Lessons from Big Brother: No strategy is good enough
Nov 15, 2007
LIKE all games, the Big Brother Africa show had its high and low moments. It sometimes bored. Many times it sucked. And there were the light moments — when we laughed our heads off. The tension was part of the game. <br>
By Stephen Ssenkaaba
LIKE all games, the Big Brother Africa show had its high and low moments. It sometimes bored. Many times it sucked. And there were the light moments — when we laughed our heads off. The tension was part of the game.
Sometimes we felt it as much as the players did, especially during eviction and nomination nights. And just like any other game, Big Brother Africa II had lessons. For anyone who had eyes, there were one or two things to learn.
Lesson one
No strategy is good enough. For so many people, this was a game of scheming and careful planning. But as it has turned out, the most strategic housemates did not last.
Bertha Zakeyo (Zimbabwe) was the chief strategist, saying one thing to mean the other, trying to fit into all situations, manipulating fellow housemates and the viewers, — “God help me, I am not like them,†she once said, clutching a Bible, perhaps to appeal to the voting public. She could have stayed on those clutches forever.
She even said she did not drink. Did Bertha really have feelings for Kwaku (Ghana)? In the end, as one Zimbabwean viewer said, “Bertha confused everybody, perhaps even herself.†The best strategy in this game is to have none at all.
Lesson two
The mama syndrome is outdated. Lazy bones can never get you anywhere, just like mothering around the house. It might have paid off for Cherise Makubale (Zambia) of Big Brother I, but after that, it became a cheap gimmick that would not stand anyone who tried it out in good stead.
A few critical viewers noticed that some housemates were playing the “all caring and all responsible†card, doing the dishes, moping the house, even when their heart, lay somewhere else, like in the lounge or the jacuzzi. Cleaning, cleaning and cleaning your way to the grand $100,000 cash prize is a tired stunt — ask Ofunneka (Nigeria).
Lesson Three
Quiet men have no place on the show. With all the hype, controversy and noise that has come to characterise Big Brother shows, it would be foolhardy for anyone to go in the house and remain silent.
Malawi’s Zein paid a high price in Big Brother Africa I for smiling too much and saying too little. Jeff Anthony (Kenya) should have known better. If it were not for the tasks, these two giants could have disappeared into the shadow of their silence.
Does anyone remember anything about Jeff? Moral: Do not sit in the house. Do something.
Not even the faint-hearted. It all depends on how you see yourself. It determines how others see and relate with you. For his diminutive figure, Justice (Botswana) saw himself as not measuring up to the rest — literally. His fellow housemates saw through his insecurity and took advantage.
They taunted him; he sulked and became unhappy. Like Angola’s Bruna Estivao in BBAI, he never settled in, despite his talent and potential.
Lesson four
This is Africa. Just because we sometimes ogle at explicit images in magazines does not mean we relish nudity. We are Africans — a very conservative people. A 21-year-old who walks around naked is repulsive to any sane African viewer. Nudity as a means to an end (as in shower hour) might be tolerated. But nudity as an end in itself is a no. It will get any housemate the boot.
Lesson five
Character matters - A few people were accused of lacking character. Playing the game under the shadow of more charismatic and interesting housemates is disastrous.
This only eclipses them. Just like in real life, it is important to be independent. To stand up and be counted. Then we will see your true colours and decide to either love or hate you.
It feels like leaning on a pillar. When it falls, you might fall with it. It was difficult to explain Maureen (Uganda) away from Code (Malawi).
Lesson six
Originality rules. It is just not possible to please everybody. Whatever you do, whatever you say, people are bound to judge, like, even hate you. It is, therefore, crucial to reveal one’s true colours from the onset.
Have fun, kiss the girls/boys, tell them off, smile with them, keep your distance, chill with the rest, speak your mind even to Big Brother, as long as it comes from the heart. Richard (Tanzania) may not have been the most well-behaved housemate, but by the end of the show, he had left no one in doubt about his true self.
Richard followed his heart even at the cost of his own stay in the house and even his future outside it.
