21st September, 2010
Nigerian Breweries Plc, owners of the Gulder brand of alcoholic beverage drink, on Saturday, September 18, 2010, at the main hall of the Lagoon Restaurant, Victoria Island, Lagos, surprised over 600 invited guests including the media, when it announced 12 instead of 10 usually selected for participation in its annual brand marketing television reality show, the Gulder Ultimate Search.
The event which started around 6 30p.m. and ended by 9 30p.m. was characterised by drama, suspense, tension, sadness and joy. It was moderated by ace radio disc jockey, Fleece of Cool FM.
Out of the seated 41 young agile, forward looking men and women shortlisted after a three-week rigorous search across the country, only 18 were called on stage. The moderator, under the watchful eyes of guests and the organisers, was saddled with the task of pruning down the first list of 41 hopefuls to 18. His task became more difficult when he had to come up with the final list based on laid down criteria.
After engaging the 18 wannabes in mental tasks and observing other laid down criteria, Fleece, as the moderator is popularly called, came up with the final 10 who at this stage were guaranteed a place in the celebrated annual search for fame and fortune.
However, to the chagrin off not a few, the management of Nigerian Breweries Plc, through their representatives at the event, communicated to the moderator on stage, to keep hope alive for the 8 others who had failed to make the selected list. The moderator announced that, in the spirit of the 40th anniversary of the Gulder brand in Nigeria, the owners of the brand had decided to increase the number to 12, instead of the traditional 10 that usually made it to the jungle for the search.
For that reason, the moderator decided that the task of picking the additional two, would be shared with the seated guests, which include entertainment editors from major national news publications, three past winners of the Gulder Ultimate Search Ezugo Egwuagu, Michael Nwachukwu and Uche Nwaezeapu. Popular music diva Mumma Gee and Nollywood actor and past anchor of the programme Bob Manuel-Udokwu among others were allowed to make inputs in the choice of the additional two.
At the end, a male and female contestant who had lost hope earlier were picked to join the 10 earlier chosen. The 12 finalists will be taken to the undulating plains of the Ogun State Forestry Plantation Project, Area J4, Omo Forest Reserve in Ijebu East LGA, Ogun State to search for 21 days for the missing Gulder ultimate treasure.
The last man standing in this year’s search will go home with a cash prize of N7 million, a N10 million SUV and N500,000 wardrobe allowance, while others will go home with consolation cash prizes ranging between N450,000 and N2.5million.