On Sunday, October 6, 2024, the night edition of the popular reality TV show, Big Brother Naija with the theme ‘No Loose Guard’ came to an end. For this season, a male housemate, Kellyrae, emerged the winner but it was not without fierce contention from runner-up, Wanni Danbaki.
Standing tall with her head raised high, Wanni ended her journey on BBNaija as the last woman standing, earning the spot after amassing 32.48% of the total votes.
The finale show saw Wanni as the last girl standing while Kellyrae won the show with 35.95%.
Wanni, who came in as a duo with her twin sister Handi Danbaki, won the hearts of fans with her bubbly personality. With many finding her bond with her twin sister inspiring and others finding her relationship with Shaun endearing, for ten weeks she had both the viewers and the housemates entertained.
In an exclusive interview with The Nation, Wanni, the vibrant and confident housemate opened up about her incredible experiences and ambitious goals. The reality TV star, who won hearts with her bold personality, shared insights into the lessons she learned and the challenges she faced during her time in the house.
“I learned so much,” she said. “I was transformed from knowing that you need to give people grace. If you want to love somebody and take somebody as your friend, you need to love both the good and the bad parts because nobody is perfect.”
Continuing, she said, “I learned that you should never doubt yourself, no matter what you’re doing in life, always believe in yourself and be confident. I learned that you shouldn’t take life too seriously. Have fun with it, be yourself, be authentic and just have fun. God’s got you.”
The 27-year-old DJ from Kaduna was the life of the party, behind quite a bit of the drama of the No Loose Guard season, so much so that she earned as many enemies in the house as she earned supporters outside of the house, who love the fact that she was unapologetically herself throughout the show.
Although during Handi’s post-eviction interview, the other half of the duo mentioned that she went into the house without a strategy, the Wanni x Handi duo were the double trouble duo and many soon came to believe that was their strategy.
“When Handi and Shaun left the house was the biggest challenge I had to face during the season,” she noted. “Trying to understand myself and trying to pair with people, become friends with people,” were significant hurdles she had to overcome.
As the last woman standing, she joins the hall of fame of outstanding young women, who have gone on to make exploits in their respective fields after featuring on the show. She joins a lineup that includes season faves like Francisca Owumi (season 1), Bisola Aiyeola (season 2), Cynthia Nwadiora, aka Cee-C (season 3), Dorathy Bachor, and many more.
Wanni’s plans for the future are ambitious, reflecting her drive to leverage her newfound fame.
“I’m going global, baby. I’m going to the world. I’m DJing, music production, my NGO, everything. We’re going to be everywhere there’s money, you’ll find WannixHandi there,” she declared.
Regardless of her coming second place, Wanni has proven that she is a ball of talent, and this was quickly recognised by veteran actress and filmmaker Funke Akindele who offered her a possible opportunity to work with her production team after she expressed interest on the show.
