My one night of confinement in the Big Brother Africa House

I was understandably jolted by the very nature of the task that just dropped on my laps when my editor called me two weeks ago with a new assignment; I would be spending a night in the Big Brother House along with 14 journalists from across Africa to get a feel of what it would be like for the show’s contestants.

So here I was, in the house, really a customised studio, that hosts one of the most controversial and sensational pursuits for money, fame and fortune anywhere in Africa.

It was a shocker because the Big Brother House is a place of confinement where admittance required we surrender our cell phones, note books, laptops, watches and any other gadgets that could connect us to the outside world.

We were locked up in the company of strangers which, surprisingly, was intimidating; perhaps because we were all journalists and not competing for any prize money.

And there was a lot of sharing! We had to cook and share meals, share a bathroom and share either one of the two bedrooms with beds positioned like they do in high school dorms.

There was food in the fridge for dinner alright but we all had to decide who would cook. There was also a task – to make a painting depicting love and hate – and deliver it to Big Brother before sunrise. We also had to decide on a concept and decide who was going to execute it.

Since there was some nicely dried firewood and a fireplace outside, I offered to roast beef and chicken for the group in keeping with the Kenyan nyama choma culture.

A journalist’s visit was just that, a visit with lots of fun. The contest proper is not for the fainthearted.

The house, as I came to learn, is one of the most surveillanced spaces anywhere – with cameras and microphones at every turn to record contestants’ every single move and beam them live around Africa for the 91 days that house mates scheme and plan for the Sh25 million prize.

Along the way, contestants are plunged into a battle of wits — a high noon of intrigue, love and hate where emotions ebb and flow and relationships are tested to the limits.

To bag the millions at stake, contestants are required to use their wit and charm. Lady luck also needs to be in your corner. You can be nominated for eviction by fellow contestants but saved by the millions watching at home.

Welcome to Big Brother Africa’s eighth edition, which was launched on Sunday at the Sasani Studios in Johannesburg, South Africa, to much pomp and pageantry with the introduction of 28 socialites from around Africa.

It’s a contest with no rules, or rather one where rules are made as you go along. The rules and tasks for the day are usually bellowed out by Big Brother, a mysterious character who only speaks and is never seen and whose instructions are issued through strategically placed speakers, and who is said to watch the contestants 24 hours non-stop.

But apart from assigning tasks and issuing instructions, Big Brother leaves the contestants to their own devices to best plot how they’ll emerge victorious.

The first test on the wits and emotional balance of the contestants occurs when their phones are taken away a week before the real contest begins to give them a feeling of what living in the house really means.

Having their lives filmed

During this period, the contestants are chaperoned by a designated individual who takes them through what to expect once they enter the House. The housemates are kept apart and they have no idea who they will be competing against. This is also the case from when they first attend auditions held weeks before in their countries.

The team that selects the contestants picks a cocktail of introverts and extroverts. But they must be individuals who don’t mind having their lives filmed 24 hours a day by cameras installed all over the house — including the bathrooms and toilets — and have their waking and sleeping activities beamed to millions of enthusiasts across Africa.

In addition to the prying cameras, contestants have microphones strapped on them, which they are never supposed to turn off. The house also teems with microphones to record every sound.
Once they have entered the house, they have to agree how to undertake cooking and cleaning chores. Housemates nominate one evictee every week and that’s where the battle of the wits really is.

A contestant has to charm fellow housemates to avoid being voted out of the House and yet not too charming to appear to be a threat. One can be nominated for eviction if they are simply identified by the rest as the biggest hurdle to the dream prize.

According to DSTV Africa communications manager Sandhya Singh, the house is custom made as a studio but is stripped of the décor and redone every new season.

“When the show is over the house is stripped and cameras are taken down for maintenance. The house also goes through maintenance while we discuss whether there is a new season,” Ms Singh said.

“The basic structure remains the same but the house goes through a remarkable transformation based on the theme for the new season. Walls, rooms and areas are added or removed depending on what the season is about.

“Then it goes through the cabling process and finally the décor,” she said.

It’s the technical details that are mind-boggling; some 135 microphones and 57 cameras watching every move in the house. Before the show, contestants are prepared psychologically for what they are going into; an isolated house with no contact with the outside world in the midst of strangers who are actually fellow contestants.

“The only time the contestants see the inside of the house is when they step in through the doors to start the contest. They come a week before for preparation and they are accommodated in a hotel and their movement is very restricted by a designated chaperone,” Ms Singh said.

“When anyone of them goes out, everyone else is in lockdown. Make up and stylists come to the room, producers and so on. The phones are taken from them and they have no access to the Internet to give them a glimpse of what it’s going to be like in the house.”

This year, top Kenyan comedian popularly known as Churchill was one of the entertainers at the launch of the 2013 edition dubbed The Chase.

Churchill and South African comedian Tumi Morake got a chance to explore the two houses which will host the housemates this year — called Diamond and Ruby — shortly before the contestants were unveiled. Two houses mean two 24/7 channels, with viewers able to follow the action in either house via DStv Channel 197 or 198.

“I’ve tried to stay in my hotel for two days and I nearly broke down. I would not do this even for the money. I better win something if I were to participate in this,” Churchill said.

“You wake up and see the same things, you can’t watch TV or make calls and you sleep in the same room with people who you are practically not supposed to touch. But the house is exciting even though the space is very small.

“If you are not prepared for this, even if you are homeless, you’d be tired trying to survive in that space without having to go out and buy credit or listen to local gossip,” Churchill added.

Tumi will also be hosting a special show on AfricaMagic after each Sunday’s show called Big Brother Hot Room, starting June 2 at 10 pm. She’ll put a satirical spin on the week that was, take comic pot shots at the most talked-about events of the week and re-enact parody scenes with housemates.

Kenyan rapper Stella Mwangi, better known as STL, who performed at the launch, said she was happy at her role but swore she would never sign up for the game.

“No, no. no. No way. Being in a house and locked up – I’m an artiste and I like to be around people and in the streets,” she told Lifestyle.

Well, at least she managed to deliver an unforgettable performance of “Stella Stella Stella” in her distinctive style during the show, which was closed out by performances from D’Prince, who dazzled the continent with “Goody Bag” and Don Jazzy & Wande Coal, who brought the roof down with “The Kick”.

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