Maria, the eighth evicted housemate of the ongoing BBNaija Shine Ya Eye House, spoke with ASSISTANT ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR, GBENGA BADA, on her 35-day journey on the show, altercations with Queen, regrets on being friends with Pere and many more. Extracts:
Five weeks is a whole lot in BBNaija because a number of housemates got evicted by the way. If I’m not mistaken, five people got evicted while one opted to live the show before your eviction, how was the journey?
Well, since I left the house, it’s been completely like so busy because obviously the first week that you get out is to like media rounds. So we’re still doing the media rounds. So it’s hectic, hectic. But yeah, the experience of the house was awesome. I’m not gonna lie. It’s something I’ve never done before. It was a huge challenge for me. In regards to the fact that naturally I’m such a loner, like I love my own company and I love to be by myself so having to be 34 seven every single day was a huge challenge. So yeah, I did enjoy the whole experience mostly you know, sponsor tasks that we used to get because I learned a lot. I also learned a lot as a human being you know, certain things you have to learn when you’re in the midst of people every single day, you know, learning when to speak and not speak jokingly or whatever. So it was such a great experience. I’m not gonna lie. I enjoyed it.
So which would you say was the toughest moment for you in the house and during tasks?
Yeah, the task was like, they were like the most fun part because half of the time were bored. I think the toughest thing for me in the house was not being able to do me in regards to breathe in, like sometimes, you know, certain things might overwhelm you. And you just need to get away from everyone. And just, you know, take a day or two just to be by yourself, that and that’s usually mean real life, and I just couldn’t do that. So, like, you can’t leave because if you leave, you’ve left the show. Everyone’s surrounded by you like 24 seven, even when you’re sleeping, someone’s sleeping next to you sort of thing. So there’s no way you can run to so that was like, the hardest for me. I have to say like, sometimes, you know, you just don’t want to hear anyone else speak. You just want to be on your own in your own little peace and like the world and not talk to people. That that was really hard. thing. Yeah.
There were two housemates, Pere, who was your close friend and Cross whom you said you found sexually attractive…
I never said he was sexually attractive. I said he was a very attractive guy. I had nothing to do with Cross. Cross and I were like brothers and sisters. When God creates human beings and sometimes people are beautiful. And you have to admire human beings doesn’t mean you like them in any sort of way. I see girls like really beautiful girls. And I literally stare at them like, Oh my god, you’re actually so beautiful doesn’t mean I want anything sexual. Like it’s just very good to compliment people and Cross had an amazing body, but I never I would never say I was sexually attracted to Cross, because that would mean I want to have sex with Cross. So I never definitely said that. I said Cross had a very attractive body. And his body was banging. And that’s the gospel truth. You have to give honour to whom it’s due. He has his work for his body and he has a really nice body. I acknowledge that. But I’m not sexually attracted to Cross. That’s not possible. For me to be sexually attracted to him. Like I have to really like him, everything about him. But no, it’s none of that. You would have never heard me say that. sexually attracted. I didn’t say it just once. I said it a lot of times, not just with Jackie B. And I even said it to him so many times. I said, Oh my god, like your body is banging like, I said it so many times. But I guess people will interpret what they want to interpret in their own way. And that’s allowed because we’re all human beings and we’re all different.
It is believed that your closeness with Pere was a strategy, can you explain this?
They would really think sometimes like, I mean, because opinions are people’s opinions and I would never budge in to like try and change the narrative because that would seem impossible. When you say strategy if you guys actually watch the show I never in the initial beginning was around Pere ever. Pere was persistent with me. Pere, every single day, would come over to me saying I like you. He was like he was always in my breathing space 24/7. So if it was a strategy, I would have been the one going on to Pere. You wouldn’t have caught a clip where I’m like constantly trying to find where Pere I want to be around him. None of that happened. So many times. I told Pere I have a boyfriend outside of the house. I actually went into the show as single. And it was because of Pere that I owned up to say that I had a boyfriend because I needed him to understand that we were only just going to be friends and I enjoyed our friendship. I loved the attention he gave me. We have, well I thought we had a genuine friendship because I confided in him a lot of stuff about people in the house or about myself. Or like, you know, I got fond of him because he was always around me so you know after a few weeks has seen someone for long, you do get fond of them. But I would have never been a strategy because I never went on to him, I never came on to Pere for one day for the first week, the second week, we started being close. Well, I started I think probably getting super, super close, like probably towards the early end of second week and third week. But Pere had always, you know, been persistent is like, every time I stay away from Pere, he comes, he finds himself around me again. So it would have never been a struggle for him.
Queen is one of the housemates that, you know, I guess you both didn’t go along and you both had a couple of altercations. What actually happened in the three weeks you spent with her in the house?
