GABRIELLA ‘Modella’ Abimbola was one of the ex-housemates of season seven of the ongoing BBNaija show with the theme Level Up. The 26-year-old indigene of Ekiti state combines being an actress with fashion, developing skin care products, and hosting TV shows. She joined the show in the second week as a fake housemate and survived the drama and tension in the house for four weeks before her eviction in week five. In an interview with ASSISTANT ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR GBENGA BADA, the co-founder of Mo-Di skincare products opened up on her 42-days experience in the Big Brother house.
What’s your perception of the BBNaija reality show after your experience?
I feel the show is a very great show because it’s Big Brother Naija, the one and only reality show in Nigeria. For my achievements on the show, I was able to show the world my talent, I am a multi-talented young lady and I showed the world that I am an actress, a fashionista, a makeup artist, and one who can make hair amongst other things and I was still able to bring on my skincare brand on board.
What do you think contributed to your eviction in the fifth week despite being a fake housemate?
So, I went in as a fake housemate and I was told that I would be staying for four weeks, so I knew other housemates had done one week before I entered the house, so it was the time I was supposed to leave the house.
So, as a fake housemate, would you say you did very well?
So, to start with, I didn’t know that I had a role to play as a fake housemate, I had no idea, so asking if I did my job well as a fake housemate, I didn’t have a job to start with, I just went there like every other housemate. The only difference is that the other housemates went in a week before and I went in as a fake housemate, so there’s no role to play to the best of my knowledge. I just went there to do my thing, it’s a reality TV show and I was real to the core, I was true to myself and played the game to the best of my ability, so that was it for me and if I have to rate myself, I would rate myself 10 over 10.
Of all the challenges in the house, which do you consider the most interesting and most challenging for you?
Well, the most challenging thing for me in the house was that I didn’t have much time to process the thought that I was going in as a fake housemate, so that kind of like make me feel sad but aside from that, there’s nothing extremely challenging in the house. Of course, before I went on board, I told Big Brother that I am a good team player and that I can play and work with him even before I got in and my most exciting moment was when I won the Showmax task. I was happy that even though I got in late, I was still able to showcase myself and show people my talent. Other exciting moments in the house were during the various parties. I enjoyed the parties, where we danced away our sorrows, we don’t think of anything and remained happy.
Now, when you were going into the house, you promised to bring in drama, what changed for you when you got in?
I did not exactly promise drama, I promised vibes and vibes, I have a very high energy and promised to bring good vibes and energy to the show not drama. I am not like an extremely dramatic person, I am not the type that goes out of her way to go and look for trouble when there’s no trouble but if trouble comes, we deal with it and if trouble doesn’t come, I stay in my lane.
During your stay in the house, Biggie asked you to scatter some ships in level two before the levels were merged into one house, many viewers believe you didn’t live up to the secret task, what is your say on that?
So, for the task, I didn’t know if it was a result of me being a fake housemate because we always have a daily task so I felt Biggie was giving me that task, and every other person and I had friends that I am loyal to. I am so down on loyalty to people. To start with, I have a friend, Daniella, who would come to me about her relationship problems, how would I scatter that kind of relationship? That is not me and I wanted to be my real self on the show. I had Beauty, we weren’t extremely close but we had our moments as friends and talk about our personalities and just switching to snatch her boyfriend wasn’t what was really realistic for me. Although even if I wanted to try, it was kind of hard to get between her and Groovy, they were always together and you hardly catch Groovy alone because they slept together, eat together, sat together and do everything together, so it was not so easy to penetrate and deep down I had thought would I want to do it being my friend? So, I kind of chose friendship and loyalty over achieving and performing the secret task. Again, I had no idea if it was affiliated to me being a fake housemate, you know with Big Brother, there’s always a task even with Groovy, Beauty, Daniella, and others. And if I had wanted to have done that, it would be me acting not being my real self and I went there to be my real self and be Modella for who Modella is.
So, would it be right to say your decision to put loyalty and friendship over the secret task was responsible for your eviction since Deji, the second fake housemate is still in the house?
Well, before I went into the house, I was informed that I would only be spending four weeks in the house as I explained earlier. The day I left, I was ready to leave and if you noticed, I had already shared out my money because I knew I was going to leave because I was supposed to spend four weeks and I knew that before going into the house, so the eviction didn’t come to me as a shocker and it’s Big Brother’s house and Big Brother’s rules, so, it is what it is and it’s a win-win situation for me neither am I sad about leaving when I left. I was already informed of my duration and I was able to sell myself and be myself which I really loved, so I am good with that.
This interview will be incomplete without your situations with Bryann, tell me all about it and what happens next when he’s out from your own end
So, I like him as a friend and we are really cool. He’s a great guy but yeah, we are cool like that as friends and we would remain cool as friends.
But you seemed angry when he started avoiding you?
No, I wasn’t angry when he started avoiding me, I only told him that before you told me you liked me, we were friends and we were cool, don’t let the fact that you told me that you like me ruin or destroy our friendship. We had a friendship going on and then it turned to love for him and he wanted us to push further and I am like let us remain friends and I was the one that told him that I think we should slow down on things.
Of course, he likes me, all the time, he wants to hold me and do stuff but I was like slow down bro, I had to tell him to slow down but also told him that he shouldn’t allow it to affect the friendship we have and then we spoke about it and had an understanding. For the records, I wasn’t mad at him, I just told him that we are all matured minds and the fact that we are here doesn’t mean some things. We are all together, you can’t afford to fight with everybody or fight with somebody you are talking to. It’s so hard not talking to somebody you vibe with and you guys just lose your friendship and stop talking, it doesn’t make any sense. What people don’t understand is that on the BBNaija show, all you have is your selves, or who you vibe with so it does not make sense when you avoid someone who you are friends with just because your relationship didn’t work out. It didn’t feel matured to me and I maintained that we should still remain friends but I don’t want a relationship and we were able to come to an understanding.
So, what’s next for you after BBNaija Level Up?
I am going into the film industry as a whole, I am an entertainer, I am a model, an actress, a host, a show presenter, and everything revolving around entertainment but majorly, into the movie industry, and of course, I have my businesses and that would not stop.