The First Nomination on Day 1: 7 September 2009

Big Brother shocked the housemates early on Day 1 by calling them into the Diary Room one-by-one and informing them that they had to nominate people for eviction after less than 24 hours in the house.

When the confusion had cleared up, Edward had received the most nominations (6), followed by Hannington and Kaone with 5 apiece.

Many of the male housemates struggled to recall everyone’s names as they stumbled through the nomination process. The nominations also brought discussions of alliances to the fore, with conspiracy allowed for the first time in the Big Brother competition, this season.

The most notable alliance was that of Hannington, Phil and Yacob.

Teddy told Big Brother that he’s just been invited into an alliance of 8 people, but he didn't seem to be interested, calling it paranoia based on the first day nomination session. In the same breath however, Teddy announced his unwavering support for his fellow countryman, Jeremy.

Quinn didn’t escape getting approached to join the Alliance of 8, and joined them - despite already nominating two of his alliance-mates.

Itai nominated Phil and Kaone - saying that he doesn’t like Kaone’s goodie- two-shoes nature.

Teddy had a very difficult time choosing someone to nominate, asking if he could consider it and return to deliver his answer. Big Brother told him that he had one minute to decide and would have to stay in the Diary Room while he thought about it.

He eventually settled on Kevin because of an earlier housekeeping standoff at the breakfast table. He also chose Itai, saying that his good nature is a threat.

Hannington also had a difficult time thinking about who to nominate, but ultimately settled on Kaone and Edward.

Edward made his mind up by pointing fingers at Itai and Jeremy for being distant, saying that that was the best reason he could think of.

Quinn felt that Yacob was very quiet and distant and therefore had to go. He then said that Hannington was a bit too energetic and “too much” before picking him as his second choice for nomination.

Jeremy picked Edward, because they “hadn’t yet bonded” and then ignored an alliance he had made earlier by voting for Hannington, saying that he is too much competition for him.

Yacob stuck to his alliance by picking Edward and then chose Kaone as his second nominee.

Everyone tried to nominate potential competitors and Kaone was no exception: he saw Kevin as a strong competitor- and then said that he had to go, before nominating Hannington for his apparent lack of personal hygiene.

Kevin picked to out Kaone and Edward while Wayoe picked Phil and Hannington because of the latter’s seeming inability to take anything seriously.

Leonel’s choice was to get rid of Hannington and Edward - clearly sticking to a particular alliance.

Phil nominated Edward and Kaone, and hinted that he may be leaning towards an alliance with Jeremy and Teddy.

The result: Edward received the most nominations, with 6, followed by Hannington and Kaone with 5. Itai, Kevin and Phil have 2 each, while Jeremy and Yacob garnered 1 each. Leonel, Quinn, Teddy and Wayoe escaped nomination altogether.

Having left the Housemates and the Starmates in peace to settle in for their first night, their first full day in the house kicked off with an aerobic session to get the boys jumping.

After that, Leonel took charge of showing his fellow housemates some fighting moves before Jeremy and Kevin took to performing back-flips in the garden. The housemates spent most of the morning and early afternoon getting to know each other.

Leonel seems to be the philosopher of the house, teaching Khanyi some yoga and breathing exercises and expounding his views on life. The first twin swap also took place, with Edward making way for Erastus. Nobody smelt a rat, despite the fact that Edward was the most-nominated housemate.

After a task which saw the housemates having to dash outside to put out fires at the sound of an alarm, the boys re-enacted scenes from the movie 300 while Khanyi and Nonhle put together some dinner with traditional South African ‘pap’ or maize meal.

As nomination announcement time loomed, the tension was palpable - with the boys also sad to see their favourite Starmates Khanyi and Nonhle leave and the reality of an all-male house sinking in.

Then it was time for Big Brother to make the nomination announcement …
and blew the competition wide open by announcing that each and every housemate was up for eviction this week.

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