As the East African region braces for the premiere of ‘Godfather East Africa’ on March 1, Rwanda held its first auditions on Tuesday at the Kimihurura based Envy Club. 18 contenders, including celebrities like Phil Peter, Mr. Africa - Jay Rwanda, Sandra Teta, Vanessa Uwase and models Gigi and Cissy Ngamije, auditioned.

The results of the auditions were not immediately announced, but 10 will be chosen for the next round of auditions in the first week of February and only three will make it to the house.

Organisers of the reality show revealed that contrary to Big Brother Africa, Godfather East Africa aims at promoting the image and traditions of the East African people.

"We have had Big Brother Niger and Big Brother South Africa and so it was high time that East Africans also had their reality show. Many East African contestants that participated in Big Brother, however, have not been perceived well due to notorious behavior while in the house.

"For this reason, we decided that we will keep some of the scenes censored for the sake of our audience that will be rated 16. And it is the reason we changed the name to ‘Godfather’ instead of ‘Big Brother’,” Sir Allan Kaweireku, the Project Head and Producer of the reality show noted during the auditions.

He added that just like ‘Big Brother,’ contestants will have little or no privacy in the house. The house will extensively be equipped with video cameras and audio recording devices which will record, broadcast and exhibit their actions and voices at all times 24 hours a day, seven days a week in every room for the duration of the show.

Under the theme ‘Natural Faces’, the reality show, will have contestants from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

According to the organisers, Burundi and South Sudan will join next year.

‘Godfather East Africa’ will last for a period of three months. The winner will walk away with KES 2,500,000 (about Rwf20m) and a holiday trip.

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