And so after over two months of high drama and entertainment, Big Brother Naija Season 5 is finally over!
Twenty contestants began the journey, but Olamilekan Agbeleshe, aka Laycon emerged as the last man standing, carting away the 85 million naira winner’s prize.
It was another record-breaking year for the Big Brother Naija series, with organizers revealing that they recorded a staggering 900 million votes during the course of the show.
Little wonder BB Naija continues to attract a host of big name sponsors!
International betting heavyweights, Betway were the headline sponsors of the 2020 edition, joining other top brands like Guinness, Pepsi and Innoson Motors in bankrolling the show.
It is the second straight year that one of the leading betting companies has taken up the role of lead sponsor of Big Brother Naija.
But what makes BB Naija so popular? Why are we so concerned about the lives of people we barely even know when we have our own individual problems to deal with?
The show has high entertainment value.
People tend to gravitate towards Reality TV programs like Big Brother Naija because these shows offer an easy route into other people’s lives. Humans are social animals; hence, we are drawn to anything that fosters socialization.
Many of us don’t really mind our businesses. We like to pry into other people’s affairs! Big Brother Naija creates the perfect avenue for that.
Big Brother Naija brings together different personalities from different backgrounds, isolating them in one house for an extended period of time. It is some sort of social experiment that examines the behaviour of the housemates when locked in the same space with a bunch of total strangers.
Unlike movies, reality shows are unscripted and spontaneous, and usually project the true characters of the contestants.
From Ozo’s affection for Nengi to Erica’s verbal assault on Laycon (which eventually led to her disqualification), BB Naija captures a wide range of emotions- love, anger, betrayal, jealousy and many more. The show cuts across different age grades and social classes.
The advent of social media has also contributed significantly to the success of BB Naija. Fan accounts furiously campaign for votes, some even engage in bitter war of words with rival fans. It can be ugly and messy at times, but it is also intense and exciting.
Even if you aren’t too keen on the show, you couldn’t help but notice the BB Naija trends on social media.
The 2020 edition created many talking points, but the major storyline was Laycon’s Cinderella-esque rise to grace.
When the contestants were first introduced in July, not many gave Laycon a chance against supposedly superior candidates. Some viewers even suggested that he was out of place in the Big Brother house.
However, the unassuming 26-year-old soon defied his slight physique to become a major force in the game.
Laycon quickly won over voters with his intelligence, talent and humility, and was a unanimous victor in the end. It is stories like this that make Big Brother Naija resonate with Nigerian fans. Regardless of their social status, viewers can easily relate and connect with the different characters in the show.
Other major attractions include the huge prizes on offer, which naturally appeal to Nigeria’s large youth population. Many young people aspire to get into the Big Brother House as they see it as a quick way of getting rich and famous. It was reported that over 30,000 people applied to be part of the 2020 edition.
This year’s overall prize money is estimated at 85 million naira, and with big brands like bet9ja and Betway continually financing the show, that figure looks set to keep heading north.
Big Brother Naija is only going to get bigger and better.
