.
We haven’t seen Caleb compete on a CBS show since. But, judging by his Instagram, Caleb is living a fulfilled life as a father alongside his wife, Ashley. They’ve had three children together, and Beast Mode Cowboy is also the stepfather of Ashley’s daughter Kylie. According to a post on the platform, Ashley gave birth to their baby girl Noa June at 36 weeks in July after a complicated pregnancy.
Although Noa is facing health implications — the doctor told Ashley and Caleb at six weeks that they needed to prepare for a “non-viable pregnancy” — Caleb shared on Instagram a week after her birth that she no longer needed a feeding tube and heater, and that she “can hear great and see everything.”
Caleb, who is now 35, also posted that he and Ashley were renewing their vows in July, and they posed with her new diamond ring.
