BBNaija: Toxic fans, overzealous influencers plus one meltdown too many

I hadn’t planned on returning to Big Brother Naija so soon this week as I wasn’t necessarily aiming for a weekly diary on BBN. However, there’s no ignoring the events of the week that was last week. The week which began on a high for some housemates particularly Erica when she emerged head of house (HOH) last week Monday ended with her disqualification on Sunday. As HOH, Erica was guaranteed at least one more week as the HOH is exempted from nomination and possible eviction.  Now let’s go inside the house.

Laycon, the chicken bone that got stuck in Erica’s throat

+ The Kiddwaya Factor

Erica’s disqualification is the obvious elephant in the room and a good place to begin. The long and short of the story is that on Saturday, Erica who has shown from previous weeks that she can’t handle her drink well, had one meltdown too many. While that lasted, she among other unprintable things, threatened to kill Laycon. Her anger stemmed from her denial of the claim by Laycon that she has tried to kiss him multiple times. She claimed she has recollection of (only) the one time when she was intoxicated. And basically said he wasn’t physically attractive. At some point, between dissing him and talking to Kiddwaya, chicken bone, chicken wings or even drumsticks were mentioned. She’ll later apologise to some housemates the morning after but that was too little too late.

If anyone needs proof that drinking alcohol is bad, Erica’s a good example. Trikkytee also had his own meltdown moment a few weeks ago where he ended up apologising to his pastor through the TV. But he’s managed since then to control himself. Under saner circumstances, Erica had more reason to be extra careful because she was already on 2 strikes and a strong warning. So, who do we for blame for Erica’s disqualification: Laycon who was carrying tales to other housemates of Erica attempting to kiss him? Please, miss me with the so-called evidence. Even if that were true, even if she actually kissed him, wouldn’t that amount to ‘kiss and tell’? And about a woman he claims to love? Or do we blame BBN host Ebuka Obi-Uchendu who actually revealed this info about what Laycon was telling housemates? Wait, perhaps we should blame the organisers of the show who deliberately set out every Friday and Saturday to let the drinks flow so that housemates can get loose? And what about the Kiddwaya factor?

As must be fairly obvious, under almost all of Erica’s problems in the house was Kiddwaya. All the shouting matches she had were somehow linked to him. She did concede that he was instrumental to the 2 strikes she got. She then tried to balance it by saying she too was responsible for his strikes but ultimately accepted responsibility for her actions. However, the underlying issue whether out of insecurity, low self-esteem or desperation, was the painful realisation of selling oneself cheap. This is what invariably drove Erica to overindulge, and also to take out her frustration on Laycon, the resident ‘chicken’. But that chicken wing/bone is now in the top 10, had the highest number of votes last week and is safe this week. He’s being hailed by people who salute his knowledge of how to play the game. On that Saturday, one post screamed: “Laycon is a Man.” Still, I’m slow to dish out blame because “who no go, no know.” This is why I submitted (a few weeks ago) that I cannot take part in the Big Brother show.

BBN’s Toxic Fandom

Whatever bad rap BBN gets, its followership appears to be even more toxic and I’m not talking of ordinary followers. I’m talking about teams and cliques in place complete with special names. Erica fans call themselves Elites while Laycon’s fans are Icons. Not sure of the other team. It’s safe to say that back in the day, fandom was much simpler. I can’t say for sure when we got to this point but my first taste of fandom was Team Efe coming to the Jabi Lake full of people out on their regular exercise in Abuja one Saturday morning. They were dressed in identical t-shirts which may have had “Based on logistics” on it. They went around canvassing for votes for Efe. He did have a mass appeal/following as evident in his final victory.

It’s a different story today. People hardly stop at praising the housemate they support. What you see are social media posts attacking perceived threats. Why can’t people be fans without denigrating others? As far these fans are concerned, other housemates don’t matter. Whatever happens to them is easily shrugged off. This leads to all kinds of rationalisation and different standards being applied to same actions by housemates. The response to Erica’s possible mental stress is: “What about Laycon’s…?” Isn’t it possible to talk about both?

We all still remember the ‘war from the immediate season of Big Brother Naija between Tacha and Mercy fans. That was carried over to this year’s Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards. Fans couldn’t talk about Mercy’s dress without comparing it with Tacha’s. Even at the beginning of this BBN season when Tacha was the first to visit the House, it was framed as how she achieved this milestone before Mercy. Titans Vs Mercenaries.

