Unveiling the Coca-Cola Rated Next house

By Nigel Nassar

Just in case you are not yet in the loop, the Top 10 contestants in the on-going Coca-Cola Rated Next sing It competition are already in boot camp. Actually, Friday is their 19th day there, having reported April 6th.

They are living in an apartment block somewhere in Mulago – a serene neighbourhood atop a hill in some zone we can’t exactly divulge, just in case you have stalker tendencies.

Clearly, they are having so much fun living at the Rated Next House, Big Brother style. Their normal day? Well, they wake up 6:00am daily, exercise, eat, rehearse, watch TV, gossip and then go to bed if they want, in huge shared rooms, the boys separate from the girls. That includes other surprise treats like movie nights, away dinners, shopping sprees and salon outings.

That reads like a picnic, right? Well, don’t be fooled – they are in the run for sh50m and a recording contract with Swangz Avenue, and only one person, that singer who impresses both the judges and Urban TV viewers, will take it all.

So far, judges Siima Sabiti, Sharpe Ssewali and Benon Mugumbya have already guillotined those who didn’t impress them in last Sunday’s live show, where they renditioned Ugandan music legends.

So, as you read this, Winnie Nakanwagi, Joshua Rukundo and Jim “Pages” Lubwama are on probation.

And come Sunday 7:00pm on Urban TV, at least one of them will bid goodbye to their dream of bagging the big bucks. But you can still vote to keep your favourite of the three via SMS. Type “Vote”, leave a space and put the number of the person you want to save, then send to 8338. Winnie is 1, Joshua 2 and Jim Pages 10. So knock yourself out.

Back to the Rated Next house, it’s a new guest house that should hit the market after the finalists wear off the newness.

Fitted out by a one Laverne John, a Canada-based professional organiser whose role is basically to organise – that involves overseeing the shopping, supervising the fitting and décor, etc – the Rated Next house is a double storey building boasting four plush bedrooms the Rated Next housemates are sharing.

The ground floor is basically the business area, as it’s where the kitchen, dining and living room are. But it’s mostly the living room that pretty much hosts most of the activity, as it’s where the live band, Wi Entertainment, is camped, and will stay until the show ends on May 25.

This five-member band, and its three back-up vocalists, spend the whole day here – they come in at 7:00am, play all day over the rehearsals and leave at about 6:00pm, with every contestant drained of voice. Their vocal coach, Emmanuel Dragu, is another pusher who won’t let a contestant go upstairs to the bedroom, or toilet, unless the job at hand is done, ditto the choreographer Viccy.

So it’s serious business happening at the Rated Next house, and that’s where the African art-inspired décor and furniture come in handy as calming effects after a day’s stress – thank God they also have house help to sort out their meals and the like.

Whatever the case, this house is sure going to whip up one hell of a singer no one will falter when they are declared winner of Coca-Cola Rated Next Sing It Season Two – because the environment around this house is just the right one for a competing singer. It’s not exactly “Big Brother-hip”, but it’s hip all the way to the hip, just like Urban TV isn’t exactly E! Entertainment, yet it’s actually Uganda’s E! Entertainment.