Big Brother Naija return to Nigeria with a BANG

…As house boast of best of quality set up and locally sourced materials

Mutiat Alli

Since the announcement of the fourth edition of the Big Brother Naija was made public in January; Nigerians especially intending participants looked forward to the auditioning date across states slated for February 1&2 respectively.

As usual, there were large number of people who thronged the venues of the auditions in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Ibadan, Benin and Warri.

The fact that it was announced that the year edition will now hold in Nigeria after some many year, tongue wagged as to the possibilities of a smooth and quality production considering the Nigeria factor.

However months later, organizer again announced the opening show and trust I had a fair share of questioning the integrity of the show as to whether it will come out nice compared to the previous edition held in South Africa.

DailyTimes Reporter in the BBNaija House

Having been selected among the few journalist in Nigeria alongside media practitioners from Kenya, Ghana, Namibia and Zambia to have a firsthand experience of the first BBNaija House in Nigeria;

my expectations was indeed high as I look forward to all the experience and instantly when we arrived at the BBNaija House, we met with the technical and production crew who explained all that have been put in place towards a successful show for not just Nigerians alone but the world at large.

To feel the exact experience the intending housemates would go through, immediately we became the ‘Test-run’ housemates, went through the microphone use (Later hanged it round our neck), No wrist watch,

No Mobile phones, familiarize with the show host amongst others and GBAM!! We the approach the house and once the door was opened, the sight was jaw breaking from the colour, creative paintings and art, the kitchen arena to mention amongst others.

Unlike the other Big Brother Houses; the made in Naija house is the first purpose-built facility in Africa housing all the zones in one complex.

Previous facilities had the house, studio for the live shows, production and post-production units all in separate buildings and sometimes in different locations.

However this new and improved BBNaija house, measures about 1800sqm with an additional 250sqm for support building services such as the sick bay, laundry and artiste lounges, was designed and built to be bigger and better than any of the Big Brother Africa or Mzansi houses

Some of the unique features of the first Big Brother Naija House

It is important to state here that the house was built from scratch to finish as there were multiple teams working day and night shifts for 5months.

The house has 7x hand held cameras and 32 que ball cameras that will capture every activity in and outside the house.

One commendable effort of the organizer is the fact that all furniture and appliances in use in the house were locally sourced.

However for quality, smooth and seamless show; the first BBNaija show in Nigeria boast of a safe back end as both the operational and technical crew makes use of high-tech equipment which include a full digital audio and video mixers Vsm IP base and a Plus 4K camera with an optical fibre transmission that achieves high image quality.

And the contestants are a replica of the theme ‘Pepper Dem’

For every edition of the reality show comes a unique theme; From See Gobee to Double Wahala and there comes the 2019 theme ‘Pepper Dem’.

Indeed the choice of the 21 Housemates this year is matured mind and their various entries into the opening show was definitely pepperish.

A careful outline of the housemates varies from a Cop, to Banker, Lawyer, Fitness Coach, and Rapper amongst others.

The contestants includes Seyi, Tasha, Mike, Diane, Isilomo, Frodd, Ella, Khafi, Jeff, Mercy, Sir Dee, Thelma, Tuoyo, Omashola amongst others

About the grand prize

Each year there is always a mouth-watering grand prize to fight for and this year is no difference as the last contestants standing walks home with a cash prize of N30m, a top of the range SUV from Nigerian automaker, Innoson Motors, trip to Dubai,

a home make-over and a year’s supply of Pepsi and One Africa Fest VVIP experience, a year’s supply of Indomie noodles &Munch it, brand new Oppo mobile smartphone and a bonus prize of two VIP Tickets to watch a European Football final game LIVE, courtesy BET9ja.

No Live Eviction Yet

With Biggie giving housemates the privilege to get familiar with house and bond with one another; there will be no live eviction in this first week as the week commences on a lively note with different activities