COVER: BBA the show that we love and hate

Big Brother Africa Reality TV show is here again, there is every reason to look forward to a great performance from the contestants.

 It is a mix of many things, from outright entertainment to tragicomedy, but for its devoted fans, and ratings-watching television executives, they just can’t wait for the show to begin.

According to AfricaMagic the new season has been christened ‘Hotshots’.

“This season’s housemates have hidden talents, they adore the spotlight and will let nothing stand in the way of their pursuit of fame & fortune,” says a source from Multi-Choice.

After a fire that razed the original production house, producers of the show Endemol have confirmed that the show kicks off this weekend in Johannesburg.

 For 91 days, contestants will do their best to outshine one another in the hope of convincing Africa that they’re the continent’s biggest ‘Hotshot’.

It has been a preseason of suspense, filled with curiosity and anxiety .

Rwanda has finally been confirmed to be part of the party after it was originally withdrawn from the list.

The producers have this time around named the contestants two weeks prior to the  kickoff date.

Tanzania will be represented by Idris from Arusha and Laveda from Dar es Salaam. After a great show by Feza and Nando during the ‘Chase Season’, fans out there hope that these two could do better by emulating Richard’s success in the second season.

Several young men and women across Africa every year struggle to get into this show for a multitude of reasons.

Big Brother Africa as we have come to know has a huge platform for ordinary people from all walks of life to test their worth against other competitors and to show the world what they are capable of.

In the next 91 days alliances will be created; countrymen will betray one another and friends will fall apart as the hunt for glory heats up.

Love it or hate it, reality shows have now become an addictive part of our lives that you can’t afford to ignore any longer.

With 28 housemates from 14 countries at stake stands, the winner takes all prize money of $300,000 and a chance of becoming a household name.

And on the fringes lie some distant hopes finding romance that is if the past seasons are anything to go by. 

Over the years hook ups, break ups, violence, sex, marriage and even a death have become part of BBA’s history.

Many have gone on to make careers out of their stints on the show while others who were already household names at home went on to gain continental fame with their talent (or notoriety).

For instance, housemates like Gaetano Kaggwa (Uganda), Uti Nwachukwu (Nigeria), Kevin Chuwang Pam (Nigeria), and Vimbai Mutinhiri (Zimbabwe) have capitalised on their fame after leaving the BBA house.

During last year’s edition ‘The Chase’, romance was up in the air and cupid struck several Chasemates leaving them with no choice.

The edition was a collection of some self-styled players and womanisers like Bolt who confessed that he generally liked women and Nando who wanted more girls in the House.

Uganda LK4 paired with South Africa’s Koketso, Sierra Leone’s Bolt chasing Ethiopia’s Betty, Nando with Selly, Oneal zero grazing around Feza, Elikeem with Zimbabwe’s Pokello.

Romance

Tanzania’s participation has been quite eventful at the BBA with a mixture of both Romance and violence in equal  measure. Elizabeth Gupta found love while there and went on to get married to Nigeria’s Kevin Chuwang just as Mwisho did on his second stint when he met Meryl and the rest is history.

It is not documented how far Feza has gone in nurturing her romance with O’Neal but sources confirm that she is quite a regular visitor in Gaborone.

When Richard joined the show in 2007 he was a newly-wed, 24-year-old. He became quite a hit with most housemates including Angola’s Tatiana Durao,with  whom he quickly began an affair.

However, this isn’t the most scandalous bit of Richard’s stint on Big Brother Africa; it was his exploits with Nigerian housemate Ofunneka Molokwu that hit the headlines.

Many bewildered viewers who had watched the live feed complained to MNET’s message boards about the incident but the network later released a statement disputing the public’s version of events, insisting that whatever had happened was consensual.

The show’s producers chose to keep Richard in the house. The incident seemingly did little to dent Richard’s popularity in Africa as he still went on to win Africa’s biggest reality show. The young bride too, forgave him.

Nando’s Knifegate and Std claim

In 2013, BBA through The Chase, BBA promised drama and action that would keep viewers glued. They weren’t lying.

It all started with Tanzanian housemate Nando getting his first strike when he attended the Channel O party with a  knife in his pocket.

Asked by Big Brother why he had a weapon with him at a party, he defended himself saying “I carry knives everywhere I go and I had no intention of using it on anyone.”

He didn’t explain why he had it but some housemates speculated he carried it around in case fellow contestant Sulu came at him during the party. He was also caught with scissors under his bed, was warned for violating house rules but was given another chance.

Finally, towards the end of July, Nando instigated a heated argument with Ghana’s Elikem who in the heat of the moment hurled an expletive about the former’s mother. After other housemates’ intervention to separate the two, Nando was heard saying, “I feel like stabbing him. A ni**a like that deserves to die.”

That marked the end of his turbulent nine weeks on the show. BBA decided enough was enough and the troublesome young man was sent packing.

But that was not just about it, as viewers warmed up to more romance and dates in the House, a bombshell was dropped after Nando claimed that Selly had infected him with an STI after their cozy moments on Day 27.  A liaison, which according to Nando, was on a no strings attached basis had left the Tanzanian housemate being treated of Chlamydia.

The slaps

In the 2012 edition dubbed Stargame, an altercation between Sierra Leone’s Zainab and Ghanaian DKB seemed to come out of nowhere. The beefy comedian accused Zainab of spying on him while he was getting ready to shower, she denied doing so.

He threatened to slap her if she tried to do so again and it all went downhill from there. She dared him to hit her and in a fit of anger, he went ahead and slapped the glasses off her face. DKB was immediately ordered by Big Brother to report to the diary room and was disqualified immediately for violence, a contravention of the “non-violence” rule of the house.

 Hannington Kutesa from Uganda was disqualified in 2010 for hitting South African contestant Lerato Sengadi after a drunken argument.

Tanzania’s Lotus Kyamba was put on the next plane after she slapped South Africa’s Luclay and with that she became the first woman to be evicted from the house for violence.

As we embark on another 12 week-journey it remains a mystery whether these contestants will have the nerves to resist treading the same route. Let the show begin.