Yoh, talk about a rip-off! Our Big Brother viewing of Sunday's live show was shocking, and not because Ipeleng chose to take Ebubu to the finale with her.
No-no, it was the pure horror we experienced at our attempt to watch the episode. We aren't power data uses because we use fibre and only use cellphone data in emergency situations.
We used it to watch Big Brother
two weeks ago during loadshedding but weren't aware of how much we used. This week was a very different story because we monitored and measured it so we could see how much data it takes to watch an episode during loadshedding.
Last week we loaded 1GB onto our Vodacom account for R85 and we'd used 500MB up until the show on Sunday.
When the show started we had just over 500MB left and within 24 minutes we were sent the dreaded SMS informing us it was all gone.
Meaning it cost a whopping R42,50 to watch a bit of a show and lots of adverts.
Of course we received an instant message from Vodacom encouraging us to buy more. In fact, we got a "special offer". Buy 1GB and get 1GB free for R29 (today), offer available today until 23:59.
We refused on sheer principal. For starters it wasn't clear how long those 2GBs would be available for (today only?) and secondly, why are they able to offer that but charge R85 for 1GB on other days?! NO.
The experience really highlighted how valuable it is to be able to watch TV without streaming. This morning we watched the show in peace on our trusty Explora without any data concerns, which is something none of the streamers acknowledge when they splash their prices all over the place.
"Only R99!" (or whatever), they'll declare, but they don't go into details as to how much it's actually going to cost you once you've added your data or fibre package.
Watching Big Brother on cellphone data has been truly eye opening when it comes to how much data streaming takes. Of course, the more data you buy in bulk the cheaper it is but even so, it's totally overpriced, especially when you consider you have to pay
twice to watch advertising on Pay TV: first your subscription and then data on top of that. Insane.
At least we eventually managed to watch Ipeleng's decision, which was unsurprisingly dragged out over the whole episode and wasn't the ending we'd been hoping for. It felt empty and unfinished because of Lawrence not asking her why she'd chosen Ebubu.
It was the most reasonable and entertaining question to ask in that moment because it would have told us a lot, even if Ipeleng hadn't been honest about her intention.
Why do you think she chose him? She says he needs a platform to get himself out there and to believe in himself but it's the same with everyone else.
Some of the housemates say it's because she sees him as being weak but she's denied this and said her main concern was that Tsatsii and Blaqboi aren't offended.
Our theory is that she has these multiple reasons:
1. It's true, she doesn't want to offend Tsatsii, Blaqboi, Miracle OP and their fans by choosing one of them over the other. It would create uneasy vibes with two of them and could backfire at the polls.
2. She knew no-one would be upset with her for choosing Ebubu because he's likeable, doesn't threaten anyone and he's suffered in the real world because of his albinism. It's mentioned in his profile
here.
3. The cynical amongst us might argue that that was strategic, to make herself appear sensitive towards what he's been through, and the peace-and-love amongst us might argue that she is genuinely sensitive to his condition.
The cynical might also argue that she chose him because of his condition, thinking that people won't vote for him to win because of it, but we don't believe that that's how she is.
4. He isn't ruthless.