Rwanda's aspiring Big Brother Africa housemates finally have something to smile about, as reports emerge that they might finally take part in Africa's most watched television reality show.
Rwanda's aspiring Big Brother Africa housemates finally have something to smile about, as reports emerge that they might finally take part in Africa’s most watched television reality show.
Reliable sources have confirmed to this paper that for the first time Rwanda would be represented in the ninth edition of the show.
The development comes three weeks after Rwanda had been dropped because there was not sufficient time to procure travel documents for the participants.
Budding singer Diana Teta.
Although the organisers M-Net AfricaMagic have not issued any official communication about the issue, the Minister for Culture and Sports, Joseph Habineza has confirmed that the issue of the visas has been solved and Rwanda’s lucky representatives would be traveling to South Africa anytime soon.
"We had welcomed the news for Rwanda’s participation in the Big Brother show. Although, BBA is a private competition, we are confident that our representatives would use the show as a platform to showcase Rwanda’s rich culture,” Habineza said.
Arthur Nkusi
On July 9, hundreds of Rwanda’s youth converged at Lemigo Hotel to audition for the competition. After successful auditions that took place in Kigali and South Africa, Rwanda was expected to replace Angola in the BBA 9.
A few weeks later, AfricaMagic and series producers Endemol SA released a statement, saying that Rwanda and Sierra Leone would no longer be part of the countries participating in this year’s edition of Big Brother Africa that was supposed to launch on September 7.
Singer Ciney
But following the devastating fire that gutted the BBA home on September 2, the organisers pushed the launch to October5, and will feature 28 participants from 14 different countries, with two housemates from each country.
Rwanda’s BBA 9 hopefuls declined to comment on the issue, while the DSTV Rwanda office referred us to their head office in South Africa.
Contestants who are said to have the best chances of being in the house include Canadian-based musician/model Frank Joe, comedian Arthur Nkusi, singers Diana Teta and Ciney.
The participating countries will include Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The show will run live for 91 days, 24/7 on Dstv channels 197 and 198, ending with the series finale on December 7, 2014.
entertainment@newtimes.co.rw