Unfortunately, the toxicity being experienced in BBN fandom is not exclusive to Big Brother. We have it in sports. Ronaldo fans cannot enjoy any of his milestones except they point out how Messi can never… Same for the other side.  Same happens in music. When Burna Boy released ‘Twice as Tall,’ his latest musical album, some thought that was a good time to ‘drag’ Wizkid for not same releasing an album in the time it has taken Burna Boy to release 2. Yet, there’s that one person who insists on butting into celebrations by Burna fans to remind them the album is not all that and how they don’t like it, bla, bla. Does this person really have to reign on fans’ parade?  When Tiwa Savage released ‘Celia,’ her latest work, it was Yemi Alade that trended on Twitter.  What should be fun and light has turned ugly.

I’m not a typical fan. I have the ‘misfortune’ of always rooting for the underdog.. Which is why the only time I tried to vote, it was for Lucy I wanted to vote. Just how almost all the housemates are in concert when it comes to their dislike of Lucy made me want to give her my votes.

Dele Momodu and Celebrity Influencers

 Speaking of fans, there are fans and there are fans. Perhaps this category of super fans can be called influencers. Quite a number of celebrities have been speaking in favour of different housemates. For instance, Erica has had a lot of support from Nollywood. But it would seem like Dele Momodu has been quite visible and vocal in his support for Kiddwaya. First, he did an interview with Terry Waya on Instagram Live. Terry Waya is Kiddwaya’s father and back in the day, it was thanks to Ovation magazine that many Nigerians first learnt of the man who flew some governors to the UK for his 40th birthday.

On Saturday September 5, the Ovation Magazine publisher and former presidential candidate, took the support a step further when he tweeted in support of Kiddwaya: “This show is not just about MONEY, it is about ENTERTAINMENT and BRANDING opportunities for the HOUSEMATES… Pls, let’s stop promoting POVERTY mentality… Winning won’t make you the richest HOUSEMATE! Let’s play and enjoy the game by VOTING for the perfect gentleman who rocks!!’

Dele Momodu’s tweet generated angry comments from Laycon’s fans because they felt that any quip about poverty was in reference to their housemate. Could Dele Momodu’s tweet have done without his reference to ‘poverty mentality’? Absolutely yes. When you consider the fact that the two housemates are currently getting on just fine in the house, then you wonder why someone trying to help Kiddwaya would proceed to alienate potential voters. Kiddwaya’s rich father gets it. In his Instagram interview with Dele Momodu, Daddy Waya was very careful to commend ordinary Nigerians for voting for his son and not resent him for having a rich father.

Everybody Hates Lucy

Lucy Essien (30) was evicted on Sunday and I don’t think that came as a surprise to anyone. Once Big Brother reverted to the original system where housemates nominate fellow housemates for possible eviction, it was obvious Lucy would be the first to get the boot. 6 out of 10 housemates nominated Lucy and I’m pretty sure, the other 4 didn’t pick Lucy perhaps because they were focused on people they considered bigger threats. Truth be told, Lucy was a pain to work with in their group tasks but she was also good with cooking and taking care of the kitchen. In the end, Lucy left the House friend-less after her falling out with Dorathy who used to be her friend.

Although Lucy was the second oldest housemate (second to Trikkytee who is 35), she had the tendency to carry on as if she were the oldest housemate. It didn’t help that was the first ting Nengi used to -insult when they had a shouting match much earlier in the show.

The depleting OZONE Layer

Ozone is the name fans have given the Ozo and Nengi ‘ship’ (from the coinage of their names) even though as far as Nengi is concerned, what they have is brotherhood/sisterhood. So, it’s a ‘hood’ not a ‘ship.’ Last week I wrote about Ozo as ‘snake on top yam.’ This week, it appears as if Ozo’s snake is not even near the yam. Part of the drama from last weekend was Ozo quite busy trying keep Nengi from Kiddwaya during the Saturday night party. In fact, it was a tag team of Ozo and Erica coming to separate them as soon as Kiddwaya and Nengi (suggest a name: NeKidd?) got close. Then at some point late into the night, or early Sunday morning, Ozo supposedly proposed to Nengi who yawned in the middle of that marriage proposal. Now with Erica out of the picture, what’s to stop Nengi from moving on with Kiddwaya? Many fans are already salivating at the prospect and were praying for Kiddwaya to win HOH and pick Nengi as Deputy HOH so they can spend time alone in the HOH lounge. They may have to pray harder because Trikkytee and Laycon have that luxury this week.

Who Will Win?

Or rather, who do I want to win? Not that it matters seeing as I cannot vote. I tried to register via the Africa magic website but wasn’t successful. If it were dependent on me, I’d probably give it to Prince. For all the hair care on Sundays. However, if the voting pattern this past week is anything to go by, the rest of the housemates have a long way to catch up with Laycon.

Nwabuikwu, AIRTIME columnist is a renowned TV/Film critic, and Film scholar. She also has experience in Advertising as a senior Copywriter and Corporate Communications as Communications consultant. Email: [email protected]