Now that Big Brother Naija is over

Onoshe Nwabuikwu(airtimeplus98@gmail.com)

The third edition of Big Brother Naija, the one with the slogan ‘Double Wahala’, ended last Sunday. The winner was Miracle, a pilot, otherwise known as Captain Miracle Igbokwe. His prize was N45m, consisting of N25m cash, an SUV worth N12m, a home entertainment system worth about N3.3m plus an all-expenses-paid trip for two to the value of N4.7m.

Since the show ended, people have been concerned about different things. Some have been consumed with calculating the cost of the 170 million votes that the show reportedly garnered and how much profit the organisers of BBN and their sponsors have ‘hammered’;  and of course, if only “lazy Nigerian youths” would get this involved in registering and collecting their PVCs, as if that’s all it would take. “A lot of” lazy Nigerian youths were also very involved, even more so, in the last elections with some of them now explaining the definition of ‘lazy’.

As for BBN, there are those who are very preoccupied with letting everyone knowing that they will never watch Big Brother. Not to mention those who would preface and qualify their answers to whether or not they watched BBN with, “I only follow the comments on social media. I really don’t have time for things like that.”

The bigger issue is that some people feel a need to shame others for programmes they watch coupled with the pressure that comes from religious affiliations, what you can’t let your pastor know about you, what you don’t want your colleagues to know you’re into, etc. All these and more influence why people are willing to deny even when caught red-handed. This is not to say that there aren’t those who genuinely don’t care…but these kinds of people would not generally be on the defensive, I think.

Fortunately, I don’t have to justify what I watch especially on TV.  The only justification I need is that I’m a TV critic. I do need material for this column, at the very least. I’ll have something to gripe about.

However, we must pay special attention to the real BBN fans, those mourning the end of the show and despairing about how they will keep themselves occupied. Before you feel superior to BBN fans, Nigeria is fast becoming a nation of vociferous and cantankerous fans of things like the English Premier League and Keeping Up with The Kardashians. In a few weeks, when the EPL ends, some people are going to have withdrawal symptoms. I used to be one of those that worried about what weekend would look like without football. Mercifully, this is a FIFA World Cup year. To top it up, our Super Eagles are going to Russia 2018!

Speaking of fans of the Kardashians, I recall mistaking Kim as being older than Kourtney in this column. You should have seen the responses, they were quick and furious: ‘How dare you say Kim is older than Kourtney? It shows you don’t know anything about the Kardashians’. Obviously, that error was serious enough to upset the balance of the world. If only I got such passion about the other things I write about!

But can we really blame anyone from living a life of escapism in these parts? Between following news about the almost daily killings in different parts of Nigeria and following the latest shenanigans on Big Brother Naija, or what the latest Kardashian/Jenner stunt is, what would you choose? Religion? Don’t forget also that there are people who use talks about eternity and the life hereafter to avoid focusing on the real events on this earth? As the joke goes, some people are so focused on heaven they are not bothered with trivialities like life on earth.

BBN, the class of 2018

As you already know, I wasn’t watching this year’s BBN and it had nothing to do with piety or self-righteousness. I tried to follow the show online but it proved strangely difficult. Suffice it to say I knew enough to want Miracle to win. During the opening show, he reminded me of Uti Nwachukwu’s first time at the Big Brother Africa in 2007.  He had the Nigerian confidence, that positive ‘can-do-ness’. By the time he announced himself with a statement that had ‘Winsh’, we were rooting for him.

I say ‘we’ because I watched that edition with one of my sisters-in-law, Steph, who doesn’t pay attention to such things. Before the end of her visit when the show was just a few days old, I had made a convert of her. Far more interesting than Dino jumping or not jumping off a police van, I tell you.

I also followed the Cee C/Tobi drama like millions of Nigeria. Cee C was allegedly heckled on arrival from South Africa; that’s not good. But she came second. So, who was voting? Speaking of which, my pet peeve still remains this Big Brother Naija made in SA.

Finally, I took note on that first day of BBN 2018 (January 28) how accomplished the housemates seemed. As far as I can recall, almost everyone off them was otherwise engaged with education or business or work; which is just to say that the BBN show itself is not a bad idea.

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