Thrills and frills at BBA grand finale

The Big Brother Stargame has come and gone after 91 days of lights, camera, action, drama and tears. Memories of the grand finale will not fade in the minds of those who flew to South Africa. The list included journalists from six countries, who still had representatives in the house.

As early as 6pm, the famous Sesani Studio, in the Johannesburg’s venue of the live show was filled to the brim with people from all walks of life. These studios produce soaps like Scandal and Rhythm City, and other programmes like Jara and 53 Extra among others.

Family members, countrymen, friends and supporters of the six finalists including Malawi’s Wati, South Africa’s Keagan who won the show, Kenya’s Prezzo, Namibia’s Lady May, Kyle from Uganda and Talia from Zambia invaded the grand finale to be part of history.

Last year’s Big Brother Amplified housemates such as Nigeria’s Karen Igho, Lomwe from Malawi and VIP’s like Zindzi Mandela, daughter of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, attended the show.

The show kicked off at 8pm with a cocktail party, held within the venue of the live show and shortly after the cocktail, guests were ushered into the sizable studio to start the grand finale.

At the heart of the grand finale was the charismatic series host, IK Osakioduwa who was assisted by Channel O VJ and vibrant entertainment personality, Denrele Edun, also from Nigeria. The two ran festivities at the specially constructed fan-park right outside the studio.

The show commenced in earnest after the organisers handed the envelope containing the winner’s name over to IK on stage. Soon, IK went into serious business as he called out Malawi’s housemate, Wati as first evictee of the night.

Wati’s eviction, however, created some hushed protests from the audience led by his aunties who are based in South Africa. After Wati’s eviction Kyle, Talia and Lady May followed suit. This left Kenya’s Prezzo and Keagan in contention for the prize money.

The studio was brought to uncontainable excitement moments after IK announced Keagan as the winner of the US$300 000 (about K81 million) prize money. Glitz, and of course mixed-feelings and jubilation rented the air.

Keagan was dumb-founded after the victory. He popped champagne indiscriminately out of excitement and his supporters mainly from South Africans took to the floor to celebrate.

Dressed in rugged jeans with top blaze, Keagan only muttered: “All I can say, its thank you to the people who voted for me.” He later, held world press conference where the 22 year-old South African said, he was not expectant at all. Keagan, who was extremely surprised, explained: “That is why I had no extreme reaction. I was just quiet.”

Keagan was noted for being the most troublesome housemate. “I was always at the centre of mischief, always doing crazy random and spontaneous things.”

The night would have been incomplete without music. And African music superstars took to the Big Brother stage to spice up the finale.

Nigerian hip-hop star D’Banj, fresh from the success of his sensational global hit, Oliver Twist, was joined on stage by East African hip-hop powerhouse Navio from Uganda, sizzling South African MC Khuli Chana and award-winning Ghanaian hip-life king Sarkodie as well as phenomenal Afro-pop star Naeto C, all rocked the stage, giving viewers a night to remember.

But the night was yet to be over. Another highpoint of the show was the after-party, which followed the BBA grand finale. It was held at Hash Bar and Lounge, in Sandton, Johannesburg, and all Stargame housemates were there.

Still nursing the wishes of enjoying more, it was fast 4am and yours truly had to rush to the Park Inn by Radison Hotel, lest she and her colleague Sam Banda from Blantyre Newspapers Limited (BNL) miss a flight back home.

By 7am, the driver of the shuttle to the airport was in the hotel’s lobby for our 2hrs 30minutes flight from OR Tambo International Airport to Lilongwe, Malawi. How brilliant the event was.