Sunday May 26th marked the beginning of another chase by 28 housemates for the mouth-watering $300, 000 Big Brother Africa prize, thus ushering in 91 days of season eight on DStv Channel 197 & 198.
The recent unveiling of the 28 housemates for the Big Brother Africa Show has set the stage again for another exciting and interesting contest, which has attracted a large number of enthusiasts from Nigeria and other participating African countries, following the successful
outing of Ofunneka Molokwu and the emergence of Kelvin Chuwang Pam, Karen Igho and Uti Nwachukwu as past winners of the show.
Arguably the continent’s biggest reality show, which has 14 participating countries with two participants from each country; it is aired live from South Africa on DStv with IK Osakioduwa of Nigeria as the usual anchor. It also had Uti Nwachukwu, assisted by another Nigerian as compere, at the live streaming of the show at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos.
Also present at the live streaming in Lagos was Kelvin Pam and his wife.
Already, the heat is on as all contestants had their first nomination sessions less than 24 hours after meeting each other for the first time.
The reality show, produced by Endemol SA and headline sponsored by Airtel, will see two housemates leave the show today.
Commenting on the show, Airtel Africa Chief Marketing Officer, Andre Beyers stated that “Airtel is proud to be associated with Big Brother– Season 8. We identify with the diverse audiences watching this remarkable program in over 50 African countries and the unique
opportunity to create awareness of some of our ground breaking services to the audience. The reality show is also a perfect match with Airtel’s goal of not only offering entertainment, but also
connecting millions of people through music.”
The show kicked off with South African group Mafikizolo performing ‘Khona’, backed by magnificent dancers from the Mzansi Ballet Theatre.
Presenter IK rolled up in style on a motorcycle and promised viewers an exciting three months of television, which will see the housemates playing the game with their eyes firmly on the $300, 000 prize.
The show continued with a glowing tribute to Nigerian star Goldie, who passed away earlier this year. The tribute featured Goldie’s time while at the Big Brother House.
Two South African comedians, Tumi Morake and Kenyan Churchill, also had the chance to explore the two houses, the Ruby and Diamond houses, hosting the housemates this year. Two houses, of course, mean two 24/7 channels, with viewers able to follow the action in either house via DStv Channel 197 or 198.
Boity Thulo was on hand to show viewers how they can interact with Big Brother: The Chase this year. Last year, Big Brother Star Game captivated the market with 2.3 million website visitors, 140 million page views, over 1 million Facebook likes and 2.3 million TV messages.
This year is, tailored to whichever device you view it on, to deliver the best possible user experience.
Signing up as a VIP Member will deliver a host of exclusive content that you won’t want to miss out on. Viewers will also be able to use the website or their mobile devices to vote to keep their favourite housemate in ‘The Chase’.
It was then time to meet the housemates, with IK explaining that the ladies would be given the choice of their male counterparts. After being called on stage, they would select a male housemate to join them in the house, based on a picture of their smile alone.
Each of the men would be wearing an element with a particular colour to denote which house the duo would then head into – red for Ruby or yellow for Diamond.
Zimbabwe’s Pokello was the first housemate to be introduced to Africa. She was asked to select a male contestant who would be joining her on the stage from IK’s tablet and she chose LK4 from Uganda. This was followed by Ghana’s Selly, who selected Bassey from Sierra Leone.
Dellish (Namibia) was the third lady to take the stage, selecting South Africa’s Angelo, based on the image of his smile on IK’s tablet.
Malawi’s Fatima was up next, selecting Tanzania’s Nando to join her. Kenyan Huddah’s photo selection drew Ethiopia’s Bimp to the stage, before Motamma from Botswana chose Angola’s Neyll.
Ada Beverly Osu, the Nigerian female contestant, a model from Lagos who has described herself as “smart, sexy, humble, loyal and crazy” picked Sulu from Zambia, followed by Zambia’s Cleo who chose Botswana’s Oneal. Namibian Maria was the next housemate to join IK on stage, joined shortly afterwards by Nigeria’s Melvin Oduah.
Melvin Oduah of Nigerian is not new to reality show as he has participated in Gulder Ultimate search in Nigeria organised by Nigerian Breweries, where he gave a good account of himself emerging as a runner up at the Gulder Ultimate Search VI, and also at the 2011 edition of Mr Nigeria, just like Uti Nwachukwu, who participated in a movie reality show before going to the Big Brother Show to win.
The unveiling of the contestants continued with IK introducing Natasha from Malawi next, with Angola’s Bigues as her choice.
Tanzanian Feza was the next housemate to join IK on stage, choosing Ghana’s Elikem to join her. Betty from Ethiopia followed, with Bolt from Sierra Leone joining her shortly after. Annabel from Kenya was next up, with her photo selection giving IK the chance to introduce
Uganda’s Denzel to the continent. South Africa’s Koketso was the final housemate IK summoned to the stage to make her choice, bringing Zimbabwe’s Hakeem up to join her.
A few changes to the game this year was also introduced, with the news that Big Brother was on the hunt for housemates who would be making romantic gestures, with a special prize up for grabs for the housemate who brought the most romance into the house. The Head of House also
gains new powers. Along with the ability to ‘save & replace’ nominees, the Head of the House will also have the power to switch housemates between houses each Friday during the Airtel Showdown arena games.
There’s also a new ‘3 Strike Rule’ for housemates. Those who commit serious infringements of rules which don’t lead to immediate disqualification will pick up ‘strikes’. Three strikes will see them disqualified from the game, and leaving the house.
South African comedian Tumi Morake will also be hosting a special show on Africa Magic after each Sunday’s show called ‘Big Brother Hot Room’, starting 2 June at 21:00 CAT. She will put a satirical spin on the week by taking comic pot shots at the most talked-about events of the week and re-enact parody scenes with housemates.
M-Net Africa Managing Director, Biola Alabi, at the live steaming of the show emphasised that, “Africa Magic is excited that Africa’s biggest reality show is now underway. Audiences can expect the addition of interesting and engaging new elements to the show.
“Big Brother has displayed remarkable growth over the years and we hope
that this year will be no different. The launch of Hot Room will certainly bring fun, laughter and witty commentary in an amusing and comical way. Shock, drama, emotions and surprises have always been synonymous with the show but audience must keep watching because anything is possible over the next 91 days. There will also be great prizes up for grabs weekly, so keep watching the show and Africa Magic channels for details!”
The viewers are also reminded of the ways to stay up to date with Big Brother Africa: As the viewers can press ‘OK’ on DStv Channels 197 or 198 to read up on the latest news, send messages to TV by tweeting and using #bigbroafrica or #bbathechase, using Facebook to log into the ‘message to TV’ application on their computer or phone or send a text message via the short code for their country.
The winner of Big Brother will be named after 91 days of head-to-head competition where the power to award the $300, 000 prize rests completely in the hands of the viewers.
As the chase continues, Nigerians and other African lovers and followers of the live reality show are looking forward to a good outing from participants, especially from their different participating countries this year, which will be characterised by the usual suspense and intrigues associated with the show.
The live event was rounded off with live performances from Kenyan singer, songwriter and rapper STL, who delivered an unforgettable performance of ‘Stella Stella Stella’ in her distinctive style, followed by D’Prince of Nigeria with his exotic dancers and was closely followed by Don Jazzy and Wande Coal, who gave a good account of themselves to bring the live streaming of the show to a close.