Nigerian walks away with Sh16m Big Brother prize
Winner of Big Brother Africa All Stars Uti Nwachukwu from Nigeria celebrates his achievement. FILE | NATION
What you need to know:
Barn was latest twist to show
- There was another twist in the show. Instead of the evicted house mates going home after they were voted out of the Big Brother house, they were sent to the barn, a parallel but worse holding than the house.
- The barn had cows and chicken and the house mates took turns to milk the cows and wash outside.
- Three barn mates, Sheila, Lerato and Tatiana were voted back to the house.
Nigeria’s Uti Nwachukwu pipped Zimbabwe’s Munyaradzi “Munya” Chidzonga to clinch the Big Brother Africa All Star jackpot of $200,000 (Sh16 million).
Kenya’s Sheila was also in the running, making her the first Kenyan to stay in the house the longest although she had been evicted before being voted back.
Sheila was the first of the five to be evicted followed by Tanzania’s Mwisho, South Africa’s Lerato Sengadi leaving Uti and Zimbabwe’s Munya — the show’s biggest names — to fight it out for the ultimate prize.
After the envelope was opened on Sunday night, there could only be one winner and it was Uti, 27, finally dashing the hopes of Munya who many had seen as the winner designate after surviving half a dozen eviction attempts.
It was a shocker that Kenya did not even vote for Sheila, opting instead for Uti, who had a relationship with the Kenyan rumoured to have the potential to morph into marriage.
Uti previously competed in Big Brother Africa 3 where he finished tenth after becoming the third house mate to be evicted on Day 42. He describes himself as understanding and admits to talking too much when excited.
He hates it when “people try to list your faults even though they have their own”.
When Africa voted to select their winner from the five All Stars finalists, Lerato Sengadi, Mwisho Mwampamba and Sheila had zero country votes, while Uti was the most popular House mate with eight countries voting to save him, while Munya had seven countries voting to save him.
Countries voted
The countries that voted to save Uti were: Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda and the Rest of Africa while Munya had the nods of Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
There was palpable tension as soon as host IK was beamed onto the House screens to make the announcement. Both Uti and Munya, who had earlier professed how nervous they were, sat on the couch, their cigarettes in hand.
Uti stared into one spot while Munya bowed his head and held Uti’s hand. Munya stared at the ceiling in disbelief for more than two minutes. He held his head and looked as though he was holding back a bucket of tears. As soon as Uti found out he had won, he jumped onto the couch and sang his national anthem.
Munya walked out slowly not believing what had happened. When interviewed, Munya mentioned how he wanted to make it further than he did last time. He saluted and did the Diamond Boy sign. As soon as he saw his family, he fell into his mothers arms and burst into tears.
It was a show that had a lot going on for it. For the first time, two house mates, Namibia’s Meryl Shikwambane and Mwisho got engaged while in the house. Another contestant, Hannington Kuteesa from Uganda, was sent packing after he punched South Africa’s Lerato.
