Ugandan for Big Brother House
Jan 31, 2003
All you have to be is 18 years and above. You do not have to be six feet tall, or have any particular dress size. Nobody will measure your hips, and you do not even have to reveal your HIV status. <br>Just about anybody can register to take part in the Big Brother Africa virtual reality television
By Kalungi Kabuye
All you have to be is 18 years and above. You do not have to be six feet tall, or have any particular dress size. Nobody will measure your hips, and you do not even have to reveal your HIV status.
Just about anybody can register to take part in the Big Brother Africa virtual reality television show. And, if you have a good personality and speak good English then by the end of 106 days, starting May 25, you could have found fame and fortune.
If you are willing to spend 15 weeks in isolation with 11 complete strangers, you just might be the person who walks away with $100,000 (sh185m) by June 2003.
After the first two Big Brother television-virtual-reality shows catapulted several South Africans to fame, the show has gone continental, and one Ugandan will get a chance to be in the limelight. And if luckier than others, fortune will follow on the heels of fame.
“Registration starts officially this Sunday, when Big Brother Africa is officially launched on DSTV across the African continent,†Raphael Sematimba, Big Brother co-ordinator for Uganda, told The New Vision.
“A crew from South Africa is coming in with the forms, but we have already received several applications, especially from Makerere University girls.â€
Applicants will be asked to provide information on their age and biographies. They will also have to answer questions on why they want to take part in the Big Brother contest, and their hobbies.
They will have to provide a very recent full-length (head to toe) photograph of themselves.
Forms will be available at the Multichoice offices on Buganda Road, but Sematimba said arrangements will be put in place for up country applicants.
The deadline for receiving applications will be on February 25, 2003. While anybody is allowed to apply, those not successful will not receive a reply from M-Net.
The first of now several virtual reality television shows (including Survivor, Fear Factor, Temptation Island, Idols (South Africa), and UK Pop Idol, all of which show or have shown on DStv), Big Brother started in Europe and quickly spread to the rest of the world.
Several editions have been held around the world and the winners have continued on their road to fame and fortune.
M-Net introduced Big Brother South Africa, in 2001. Twelve people spent five months in a house without access to the outside world.
The show quickly caught up in the rest of Africa, and Big Brother fan clubs sprouted everywhere. Eventually, nasty Ferdinand was voted the winner, received his prize of one million Rand and then went on to make lots more as he capitalised on his celebrity status.
Two of the housemates, Leigh Bennie and Riad Isaacs went on a tour of 20 African cities, including Kampala where they appeared on Irene Kulabako’s Open Up.
Last year saw a second, albeit quieter, Big Brother II, which was eventually won by former farmer, Richard Cawood.
The rest of the housemates went on holiday and are soon to return to a life of fame that awaits them as celebrities.
So, on we go for Big Brother Africa. According to Sematimba, the screening process will start after registration is done with.
A short listed number of applicants will then be invited to undergo further tests, including oral interviews. There will also be medical tests to insure nobody is pregnant, but no AIDS tests.
“South African law which governs the show, states that no person can be forced to reveal their HIV status nor can any applicant be excluded from the show for purely this reason,†Sematimba said.
Most important of all, psychological profiles will also be drawn up at the same time to ensure compatibility.
Then, the Big Brother panel will sit to pick the winner of Big Brother Uganda, who will go on to Johannesburg and enter the Big Brother house as one of 12 housemates.
Indications are that the winner’s family will accompany him to South Africa, where he/she will then settle down to pursue his/her dream to fame and fortune.
All it takes will be the ability to stay in the house till the last one has gone.
Starting with registration at the Multichoice offices, let the road to fame begin for one Ugandan, and eleven others from different countries.
Other housemates will come from Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana.
Others will come from Ghana, Nigeria, Angola, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.
Richard Mwami, Multichoice’s Sales and Marketing Manager, said that unlike the previous Big Brother episodes, each country will only have one block vote.
“It will not be the number of individual voters that will determine the evictions, because a country like Nigeria that has over 100 million people will evict everybody else but the their own Nigerian,†he said.
“To level the playing field, all the votes from each country will be tallied, and the housemate that the majority votes to evict will be that country’s vote.â€
So on Sunday, registration will officially begin in 12 countries and close on February 25.
