Talk about destroying Big Brother for us! What should be a vibey, addictive, annual, crazy phenomenon has turned into the ultimate, disappointing let-down. Big Brother returns this year after disappearing last year BUT South Africa has been left off the list of countries that can watch it.
Big Brother Naija starts this Sunday (22 January) with former BB Nigeria housemate Ebuka Obi-Uchendu as host but it's only available on DStv in East and West Africa which means that South Africans won't get to watch it.
It's not even as if we'll get to see BB Mzansi sometime soon. The latest from Mzansi Magic is that it isn't happening this year so it's over for us for yet another year and possibly forever.
To make matters worse, it's actually a blessing in disguise for those of us who are mad about the series. The last season of BB Mzansi was so unbelievably bad that I'd rather not have the show at all than a repeat of what we had to suffer.
The lack of effort that went into it from a production point of view was appallingly bad. All they did was lock the housemates in the house and left them to "perform" - in between poisoning them with alcohol from the sponsors which resulted in
accusations of rape.
The storylines were bland and repetitive with the forced showmances and hook-ups and every week's eviction show was a carbon copy of the week before with no reality TV aspect to the evictions whatsoever. It was the same thing over and
over again on loop.
I still can't get over the fact that the evictions turned into a weekly music show. It was obviously because it was so much less effort.
The only thing the production did was invite musicians to perform instead of putting in the work to create a show crammed with cool tidbits from the house and a feast of other juicy things. There's so much that could have made it entertaining and yet the production refused to do it.
Despite the fact that Big Brother has been around for 17 years, it remains a phenomenon round the world and there's such a huge amount that could be done with it here. It could be thee biggest thing of the year - something to get everyone talking, whether you're watching it or not, and yet it's just not happening. So sad.
Someone give me something strong to drown my sorrows pleeeeeeease!
I feel so strongly about it because I've always loved the show in the strictest sense of the word. It's the ultimate in human dynamics - intriguing and funny and shocking and revealing so the current situation with it sucks in the extreme.