Traffic snarl. Desperate crowd. Ladies scaling dangerous fences. People doing unusual things to gain access. These were the features that characterised the audition for the fourth season of the wave-making reality TV show, Big Brother Naija, which kicked off across different states of the federation on Friday.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, there were tumultuous crowds of youths in all the venues as the exercise got under way, with many participants arriving the venues as early as midnight, Thursday.
Big Brother Naija has become a life-changing and destiny-molding platform for Housemates who become instant millionaires and celebrities, some of them earning mega million endorsement deals.
Despite the huge crowd at the various centres, only 12 housemates would make it into the house for Big Brother Naija 2019. The winner will pocket a staggering cash prize of about $100,000.
Fans of the show had also taken to the social media to express amazement at the turnout of people.
@chi_derah tweeted: “the crowd is so massive. Abuja people are not here to play.”
@tosinolugbenga tweeted: “no jobs, ASUU is on strike. BBNaija auditions got a high crowd at the venues as early as 4:45a.m. Apparently, some people slept at the venues.”
@madukaegbuonu tweeted, “Lagos auditions happening now at 12am (midnight). We are happy to sacrifice our night sleep.
According to Multichoice, the organisers of the show, the fourth edition would be held in Nigeria after the general elections as opposed to it holding in South Africa.
Twenty-three-year-old Miracle Igbokwe won he last season of BBNaija tagged Double Wahala.
The progamme draws mixed reactions from viewers across the continent. Some see it as polluting the cultural values of African peoples, even promoting promiscuity as Housemates, in past editions, did everything and anything to avoid eviction from the House. This included having sexual intercourse before cameras and live audiences across the continent.
But many others, especially the youths, see it as entertainment.
Of the crowd an the anticipation, a twitter user, @ilynem, wrote: “The crowd at the #BBnaija auditions is proof of our flawed value system and our failed government. I am not against anyone going to audition for it, but when this is what majority of our youth see as a way to escape poverty, then we have a serious problem.”
Another twitter user, @sazzygel_CEO, wrote: “Honestly… they shouldn’t have done #BBNaija this year at all. Not during this political year. But I FEEL it’s a calculated attempt to distract the highest voting population, a.k.a. Naija youths! Same government that threatened to ban it, are now mute on the matter? WTF is going on?”
MultiChoice had, on January 15, this year, announced that Big Brother Naija 2019 will hold in Nigeria and the auditions would run between February 1 and 2, in Lagos, Calabar, Enugu, Benin, Ibadan, Warri and Port Harcourt respectively.
According to agency reports, online videos showed participants arriving the venues in droves. In Lagos, participants were reported to have started arriving from as early as 4a.m. on Friday. Many contestants were said to have slept at places close to the venue, D’Podium International Event Centre, Ikeja, the state capital.
