BBN HOUSEMATES VISIT SA AND IT'S A FLOP, WELL…ALMOST!
You guys know that I am a big fan of Big Brother Nigeria, and loving BBN means that I adore the Big Brother Nigeria Housemates because they are what made the show the big success that it was.
As a proud South African, I would have liked them to enjoy their time in my country but thanks to the "company" that brought them to SA, their visit was a flop, especially when it came to organization…..I will not mention the name of the company because I don't want to get into any trouble…for purposes of this story, we will call them "TORNADO".
According to the BBN website, the housemates 'supposedly' left the country on 25 June but I can tell you now that the housemates are still in South Africa and they will leave on Friday, 30 June 2006.
Ok..I'm not really good at narrating stories so I will give you a day to day account of what happened during the visit.
22 June 2006
Housemates arrive at the airport in Lagos and wait for hours before Tornado reps arrive with their passports and air tickets. Eventually the housemates fly out of Lagos at around 23:00 pm…EXPECTING TO RETURN HOME ON TUESDAY, 27 June 2006.
23 June 2006
Housemates arrive in the early hours of the morning and are booked in a hotel in Morningside….
Later that day some of the housemates (including winner Katung, runner up Fransisca) are interviewed live on Oboma – Channel O…There's really excitement about their visit to SA.
Later that evening, housemates are enjoying a nice dinner at; you gotta wait for this one….KFC!!!!!!!
Ok, Tornado, you bring people all the way from Nigeria for them to experience SA and then you feed them KFC? Oh no, they even had to pay for their own food….!!!
What is going on here??
Ok the housemates are now ready to party…they are whisked off to Club Uhuru in Randburg…Ok, I do a bit of clubbing every now and then but I had to GOOGLE this Club coz I had no idea where it was…
Eventuallly found the club; it was just before midnight so I was hoping that I had not missed much.
No parking so I had to park at a filling station across the road…no problem, the petrol attendant will act as a car guard as well tonight…
As I was approaching the entrance, I was not sure if I was at the right place, I stepped in something that looked like a mini shopping centre and it did not look like I was entering what was termed "The greatest night club in Jozi".
Anyway, I paid my hard-earned R100 at the door and the place was packed. South African - Nigerians had come in droves to see the housemates. The mood was high and yeah, it did feel like I was in Naija.
I noticed there was a VIP area in the club but the housemates were not in there…was it by choice? I can't say for sure…
Some of them seemed to be having a good time, taking pictures with everybody (me included) but some of the ladies were looking very bored and out of place…they said they were tired when asked what's up.
A Channel O VJ, Grace, went to the stage to introduce the 14 housemates in order of eviction but before she could get to the 4th one, the lights went off (quickly restored) but there was no sound coming from the mics so that idea had to be shelved…
Nothing much happened except the music, and some housemates looking very bored and asking to be taken back to the hotel…
Eventually around 01:00 – 01:30 the housemates left…this is a night club and 01:30 in a night club is very early!!! I don't blame them though….
24 June 2006
The housemate are taken to Soweto (this was probably the best thing that Tornado did for them while in SA).
I hear that Joseph, he of the popular fan club JFC, did not join in on the Soweto trip as he had a lunch date with his JFC - fan club members (More on this one later….there is so much to say about them)…
The housemates came back from the Soweto trip; I wonder what they ate for lunch, poor things!!!
On coming back from Soweto, the poor people were asked to submit their passports as their flight bookings had to be changed to the next morning, Sunday.
The reason for this sudden change in plans was that Tornado had run out of funds so they could not afford to entertain them any longer (yeah, Tornado, some entertainment that was!)
The housemates went mad, they had not had time to shop, or have some real fun and there was no way they'd go back to Nigeria without going to Cape Town or Sun City, at least!!
Besides, their next trip to Ghana was on 01 July so there was no rush to go home…
Well, needless to say, they were given an ultimatum; "You go back home or stay in SA at your own costs"!!…
So now in between the trip to Soweto and going back to Club Uhuru (which they did not wanna do), the housemates were busy trying to get hold of SA friends and family, trying to arrange accommodation.
25 JUNE 2006
Housemates check out of the hotel and go in search of another place to stay...
If you have ever heard of a circus…this was one!
So as you read this, the housemates are on their own, paying for their own accommodation, buying their own food, paying for their own transportation around and for what was called "an official visit", this is a disgrace…I am embarrassed on their (Tornado's) behalf!
They should have asked locals to host the housemates…this would have been a trip to remember!!! Hopefully this horrendous experience does not put the BBN housemates off SA, coz this is a beautiful country, with even more beautiful people!!
Please watch this space for a detailed report of:
What they got up to between 26-30 June 2006
Who was sharing rooms with whom???
Interviews with some of the housemates...and of course
What Joseph's Fan Club in SA is up to and how they RESCUED the BBN housemates while in SA
P.S. I hope the Ghana trip goes better than this, considering that the locals will still be grumpy from the Brazil loss…