On Sunday night Big Brother Africa's Meryl Shikwambane was the third housemate to be evicted from the show after she found herself up against boring Maureen and adulterising Richard.
As has become the custom of evicted housemates, she spent Monday hotfooting it around the press giving her side of the story and flew back to Namibia yesterday (Tuesday) - she'll return for the finale once the 90 days are over.
I caught up with her for us before she left and wanted to put the interview in a podcast so you could hear her laughing hysterically but didn't manage to do it - I wanted to share it with you asap so didn't have time sort it. You'll still be able to hear her voice though - you'll see what I mean when you check out what she had to say and how she says it:
*BB camera snappily changes direction and zooms in*
Tashi: I’m SO sorry you've left! I wanted you to win from the first moment you got into the house and said you were wizzywig. Were you as shocked to be evicted - the sense I got was that you were?
Meryl: I was actually not hey, before everything was announced I stood up and I like fixed myself, fixed my lipgloss and I was ready to hit the ramp.
Tashi: How did you feel? You seemed close to tears - is that what you felt?
Meryl: I was very sad to go because I left friends behind, family behind you know and it was really, really sad. I was sad but I wasn’t shocked or anything like that. There was a time I was crying before everything else ‘cos everyone was like crying around me so I was in tears here and there but afterwards I was fine.
Tashi: You say you saw everyone as close family and friends -
Meryl: They were very close to me, yes.
Tashi: Did they see you the same way?
Meryl: I don’t know, I cherish friends very, very much - it’s something that picks me up. If I have friends around me I’m very good and that’s how I saw them. The way they presented themselves to me is how I saw them and stuff like that so I found them really, really close to me ja.
Tashi: What was your mindset in it all? You had some difficult things to do like being the first Head of House. You seemed to cut yourself off emotionally, like you accepted that it’s all part of Big Brother.
Meryl: I mean that’s just the way you have to take it hey. I knew what the game was - you need to play it the way you feel you need to play it. If you’re gonna let everything effect you emotionally and stuff then I reckon you’re going to have difficulties in the house and everything.
That’s just the type of person that I am - that I don’t let things get to me like that. I just play the game right, do my thing right and I’ll be fine.
Tashi: Who’s reason for voting for you shocked you the most?
Meryl: Well I find it very like annoying and very childish for Maureen to vote me off because I don’t eat. (laughs)
Tashi: I know! - it was ridiculous.
Meryl: “I don’t want Meryl to stay because she doesn’t eat,” you know, that’s like totally out of this world. Also Richard’s reason - because I was apparently doing something with Kwaku in bed and stuff like that - those reasons are totally out of this world.
Tashi: Richard’s reason seriously irritated me - the cheek of it!
Meryl: (laughs)
Tashi: When he’s cheating on his wife with the whole world.
Meryl: Ja ja.
Tashi: How did you feel about that?
Meryl: I’ve said that I wouldn’t want to be the lady on the outside world, watching my husband doing whatever he’s doing in the house. As I also say, they probably talked about this before he went into the house.
No-one knows what they said to each other about what he’s going to do in the house -he probably justified everything he was going to do before he went into the house but I reckon I would not sit lightly if my husband had to go into the Big Brother house.
I don’t think my husband would sit lightly if I had to go into the Big Brother house if I was with someone, watching what I was doing in the house. I don’t think anybody would take it lightly at all - I just don’t find it to be right in any way.
Tashi: Have any of the housemates told him that?
Meryl: I haven’t seen them speaking about it but then obviously a lot of the housemates have problems with it, like just in general, him being married - as in kissing Tatiana and just his attitude towards the ladies in the house. I mean some of the ladies found it very, very wrong because obviously they were feeling what his wife would be feeling, so ja everyone has their views on him.
Tashi: Why has no-one confronted him about it?
Meryl: Everybody has their own reasons for like keeping it to themselves or not saying anything.
Tashi: Why do you think viewers voted you out?
