The jungle of Ososo hills, venue of the ongoing Gulder Ultimate Search contest, erupts in jubilation as Ezeoba Okoroafor is nominated for eviction

For the first time in this season of Gulder Ultimate Search, GUS 8, the eviction of a contestant elicited wild jubilation. Unlike other evictees who were missed by their mates after their eviction, Ezeoba Okoroafor’s eviction was rather greeted with cheers by other contestants. While at the jungle, Okoroafor was seen as an ebullient and loquacious fellow who wanted to dominate others. These traits had, on several occasions, pitted him against other mates in the jungle and gave him the status of the jungle’s rude boy.

But despite his macho physique, Eze- oba was one of the two contenders shown the door in a rather dramatic fashion during the third task of their stay in the Ososo hills and jungle of Edo State. Ezeoba could not complete a task while Lillian Ebhonhon erroneously completed Ezeoba’s own. But both of them were shown the way out.

For Eze, it was the end of a journey in which he made more enemies than friends. Right from his entry into the jungle, he showed that all he wanted was the ultimate prize and nothing else. It didn’t matter to him whose ox was gored in the process. To make matters worse, he was always suspicious of the other contenders.

When the time for the day’s task came, he was fully ready. He had prepared himself with a light exercise along with other contestants with Kesiena, a professional athlete, acting as instructor.  After that, he had gone hunting in the forest. He was accompanied by Olanrewaju. They returned to camp without any game. He wasn’t bothered though, not even with the endless jests from the others.

So, when it was time for the task, he was in a good shape. But unfortunately for him, the task required mental alertness. They were required to go through various hurdles until they reach a series of symbols and signs arranged in a particular order. After studying the arrangement of the symbols, they were to go back the same way, going past the hurdles before replicating the arrangement. Each contender was provided symbols to do this. They were allowed only two attempts and if they still failed to reproduce the exact arrangement of the symbols, then they would have to go back to the original, and then return again until they finally got it right.

While other contestants including Okoroafor dashed off for the task, Ulunma walked her way through. Most of the contenders ended up going back a second time but Efe finished first. He broke Sunday Gyang’s record of two wins in the two tasks. Kesiena was the second to complete the task, while Olanrewaju was third. Fejiro completed his and was the fourth while Ulunma finished fifth. Gyang was next, leaving Lilian and Okoroafor.

Lilian managed to get the combination right only for her to discover that she had arranged Okoroafor puzzle instead of hers. Thus, she lost out. It was seemed to be a blessing  for him as he appeared to have scaled through following the sudden burst of good luck courtesy of Lillian. His celebrations did not matter in the end. Okoroafor was eliminated along with Lilian that night at the Place of The Talking Drum.

From the reactions of the other contenders, it was obvious that Okoroafor was not going to be missed. But still, he has a chance to come back into the contest of champions if he is voted back to slug it out for the last remaining slot. But that seems a remote possibility.

Earlier on, Patience Ihongbe had been given the boot for lack of patience over the way she approached a task given the group. The task was a daunting one. Each of the contenders had to assemble a ladder using mallets and pegs. They would then use the ladder to climb a high platform upon which was erected eight wooden poles, one less than the number of contenders. The flags could only be raised by cutting a rope holding them. Getting the ladder proved to be the most difficult aspect of the task. They had to scale across a cargo net to reach bags containing wooden pegs and then move on to another area in the jungle to assemble the ladders. They were to assemble the ladders using the pegs and a mallet and then climb the platform before cutting the ropes holding the flags. The contender without a flag is the loser.

It turned out to be very tasking. But Sunday Gyang literarily took the day coming first in the task. He did it in record time, way before others. This would be the second time he would be emerging winner after also clinching the first task. He was followed by Kesienia and Ezeoba. Ulunma was next before Fejiro, Olarewaju and Efe. Ihongbe and Lillian were left behind to slug it out. At the end of the day, Ihongbe lost out. She became the second contender to be evicted from batch C.