I don’t know. I like Queen and I can’t really talk much about Queen because there’s absolutely nothing there. Again, if people did watch the show, Queen attacked me the two times that we had an altercation. There was never anywhere that I made a state like I came on to Queen fighting or shouting. All the two times that we had what we had, it was Queen. And yes, we will never be close because the first day we had an altercation was the second day she was in the house. How can you recover from that? I barely knew her. Like when we all went into the house like the boys and the girls when the boys came in on Saturday and the girls came in on Sunday. You know, it took us a whole week plus and half. I think before anyone even had like a slight argument. I remember going into all my diary sessions with Biggie and you know, I used to keep saying to him, oh my god, these people are amazing. Like, it’s weird. Like we’re loving each other so much. I hope it remains the same like no fights yet. No bad blood. It took us a whole while like we were loving each other for so long. Before you know you started seeing people’s true colors and certain things you don’t like. Queen came the second day and attacked me and the whole world couldn’t see that. And yet I’m yet to be blamed like I should. I’m having a conversation with KayVee and she comes over to me aggressively saying I need to talk to you. I said okay, I’m having a conversation with Kay because KayVee had kindly asked me because Biggie had asked us to get everyone to get to know each other with the new housemates. And I said to Queen. KayVee just came over to me now, do you mind if we do this later? She goes, No, I need to talk to you now. So is everything okay? She said no. So you know this clip. Maybe if you guys didn’t watch me maybe big enough to play it again. So I kindly respected myself and respected her, got up, went over to where she was because she walked towards the kitchen when I was like, Yeah, what’s up? And she started shouting at me. And I cut the conversation short. I said, No, you’re not gonna do this to me. I’m not having a conversation with you. When you’re shouting, and I don’t know what you’re shouting about. And I walked away and she carried on shouting the whole day. Get me upset again. And I’m only human. I lost it to like Jesus. Like, I don’t know this girl from Adam. She doesn’t know me. We don’t know each other. We don’t know each other’s background. She doesn’t know my story. I don’t know her story. You just cannot shout at a human being. Because you’re upset about one single word I said it, like be human and not like be adult enough. So everyone dragging me that’s their opinion. And honestly, when I’m at fault, at least I’m a person, I’m not like, when I am at fault, I take ownership of my faults. I did say certain things about other people, which only natural as human beings that we do. I owned up to them. I said, Well, if those people found those things offensive like I’m truly sorry. But in the case of Queen, Queen came with the strategy, I felt like she already knew what was going on in the house. And this is my honest opinion before getting into the house. However, she’d got that information. That’s it’s got nothing to do with me, but I will speak my piece. She probably knew what strategy she was coming into the house with. And it was me she literally was coming for me. So, I don’t even want to associate my name and that of Queen’s name because we’re two different individuals. I went in there played myself and I don’t I think everyone should just let me be with my peace.
After Yerins eviction, he said you painted a totally different picture from what happened in the bathroom, can you tell us about that?
I mean, you’ve already heard what I said, right? And I stand by what I said again, if whatever he says is what he says. Again, we’re not going to do who’s honest and who’s dishonest. It is what it is. I said what I said, and why would I change the narrative? There’s no point to make up stuff.
Do you think some of the housemates perceived you wrongly, even after knowing you for over 35 days?
Initially, I think they didn’t understand me properly. And I think as time went on, they started gradually saying okay, like they understood certain things and my mentality and where I was coming from everyone doesn’t have to have the same mentality. What people seem to keep forgetting and this is a no, I am a full Nigerian, like I love everything about Nigeria and like, I love myself in Nigeria but I haven’t completely lived in Nigeria all my life, I have a different mentality. Not to say I’m better than anyone I’m saying we’re all brought up differently and who I am is who I am. So I think it took them a little while to understand. Okay, this is probably where Maria comes from when she does x y z. Okay, we and, and likewise me, there were certain things I didn’t quite understand about certain people housemates in the house that it took me a while and I’m like, okay, now I know how to, you know, speak to Nini, speak to Jackie. It’s learning a world of different individuals who don’t know each other, you learn each other. And it’s a reality TV show, of course, like issues are bound to like happen like that to drag a specific person that you don’t really like, because maybe of the skin color or something is hypocrisy. Like, for me, I’ve dealt with that all my life. Like, I walk into certain places, and they judge me straight away without actually knowing who I am. The same people dragging me about other people belittling other people, which I didn’t. I don’t know, they actually could put themselves in my shoes to know how it feels to be criticized for something that I’m not saying, I’m so full of myself, because I think I’m pretty, I think I’m light-skinned. I wish I actually felt that way about myself. So yeah, again, people’s narratives will always be theirs, and I will never try to change that.
