By Timothy Ojo
One of Nigeria’s foremost reality TV show, Big Brother Nigeria Season five kicked off in Lagos on Sunday.
Traditionally, the show usually has live audience to welcome the new housemates, but the guidelines of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, guidelines would not make that possible this year.
This year’s housemates include: Ozo Chukwu, Victoria Adeyele, Nelson Enwerem (Prince), Boluwatife Aderogba (Lilo), Trikytee, Lucy Essien, Dorathy Bachor, Terseer Kiddwaya, Vee, Praise Nelson, Florence Anyansi (Wathoni), Tochukwu Okechukwu (Tochi), Kate Jones (Ka3na), Ngozi Nlewedim (Erica), Eric Akhigbe, Ezekiel Bright (Brighto), Aisha Umaru (Kaisha), Neo, Tolani Shobajo (Tolanibaj), Layoonn, Nengi.
The show is billed to run for 10 weeks. It is supposed to be 10 weeks of suspense, social media rants, drama and the intrigues that a reality TV show is saddled with.
This season, the organisers of the Big Brother gave room for fans to vote, not only via the usual text messages but also for those with the cable networks that sponsor the show.
According to the organisers, this season’s winner will walk away with a whopping N85 million.
The breakdown of the grand prize for BBNaija season five include N30 million cash prize; a two-bedroom apartment courtesy Revolution Plus;a trip to Dublin courtesy Guinness; home appliances courtesy Scanfrost; a top of the range SUV from Nigerian automaker, Innoson Motors, make up the grand prize.
Speaking to the press, the Chief Executive Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria, John Ugbe said the fifth season is quite special and marks a major milestone in the reality TV series.
“We are making this season significant by not only increasing the winnings but also implementing other creative and innovative ways to ensure the show lives up to the premium entertainment, especially during the current pandemic.”
The organisers also said measures have been put in place to ensure that the housemates are kept safe from the coronavirus, while regular health checkups would be carried out.
As a way to prevent housemates from contracting the virus, external visitors would not be allowed into the house as compared to other seasons where celebrities visit the house.