So we all pretty familiar with the Big Brother Show, s the African version of the Big Brother reality game show. The show initially involved 12 countries within Africa (Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia & Zimbabwe) with two countries (Ethiopia and Mozambique) being added in season 4 and two other countries (Liberia and Sierra Leone) being added in season 7 while Rwanda was added in season 9. Each country provides at least one contestant living in an isolated house while trying to avoid being evicted by viewers and ultimately winning a large cash prize at the end of the show.

Uti Nwachukwu – Big Brother All Stars Winner[/caption]

We all noticed for the past two years, the reality game show has been off air, leaving us guessing why:

According to a statement from Mnet, the show is still under evaluation and thus not part of the upcoming programming schedule.

“At the moment, the team is busy re-evaluating the strategic direction of Big Brother Africa. Be assured that when it returns, it will be bigger and better,” reads the statement.

Given the huge success from the show had in its first run, with  participants from different countries where MultiChoice has a presence, including Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Angola, Uganda, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Nigeria. The sudden halt took some by surprise.

Ebuka Uchendu, Katung Aduwak and Gideon Okeke Got their fame from Bib Brother Nigeria

Many believe the show had lost its way before producers even thought of re-evaluating it and was simply riding on the success of its premiere season.

“That season was a hit for many reasons; it was fresh and almost all contestants had no expectations,” Hannah Nakuya, who was in S4 when BBA I was on air, says, adding that there was a surprise factor for both the audience and contestants.

“By the time the show came back in 2007, many of the new contestants had watched season one and thus wanted to replicate it,” she says.

Maureen Nakate, a fan that has watched at least three of the seasons, notes that the reason the show is not coming back was because it lost itself.

“At the beginning, they introduced us to 12 nobodies from Africa; by the time they came back for the seasons that followed, they were introducing us to somehow known Africans – models, beauty pageant contestants, artistes and media personalities.”

But other schools of thought say the show is not coming back because of financial issues. It is said that with dwindling ratings, the show lost advertisers and it became hard to run an expensive show.

Back track to ’07, Big Brother Nigeria was introduced and was a collaboration between Nigerian and South African production teams, it aired on DStv Channel 37 from March 5 to June 4, 2006, and the Nigerian audience loved it, most thought it far livelier than the BBA series. With then popular housemates Ebuka ,Joe and winner 26-year-old Katung Aduwak. But to our dismay that was it. But we are glad it back again.

The return of the BBN reality TV show was based on the Big Brother Africa TV series.

MultiChoice boss told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Wednesday that the return of the reality show was based on popular demand by people who wanted it back.

“The show has been well developed following the successes of past seasons of Big Brother Africa.

“The Big Brother Africa is popular for its entertainment value and ability to showcase ordinary Africans from different walks of life.

“It is one of the ways the company is enhancing quality and varieties of contents available on its platforms.

“We decided to re-invent BBA, the reality show, once again by bringing back the Nigerian version.

“We are confident that it will draw pan-African audiences for the same reasons that Big Brother Africa did.”

The Big Brother Naija show will be aired on dedicated event channels on DStv and GOtv in January 2017.