Thereafter, 12 people’s dreams will start, and at the end one will have walked the proverbial road to fame and fortune.
All you have to be is 18 years and above. You do not have to be six feet tall, or have any particular dress size. Nobody will measure your hips, and you do not even have to reveal your HIV status.
Just about anybody can register to take part in the Big Brother Africa virtual reality television show. And, if you have a good personality and speak good English then by the end of 106 days, starting May 25, you could have found fame and fortune.
If you are willing to spend 15 weeks in isolation with 11 complete strangers, you just might be the person who walks away with $100,000 (sh185m) by June 2003.
After the first two Big Brother television-virtual-reality shows catapulted several South Africans to fame, the show has gone continental, and one Ugandan will get a chance to be in the limelight. And if luckier than others, fortune will follow on the heels of fame.
“Registration starts officially this Sunday, when Big Brother Africa is officially launched on DSTV across the African continent,†Raphael Sematimba, Big Brother co-ordinator for Uganda, told The New Vision.
“A crew from South Africa is coming in with the forms, but we have already received several applications, especially from Makerere University girls.â€
Applicants will be asked to provide information on their age and biographies. They will also have to answer questions on why they want to take part in the Big Brother contest, and their hobbies.
They will have to provide a very recent full-length (head to toe) photograph of themselves.
Forms will be available at the Multichoice offices on Buganda Road, but Sematimba said arrangements will be put in place for up country applicants.
The deadline for receiving applications will be on February 25, 2003. While anybody is allowed to apply, those not successful will not receive a reply from M-Net.
The first of now several virtual reality television shows (including Survivor, Fear Factor, Temptation Island, Idols (South Africa), and UK Pop Idol, all of which show or have shown on DStv), Big Brother started in Europe and quickly spread to the rest of the world.
Several editions have been held around the world and the winners have continued on their road to fame and fortune.
M-Net introduced Big Brother South Africa, in 2001. Twelve people spent five months in a house without access to the outside world.
The show quickly caught up in the rest of Africa, and Big Brother fan clubs sprouted everywhere. Eventually, nasty Ferdinand was voted the winner, received his prize of one million Rand and then went on to make lots more as he capitalised on his celebrity status.
Two of the housemates, Leigh Bennie and Riad Isaacs went on a tour of 20 African cities, including Kampala where they appeared on Irene Kulabako’s Open Up.
Last year saw a second, albeit quieter, Big Brother II, which was eventually won by former farmer, Richard Cawood.
The rest of the housemates went on holiday and are soon to return to a life of fame that awaits them as celebrities.
So, on we go for Big Brother Africa. According to Sematimba, the screening process will start after registration is done with.
A short listed number of applicants will then be invited to undergo further tests, including oral interviews. There will also be medical tests to insure nobody is pregnant, but no AIDS tests.
“South African law which governs the show, states that no person can be forced to reveal their HIV status nor can any applicant be excluded from the show for purely this reason,†Sematimba said.
Most important of all, psychological profiles will also be drawn up at the same time to ensure compatibility.
Then, the Big Brother panel will sit to pick the winner of Big Brother Uganda, who will go on to Johannesburg and enter the Big Brother house as one of 12 housemates.
Indications are that the winner’s family will accompany him to South Africa, where he/she will then settle down to pursue his/her dream to fame and fortune.
All it takes will be the ability to stay in the house till the last one has gone.
Starting with registration at the Multichoice offices, let the road to fame begin for one Ugandan, and eleven others from different countries.
Other housemates will come from Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana.
Others will come from Ghana, Nigeria, Angola, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.
Richard Mwami, Multichoice’s Sales and Marketing Manager, said that unlike the previous Big Brother episodes, each country will only have one block vote.
“It will not be the number of individual voters that will determine the evictions, because a country like Nigeria that has over 100 million people will evict everybody else but the their own Nigerian,†he said.
“To level the playing field, all the votes from each country will be tallied, and the housemate that the majority votes to evict will be that country’s vote.â€
So on Sunday, registration will officially begin in 12 countries and close on February 25.
Thereafter, 12 people’s dreams will start, and at the end one will have walked the proverbial road to fame and fortune.