Meryl: I think they voted me out because they wanted to see me! (Laughs) You know people have different beliefs and I reckon I come from a background which is totally out of this world - the person that I am is not your average person that you’ll find anywhere.
My mouth and my style and my personality is totally different, just me, I reckon that’s why people had their own views. The people in the house, the way they were, gave me a perspective of the way people in their country’s are so that’s how they based their decisions.
Tashi: Mr Americano aka Kwaku – why, why, why? What did you possibly see in him?!
Meryl: (Laughs) It’s not that I walked into the house and said: “Okay he’s hot I’m going to what-what-what with him.” It’s just something that happened - it’s not something that was premeditated or planned or anything like that. He is a lovely guy, we have a lot of things in common and we enjoy each others company -it was more of a friendship than anything. We just understood each other very, very well and were comfortable around each other.
Tashi: You told KB there was no sex involved between you.
Meryl: That’s correct, none whatsoever.
Tashi: What’s up with Bertha? Do you think she’s gonna go for him now that you’re gone?
Meryl: Obviously - I know that she’s going to try and go for him, she’s not going to try hide that. She’s made it very clear that she likes him and that she wants him and everything. I would just wait and see if she’s going to go for him and see the reaction in the house.
Tashi: But she’s got all this religious stuff going on.
Meryl: Well if the religion’s washing off we’ll just have to wait and see what’s going to go in the house ‘cos I mean three months is a long time to keep up what you’ve brought to the table so far.
Tashi: What would you say your most controversial moment in the house was?
Meryl: It’s probably the girl-on-girl action that happened a few weeks ago. That’s something I was like, “Hehehehe.” I’ve heard people talking about it on the outside when I came out as something that was really hectic ja.
Tashi: How did you feel about it when you were doing it?
Meryl: Well it was game, you just play the game and you hope to finish it and get it over and done with. There was nothing premeditated about it – it was just a game and I played it the way it was supposed to be played. Good sportsmanship, that’s all it was.
Tashi: So you’re trying to tell us you didn’t enjoy it?
Meryl: I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy it - I’m not saying I enjoyed it at all. It was a game and I was just playing it because I was enjoying it. It’s just game that you need to play.
Tashi: How aware of the cameras were you?
Meryl: I was so aware of them - there were times when you could hear the cameras zooming into you which was totally crazy but I didn’t mind them at all. I would just say what I was going to say whether there was a camera or not, I didn’t care about it that much. In the first week it was awakward but then it was like “Okay get over it and continue living your life.”
Tashi: Do think the housemates are doing stuff so that the cameras focus on them?
Meryl: Not actually hey, not at all. I think people are just being themselves. I reckon that if they’re doing things to have the camera focus on them then obviously the people on the outside will notice that and see that they’re putting on a pretense.
Tashi: Who would you like to see win?
Meryl: I have no specific person. It can go either way - it can go to the worst housemate, the best housemate - people have their own reasons for voting for a person and wanting them to win.
Tashi: If you were watching instead of being in it - who would your fave be?
Meryl: If there was a Meryl then my Meryl would be me. (laughs) I would like Meryl if there was another Meryl exactly like her.
Tashi: Who would you definitely not like to see win?
Meryl: No, no I would not pinpoint anything on anyone.
Tashi: Did anyone change towards you when you were nominated?
Meryl: Not that I can say hey - I felt that Maureen became very detached from me from the way that she was in the beginning - that’s the only thing that I noticed.
Tashi: Why do you think the housemates voted you out?
Meryl: I felt the reasons they gave were not proper reasons to give for nominating.
Tashi: What was Code’s reason? I can’t remember.
Meryl: I didn’t even hear because I was in shock. I was like “Okay.” I have no idea why he nominated me - I reckon that he’s playing the game and it was a strategy.
Tashi: What would you be looking for in a winner?
Meryl: Just good sportsmanship and you’ll be fine hey. If someone can just keep their cool and be themselves, don’t pretend for anyone or anything and stuff like that - just being yourself will get you very far in the house.
Ends