The BBNaija, which ended on Sunday, was a game of twists and turns, writes GBENGA BADA.
On Sunday, the curtains of the sixth edition of BBNaija with the theme, Shine Ya Eye, were drawn and Hazel ‘Whitemoney’ Onyeze Onou emerged as the winner.
The last six housemates and finalists were Pere, WhiteMoney, Emmanuel, Liquorose, Angel, and Cross.
Emmanuel was evicted as the 21st housemate leaving the house while Angel emerged as the 22nd housemate to be evicted from the house. Cross and Pere became the 23rd and 24th housemates to be evicted. Whitemoney and Liquorose walked out of the house to the stage before Whitemoney was announced the winner of the 2021 edition of BBNaija Shine Ya Eye.
According to MultiChoice Nigeria Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, John Ugbe, the show recorded over 1.3 billion votes across the world during the 72 days.
Ugbe said the 2021 edition of the reality TV show gulped a total of N4.3 billion to produce while over 25,000 Nigerians got jobs working on the show.
The Shine Ya Eye edition kicked off on Saturday, July 24, 2021, after 11 male housemates – Boma, Niyi, Yerins, Pere, Cross, Saga, Jaypaul, WhiteMoney, Yousef, Emmanuel, and Sammie – were ushered into the revamped BBNaija house by the show host, Ebuka Obi-Uchedu in a grand ceremony.
In the first twist of the edition, a second opening ceremony took place on Sunday, July 25, 2021, and it ushered 11 female housemates – Peace, Maria, Angel, Liquorose, Arin, Beatrice, Tega, Princess, Saskay, Jackie B, and Nini – into the waiting arms of the male housemates.
After the female housemates joined the waiting male housemates, viewers and fans of the show got the hint of an edition filled with double doses – double opening ceremony, double Heads of House, double DJs at the Saturday night party, double fake eviction, and double winnings.
From week one of the show to the final week, the 26 housemates continued to give viewers something to long for from the fights to the bonding, love, and deception.
The show registered its emergence in the first week when the whole world talked about the Nigerian polymath. Yerins, the first of the 26 housemates to be evicted, was able to put Nigeria on the world map after he displayed uncommon abilities – academically and theoretically.
Beatrice was another housemate who viewers perceived as being misconstrued by many of the housemates. Though she also left early in the first week alongside Niyi, her presence on the show was worth every minute. The first week ended with the 22 housemates looking for the two wildcards, who were among them. Pere and Maria were revealed as the two wildcards and they joined the 20 housemates to contest for the prize money after concealing their identity for the first seven days of the show.
And at the end of the second week, Big Brother brought out another twist from his bags of twists as he ushered in four new housemates, Queen, JMK, Michael, and KayVee, who left the show after 14 days in the house.
The introduction of the four new housemates after the reshuffled tactics ignited romance and more drama. A fierce and fearless Queen had gone into a war of words with Maria barely 24 hours after getting into the house and did the same with Pere, a few days after.
The showdown between WhiteMoney and Pere in the fourth week will go down as the major highlight of the season – the fight was inevitable after Pere expressed his disgust for WhiteMoney’s perceived kitchen strategy. Whitemoney, who is known and regarded as Mazi by other 25 ex-housemates, first made his impact in the house a week after the show began on Saturday, July 24, 2021. It didn’t take long before his culinary expertise made him the show’s resident chef. In the third week, Whitemoney became a full-blown threat to a couple of ex-housemates that included second runner up, Pere. The showdown between Whitemoney and Pere had many fans of the show tilting towards Whitemoney. The resident chef not only won the show but also won different tasks including Piggyvest sponsored task. He also won the Head Of House game and reigned for a week before winning the hearts of several housemates for giving advice and helping them out even to his own detriment.
This was followed by the war of words that laced the drama between Boma and Angel. No viewer or voting fans envisioned the nasty fight that has left Angel more determined to make the best out of her participation on the show and in life.
All the 26 BBNaija Shine Ya Eye housemates have unique and different personalities that viewers have continued to enjoy viewing. From the party beast to the polymath and the military personnel, the house is filled with a delightful array of personalities.
As of the 10th week of the show, all the 26 housemates in the Shine Ya Eye house have won different sums of money for participating, and or winning a sponsored task. From the Abeg Friday night tasks to the Patricia games, Guinness sponsored tasks to the Eva sponsored task, Abeg task, and more, housemates have continued to rake in Abeg Naira – the currency allowed inside the Shine Ya Eye house – and thousands of Naira. Housemates like Liquorose, Angel, Saga, Jackie B, Maria, Princess, JMK, Michael, Queen, Yousef, Beatrice, Niyi, Saskay, Cross, Jaypaul, Emmanuel, Arin, and others have won one task or the other. Task winnings are part of the benefits of participating in the BBNaija show for all housemates.
The Abeg and Patricia designed tasks to test the physical abilities and mental alertness of the housemates. The first Abeg task for the season was a theatrical presentation where housemates had to develop a musical theatrical drama in celebration of Nigeria. The housemates, at different times, crawled under nets, jumped like soldiers, and lifted heavy tractor tyres like weightlifting experts. Evicted housemates and the six finalists got their grit tested as well as their ability to endure pressure so much that Niyi, Saskay, Jaypaul, Emmanuel, and Arin won $3500 at the first Patricia Arena games. In another of the Patricia tasks, Cross, Queen, Saskay, Liquorose, Emmanuel won a total sum of $5,000 to be shared equally. Art inclined and educative tasks were not left out as the housemates have participated in painting twice – one during the token task, where housemates had to earn a certain amount of BB Tokens by displaying their artistic prowess, second was during the SuperSport “Unbeatable” task. Team Premium and Jolli emerged winners in this task, with each team winning N1.5m to be split among team members.
Saskay and Cross won the sum of N2 million each in the Supa Komando task as well as endorsement deal. Nine housemates, Emmanuel, Queen and Saga, WhiteMoney, Nini, Angel, Pere, Cross, and Liquorose, won N2.25 million during the Hawaii task. In another task by Piggyvest, Yousef, Angel, Liquorose, Saskay won the total sum of N3.25 million in one of the Piggyvest tasks.
Like every edition of the BBNaija show, Big Brother continues to initiate twists and turns as the show progresses. The dynamism of the show has continued to keep housemates, fans, and viewers on the edge of their seats with a new twist at every unpredictable moment. A totally new game that produced a double Heads of House was one of the twists of the show before Big Brother decided to prank the housemates at different times. At some point, Big Brother emerged as the leader of a secret team that sends housemates on different secret tasks. He rewards all housemates that successfully carry out the tasks and punishes the few ones that fail. Maria was the first to be baptised when she was asked to put up an act for a whole week during a fake nomination and eviction process in the third week. Nini, Saga, and Liquorose were told at different times on the show to embark on secret tasks which earned them juicy and luxurious spoils after success.
Saga, who failed to carry out his secret task, got punished by Big Brother appropriately.
As the show ended on Sunday, October 3, 2021, after 72 days, it sets the tone for what should be expected in the seventh edition. Interestingly no housemate, past or present, viewers or fans have been able to predict right on what would be the dynamics or type of housemates that will be lucky to get into the highly-sought BBNaija house in Lagos, Nigeria. While the organisers are yet to announce plans or activities ahead of the next season, fans are already gearing up for submission of entry for an audition in 2022 for a spot in the next season.
