Big Brother Africa Seeks Housemates

By Funsho Arogundade

On 22 January, M-Net Africa announced the opening of another opportunity to fame and fortune for thousands of youths on the continent as Big Brother Africa, its popular reality television show, returns for its eighth season.

PMNEWS Entertainment Café learnt that Big Brother hopefuls are expected to apply online from 1 February until 14 February. The housemates will be revealed on 26 May, when the hit show begins its three-month run.

Biola Alabi, Managing Director, M-Net Africa, said entry is open to persons above 21, who are citizens of one of the participating countries and who either have a valid passport or will be able to obtain one by the end of March.

Alabi, who has anchored the production for the past four years, said the big surprise this year will be one that audiences will fall in love with.

“As always, we won’t say much about the new season but I can confirm that we’ve added a new element that I think will get the hearts of viewers racing. The fact that the fans truly adore the show is all the motivation we need to keep it fresh and fun,” she said.

Fourteen countries enlisted for the competition last year. One of them, Liberia, has been substituted by Ethiopia this year. The aim “is to ensure that a wide range of countries can be included in the different editions of the series,” Sivan Pillay, Endemol Managing Director, said.

Participating countries are: Angola, Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The winner of the show would win  $300,000. Nigerian participants – Kevin Pam, Uti Nwachukwu and Karen Igho – won the competition back-to-back in 2009, 2010 and 2011.