The eighth season of Big Brother Africa premiered Sunday night, introducing new housemates in Africa’s most popular reality show. Big Brother-The Chase, as it will be known, will have 28 housemates from across Africa, each eying and vying for the $300,000 prize.

The show began with a moment taken to remember former housemate Goldie from Nigeria. who passed away earlier this year. Also featured were performances from Mafikizolo as well as comedian Tumie Morake from South Africa. Kenya was represented by STL, who gave a crowd-thrilling performance and comedian Churchill, who alongside Tumie thrilled viewers with their insights on the two houses, Rubies and Diamonds, that the housemates now occupy. But the stars of the night were the housemates, who hailed from Zambia, Uganda, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, Angola, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ethiopia,Tanzania and of course, Kenya.

The Malawi contestants are 30 year old TV presenter and MC Fatima Nkata, who has a daughter named Brianna and Natasha Tonthola. The pair, which is going to compete with other pairs drawn from 14 African countries for the $300 000 (about K102 million) cash prize, was visibly in a jovial mood in an interview with show host IK.

Both of Malawi’s representatives have kids, with Fatima describing it as one of her major achievements.

“There is absolutely no feeling in the world that can top bringing another human into the world,” she says.

Speaking during the screening of the launch of the 8^th season in Lilongwe, Multichoce Malawi marketing manager Chimwemwe Nyirenda said he was hopeful that Malawi would win this year’s competition.

Each of the 14 participating African countries has two representatives, bringing the total number of contestants to 28.

To vote for our Malawian representatives, log on to http://bigbrotherafrica.dstv.com/vote/