Big Brother Amplified ends with a Nigerian participant emerging as one of the winners of the two star prizes

The Big Brother Amplified show has finally come to an end.  It was a game meant only for the fittest; it was fierce, tedious and full of anxiety.  But, the frictions, conspiracies and tension in the House were no match for Nigeria’s Karen Igho, the Nigerian representative, who emerged one of the winners of the 2011 Big Brother reality show. 

It is Nigeria’s third victory in the show.  In the past two seasons, Kevin Chuwang Pam and Uti Nwanchukwu, two Nigerian contestants, participated in the 2009 and 2010 seasons. They emerged winners and came back to Nigeria with the grand prize of U$200,000.

Igho, 27, the second Nigerian contestant in this show and Delta State born model, emerged winner on Sunday, July 31 with a total score of 49.4 percent votes from six African countries namely, Nigeria, Angola, Rest of Africa, Ghana, Mozambique and Tanzania. With this, her $200,000 victory was guaranteed.

Big Brother did not fail to fulfill its promise to its fans that there would be two winners in this year’s show. Apart from Igho, there was also another winner, Wendall Parson, 23, from Zimbabwe, who won with votes from four countries - Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Kenya.

The final show kicked off when IK Osakioduwa, the host of the event, introduced Dineo Moeketsi, his co-host, from Channel O  cable music channel. To open the floor of the grand finale, there was a musical performance by Ayodeji Balogun, popularly known as Wizkid, a prominent Nigerian artiste.  Balogun revved up the event with Holla at your Boy, his famous song. Shortly after this was a mind blowing performance by Modupe Oyeyemi, popularly known as Mo’Cheddah, another young artiste from Nigeria.  Oyeyemi entertained the audience with Ko Ma Roll, her hit song which brought her to stardom.

Osakioduwa then proceeded to the Big Brother House and housemates were very excited to see him in their House for the first time. He chatted with them for a few minutes, teased Lomwe Namali of his love tangles with Hanni Mekura.  Namali said he asked Mekura out but her refusal to date him did not stop their little period of romance in the House. At this time, the host decided to show the housemates their past escapades in the House, there was a flash back which featured the happy moments of romance, confusing moments of conflicts, interesting moment of tasks and sad moments of evictions.

When the host went back on stage, he replayed the interviews of some ex-housemates. Millicent Bagnold spoke of her experience in the House. “I think I missed it all when I got close to Alex Biney because many people got a different impression about me and they never cared to get close to me to know my kind of person. My relationship in the House with Biney was too early and I think that was part of what led me out of the House,” she said.

Kim Hughes said she never regretted her moments in the House and though she dated two men in the House, her moments were fabulous. “First, I was with Nicolas Magoudu, when he was evicted, I found myself in the arms of Namali, so I enjoyed myself. Among the ladies, I was close to Peo Sebotho, popularly called Miss P, but I saw Weza Solunga as a basket of wisdom, whatever I did in the House, she was abreast of it,” she said.  

Vimbai Mutinhiri said when she was in the House, the only person she got along with was Parson, her country man. Apart from the fact that they were from the same country, they were also close because they seem to have a similar social background. “Although people mistook our closeness for something else but truly it was just friendship,” she said.

Big Brother also unmasked the people behind the show such as sponsors and organisers of the Big Brother Amplified show. Biola Alabi, managing director, M-Net Africa provided an insight into the decision to choose two winners this season while Austin Ufomba, managing director, Coca-Cola, talked about the similarities between Big Brother and the Coca-Cola brands.

Going back to the eviction proper, Osakioduwa raised temperatures in the domain of not just Big Brother housemates but of audience and viewers. Many were anxious to know who goes first. The first name that was called for eviction was Vina Longpet, the other Nigerian girl. Even though Longpet did not win the show, she was praised for staying till the end. Contrary to what happened to other countries, both Nigerian representatives made it to the finals despite the rigorous exercises and evictions. Ethiopia’s Mekura followed shortly in Longpet’s footsteps.

Then, there was a twist. The remaining five housemates were ordered out of the House. After a musical performance by a South African artiste, Osakioduwa interviewed the housemates and they talked about their favourite moments in the House and were shown highlights of their exciting moments in the House. Next to exit was Sharon Nalukenge from Uganda, then Namali from Malawi.

The Amplified Dance Crew performed one more time and Fally Ipupa from the Democratic Republic of Congo also entertained the audience. Though, the performance was interesting, the audience were impatient. It was apparent that all they wanted was to know the winners. 

Finally, there was a huge shock when Osakioduwa called Luclay Misoya from South Africa to stand up. At this time, there was tension, many expected the host to call on Parson and not Misoya because going by the voters’ poll, he got the highest percentage.

But the host called on Misoya and told him that his journey in the Big Brother show has just ended. He was evicted at the eleventh hour.

Apparently, after the eviction of Misoya, the grand prize was left for Igho and Parson. When the host announced this, the audiences were perplexed.

Many murmured that Big Brother cheated, that the second winner was supposed to be Misoya. With his votes of 20.9 percent, people felt his victory was apparent.  Fans of the Big Brother show could not comprehend how Parson with just 5.8 percent votes could surpass Misoya’s 20.9 percent votes.

Amidst this, Big Brother explained.  Misoya had two country votes from South Africa and Bostwana while Parson had four country votes from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Kenya. Thus the winners were not just chosen from the percentage of votes but also from the number of country votes.

It was not surprising that Parson’s victory was questioned. From the onset, Parson had been very relaxed and only had time for his cigarettes and beer. He was not a good entertainer so he was an unlikely winner. In fact, he hardly yielded to the attention of Mutinhiri, his country girl, but preferred to sit on a spot for hours to kill boredom with his cigarette. But, Parson also had a positive side. He was hard-working. He cleaned the House, unlike the other housemates who dodged housework. Also, he was never a pretender, he came out clear to express his feelings that he did not like Longpet and also that he hated people caressing him.

Unlike Parson, however, Igho’s victory was expected and applauded. She was a strong character in the House, a good entertainer, lovable, selfless and entirely original. Though she drinks a lot and even smokes, she never lied about who she is. She revealed emotions and even shed some tears during the show. At some point, she suggested that the winning prize be shared among all housemates.

She got so emotional with other housemates that she gave up the opportunity of saving herself from eviction by nominating someone else during the week she was up for eviction and as the House leader. She was privileged to save herself but she surprised everyone when she opted for eviction.  Despite her seemingly volatile personality, Igho had a caring heart and exhibited that till the end of the show.

The Big Brother reality show first started in 2005, in Johannesburg, South Africa, and its purpose was not only to entertain viewers but also for the integration of Africa.