Big Brother Naija is avidly watched by fans from 48 African countries who would swear that the show only gets better and more entertaining with each passing season. In the past three weeks since its premiere, Big Brother Naija Lockdown is already exceeding expectations.
On Sunday 19 July, 20 housemates were locked down in Big Brother’s house after being quarantined for two weeks to ensure they were COVID-19 free. We got past our first impressions of the housemates within the first few days, as social media sleuths started to discover information about the housemates as they began to interact in the house.
We discovered that Praise was engaged, that Nengi was a former beauty queen, Prince was Mr. Nigeria in 2018, and that Laycon was a pretty talented rapper!
Anyways, it’s only five weeks since the show began, but here’s what’s banging about the Big Brother Naija Lockdown edition so far.
The Housemates
Since the show began, the housemates have been the source of major banter, memes, and laughs on social media. The housemates are an amazingly diverse bunch, and the consensus is nearly unanimous – these guys are probably the most entertaining set we’ve seen on our screens since the show’s inception.
Literally every housemate will remind you of someone you know or a situation you have previously encountered.
Kiddwaya is that guy who is very aware of the fact that he is too good-looking for his own good. We’ll call BrightO a sly for want of a better word. He plays the game so well!
Ozo is the earnest, super nice guy who friend zones you so nicely that you barely notice it. Lucy is your loudmouth friend with a temper, who never holds a grudge after she lets it all out. We could go on and on, but you understand already, right?
Challenges, Games, and Wagers
The Big Brother Naija show is popular for giving the housemates innovative games that challenge their minds, talents, and their ability to think on their feet. The Lockdown edition is no different.
For the wager tasks, the housemates have been tasked with doing things that put display their unique skills and talents. One of their most notable wager tasks so far was putting up a musical set in the ’80s. Triktytee made for an excellent director, Vee showed her musical skills in overseeing the musical acts, and several housemates proved that they were pretty good actors.
The Betway Arena Games are always hilariously inventive, and after five weeks of watching the show, all we want to know is this – who thinks up those games?!
Eviction Wahala
The BBNaija format is not news to anyone – 20 housemates stay together in a secluded location for nearly three months, and the housemates with the lowest votes are periodically evicted.
In this season of the show, all of the housemates are put up for eviction every week, except the Head of House and deputy, whose positions grant them immunity. Viewers then vote for their preferred housemates, and then the rest of the housemates go into the Diary Room to tell Big Brother who they want to be evicted from the show.
So far, there have been four sets of evictions in the BBNaija lockdown house, and in an unexpected twist typical of the show, two evictions were double evictions, so six housemates have been eliminated so far.
The concept of evictions seems almost cruel – the housemates are allowed to bond and get accustomed to each other and then suddenly someone gets booted out of the door, but as Tochi said at his eviction, it is what it is.
Saturday Parties
The Saturday Parties have been a time for the housemates to blow off steam resulting from disagreements amongst themselves, or anxiety about being evicted. They always take the parties very seriously, dress to the nines, and come prepared to have a good time. After the party, conversations about the housemates go on until well after midnight as social media users discuss the activities of the housemates.
Erica’s popularity grew from how hard she partied at the Saturday parties, while BrightO surprised the viewers when he showed us what kind of party animal he was. From the Saturday Parties, we also get a sense of which ‘ship is about to sail if you know what we mean.
Head of House
Besides the Head of House Challenge that seems to confound the same set of housemates every week, we’ve seen that the personality of the HoH inevitably sets the tone for the other housemates during the week of their reign.
In the first week, the Head of House was Nengi. The housemates, flush from the excitement of having gained access to the BBNaija house, combined with Nengi’s breezy leadership style enjoyed a pretty cool first week.
Lucy’s more strident style in the second week led to several arguments and clashes between housemates and the failure of their wager task. Ozo emerged as the Head of House, and his reign has been marked by ‘round table’ discussions in the aftermath of arguments, and the housemates winning their first wager task.
Erica was Head of House in the fourth week, while Kiddwaya held the position in the fifth week.
Flirtations, Love Triangles and Squares
The show started out with 20 housemates, evenly balanced across both genders.
After a few days in the house, in true Noah’s Ark style, the housemates started to pair themselves up into couples. For the short time they were together, Lilo and Eric proved to be the kind of couples we all know – the kind that gets absorbed in each other and forget that any other humans exist in the world. Tolanibaj and Prince just started to sail their ship and we are still looking to see how that will go.
Of course, there’s the Ozo, Dora, and Nengi story. Ozo truly thinks of Dorathy as his best friend and his ‘favourite person in the house’ (he has repeated this phrase often enough that it’s stuck), on the other hand, he has come out clean about his crush on Nengi. He would like to take their relationship a step further, but while Nengi seems to like him too, she is holding back, probably because of her relationship outside the house.
There’s the love triangle with Laycon, Erica, and Kiddwaya. Erica supposedly has a ‘mental attraction’ to Laycon and a physical attraction to Kiddwaya. Erica’s vacillating between both men will remind you of that friend of yours that does not ever take the right relationship advice. Like everyone else, she wants to eat her cake and have it.
Kiddwaya just seems to be having fun, but we can’t really say how deep it is for him. Can you? But Laycon… He’s obviously hurt whenever Erica swings over to Kiddwaya, and it is just painful to watch. Every not so hunky guy who has been passed over for the richer guy with rock hard abs and pecs will definitely understand Laycon’s pain.
Meanwhile, Vee and Neo are either giving out relationship advice or ignoring the noise, focusing on each other, and trying to avoid getting evicted. The real ride or die couple.
Big Brother Naija Lockdown is still on, and we can all look forward to enjoying more weeks of premium entertainment.
Big Brother Naija season 5 airs 24/7 on DStv channel 198 and GOtv Max and Jolli on channel 29. Sign up to DStv today via www.dstvafrica.com or get GOtv Max or Jolli on www.gotvafrica.com