The popular reality TV show, Big Brother Naija Lockdown Reunion, kicked off on Thursday, June 17, 2021. So far, there have been different issues addressed in each episode. The square-shaped situationship of Nengi, Ozo, Dorathy, and Prince dominated the second day, Prince, Tolani Baj and Vee dominated the third day, Brighto’s triangle versus Praise and Ka3na’s ‘aggressive cuddling’ dominated the fourth day.
It has been entertaining to watch fans see the different sides of their favourite housemates. Most of them have changed dramatically from how they were in the house. Tolani seems more violent, Prince’s hairline is suddenly back, Trickytee let go of the bandana, Ka3na now has a VPN accent, Dorathy seems to have switched from her known calm self, Lucy seems calmer somehow. Truths (or lies?) have been thrown out in full view, and I am taken aback by the ridiculousness of it all.
First things first, I would like to say on behalf of all Big Brother Naija viewers that these housemates are embarrassing themselves. Ka3na, with her ridiculous VPN-meets-abule accent, seems to know a lot about the housemates for someone who was only in the house for less than 3 weeks. I’m not even sure the director of the show himself, Gbenga Kayode, knows most of all the things she is talking about. At first, she said Ozo approached her in her hotel room and asked for her help to make Nengi jealous, then she has a viewpoint on almost every relationship in the house. Maybe Ka3na has made up her own show in her head.
My attention was drawn to the ridiculous manner in which some of the female housemates have portrayed themselves, case in point, Wathoni, Tbaj, Dorathy and Ka3na. It’s like there’s a ‘bad bitch’ fever going around and everyone wants to catch it by force. Dorathy got very upset with Wathoni about some comments she made about her relationship with Ozo. Her reaction sparked the very famous words ‘It’s the audacity for me’. I’ll be honest, while it can be exciting to witness this side of Dorathy, this reunion feels a bit over the top to me, and I’m led to believe that these Big Brother Naija housemates are on a quest for a last moment of fame.
There have been some revelations rebutted by denials, and in all of these, there is a pattern of he said she said. Ka3na in episode 2 claimed that Ozo approached her for her help to make Nengi jealous, Ozo however denied this. Then in episode 5, Kaisha claimed that Neo told her to kiss him at a Saturday night party and also told her that if it wasn’t because he was with Vee, he would have chosen her. Ka3na and Praise also can’t seem to agree on the story of their ‘aggressive cuddling’ These stories have some deeply alarming elements: who is telling the truth and who is lying?
Let me just say that there were some cringeworthy moments. Like come on Tolani, a bad bitch does not need to repeat over and over that she is indeed a bad bitch. A bad bitch can be classy with a touch of razz. But everything I saw on Monday was all razz. Now Tolani has been known to cause a little bit of commotion in the house, there was a moment where she fought with Ka3na but Monday was far too cringe for me. This back and forth is so exhausting. The theme of this reunion should have been embarrassment because there is no other name for what is going on here.
On day 5 of the reunion, there was a back and forth between Tochi and Wathoni. Kiddwaya told Tochi that Wathoni was an easy catch. This seemed to upset Wathoni so much that she started mocking him for ‘not getting her’ even though the young man claims he never made a pass at her. This segment of the show just dragged on and on until my little sister, who was watching the show with me, fell asleep. Wathoni seems to be putting on this display of a lady that shouldn’t be messed with. There’s a pattern here. The ladies are putting on a stunning display of ferocity resulting from either a year of growth or their feeble attempts to impress the audience.
The Kiddwaya, Laycon and Erica triangle is yet to be addressed. Erica will be joining the reunion this week and I’m very interested in seeing how the triangle plays out on screen.
This Big Brother Naija reunion has been exciting, I’ll give it that. However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that the housemates seem to have deviated from their known characters to characters that feel like they have something to prove. The question is, who are they trying to prove to; their fans or themselves?