He said: “I am only human.†In the end, the viewers felt he had given them a chance to know him. Some loved him, others hated him.
But all got to know him. In the end, the money goes to the most real housemate; after all, it is a reality show.
LIKE all games, the Big Brother Africa show had its high and low moments. It sometimes bored. Many times it sucked. And there were the light moments — when we laughed our heads off. The tension was part of the game.
Sometimes we felt it as much as the players did, especially during eviction and nomination nights. And just like any other game, Big Brother Africa II had lessons. For anyone who had eyes, there were one or two things to learn.
Lesson one
No strategy is good enough. For so many people, this was a game of scheming and careful planning. But as it has turned out, the most strategic housemates did not last.
Bertha Zakeyo (Zimbabwe) was the chief strategist, saying one thing to mean the other, trying to fit into all situations, manipulating fellow housemates and the viewers, — “God help me, I am not like them,†she once said, clutching a Bible, perhaps to appeal to the voting public. She could have stayed on those clutches forever.
She even said she did not drink. Did Bertha really have feelings for Kwaku (Ghana)? In the end, as one Zimbabwean viewer said, “Bertha confused everybody, perhaps even herself.†The best strategy in this game is to have none at all.
Lesson two
The mama syndrome is outdated. Lazy bones can never get you anywhere, just like mothering around the house. It might have paid off for Cherise Makubale (Zambia) of Big Brother I, but after that, it became a cheap gimmick that would not stand anyone who tried it out in good stead.
A few critical viewers noticed that some housemates were playing the “all caring and all responsible†card, doing the dishes, moping the house, even when their heart, lay somewhere else, like in the lounge or the jacuzzi. Cleaning, cleaning and cleaning your way to the grand $100,000 cash prize is a tired stunt — ask Ofunneka (Nigeria).
Lesson Three
Quiet men have no place on the show. With all the hype, controversy and noise that has come to characterise Big Brother shows, it would be foolhardy for anyone to go in the house and remain silent.
Malawi’s Zein paid a high price in Big Brother Africa I for smiling too much and saying too little. Jeff Anthony (Kenya) should have known better. If it were not for the tasks, these two giants could have disappeared into the shadow of their silence.
Does anyone remember anything about Jeff? Moral: Do not sit in the house. Do something.
Not even the faint-hearted. It all depends on how you see yourself. It determines how others see and relate with you. For his diminutive figure, Justice (Botswana) saw himself as not measuring up to the rest — literally. His fellow housemates saw through his insecurity and took advantage.
They taunted him; he sulked and became unhappy. Like Angola’s Bruna Estivao in BBAI, he never settled in, despite his talent and potential.
Lesson four
This is Africa. Just because we sometimes ogle at explicit images in magazines does not mean we relish nudity. We are Africans — a very conservative people. A 21-year-old who walks around naked is repulsive to any sane African viewer. Nudity as a means to an end (as in shower hour) might be tolerated. But nudity as an end in itself is a no. It will get any housemate the boot.
Lesson five
Character matters - A few people were accused of lacking character. Playing the game under the shadow of more charismatic and interesting housemates is disastrous.
This only eclipses them. Just like in real life, it is important to be independent. To stand up and be counted. Then we will see your true colours and decide to either love or hate you.
It feels like leaning on a pillar. When it falls, you might fall with it. It was difficult to explain Maureen (Uganda) away from Code (Malawi).
Lesson six
Originality rules. It is just not possible to please everybody. Whatever you do, whatever you say, people are bound to judge, like, even hate you. It is, therefore, crucial to reveal one’s true colours from the onset.
Have fun, kiss the girls/boys, tell them off, smile with them, keep your distance, chill with the rest, speak your mind even to Big Brother, as long as it comes from the heart. Richard (Tanzania) may not have been the most well-behaved housemate, but by the end of the show, he had left no one in doubt about his true self.
Richard followed his heart even at the cost of his own stay in the house and even his future outside it.
He said: “I am only human.†In the end, the viewers felt he had given them a chance to know him. Some loved him, others hated him.
But all got to know him. In the end, the money goes to the most real housemate; after all, it is a reality show.