Y SAM PHIRI  –
LAST week, Africa had a tough time deciding on who next was to leave the Big Brother house as all the nominated housemates that included Zambia’s fine diva Cleo were somewhat well-liked.
The decision had to be made; tough or not, two people had to be shown the way out of the dramatic Big Brother house and it could only be Zimbabwe’s finest 22-year-old male model Hakeem and Malawi’s brainy diva Fatima.
For Hakeem whose romantic relationship with Zambia’s Cleo was more than palpable, the news of him being chucked out of the US$ 300,000 race did not go down so well with him, more especially that he was not nominated but merely replaced!
This is when the head of house Melvin used his prerogative to save the Ghanaian diva Sally and put the Zimbabwean’s head on the chopping board.
Times of Zambia had a chat with both evicted housemates, Hakeem and Fatima via telephone from Johannesburg South Africa on Monday afternoon and Hakeem had to say:
“Its so distressing to leave the game this early but there was less if not nothing that I could do under the circumstances because Zimbabwe had to decide to save one of us, Pokello or me as it is only one vote per country,”
Out of all the the memorable experience in the Big Brother house, Hakeem says he will miss most the love that he describes as ‘true’ between him and Cleo, while in the house. According to the Zimbabwean, he has for the first time in his life found true love fit for marriage in Cleo.
“To be honest, I love Cleo with all my heart and I would like to thank her for accepting me into her life. This relationship is destined for nothing else but marriage,” he says.
Hakeem says he will not involve himself in any relationship outside the Big Brother walls as his heart is said to be set for no one but Cleo.
He says his love for Cleo was not a game for the screen but something felt deep inside him that he would not let go.
On who he feels is smart enough to walk away with the money on the 91st day of the game, Hakeem has surprisingly sidelined his own country mate Pokello and has put his money on his love Cleo and Ethiopia’s Bimp.
“Cleo is very intelligent and very smart… she is at least one of those I can say is destined for the grand prize. If not her, my second choice would be my man Bimp,” he believes.
A visibly shaken Hakeem joined IK on stage, appearing to fight back tears when quizzed about Cleo. He promised IK that his relationship with her was genuine and that he had also bonded with Bimp inside the house.
Fatima had to fend off fellow Malawian Natasha as the latter dissolved into sobs at the announcement that her newfound friend had been evicted this week. Fatima explained to IK that she had waited too long to bond with Natasha because in pairing up with a countrymate “you automatically become a target”.
Tanzanian star Wakazi rocked the stage with a medley of his hits ‘Weekend’ and ‘Touch’ as Nigerian screen star Rita Dominic looked on from the audience. He returned after the evictions with another fusion, this time featuring ‘Sexy Lady’ and ‘Abacus’.
The Ruby housemates were victorious in this week’s Airtel Arena Showdown and Elikem caused quite a sensation when he brought Pokello and Selly across to the Ruby house at the expense of Annabel and Feza, moving them to the Diamond house.
Now, coming from the terraces of Africa, Zambia in particular, Monday’s nominations that have seen Zambia’s Cleo together with Natasha, Pokello, Sally, Annabel, and Melvin face the eviction gallows, might change the complexion of the game, especially for Zambia.
Mercy Mulimba of Lusaka has a strange opinion on the Zambian nominated housemate. Mercy believes that come Sunday, Zambia’s Cleo will be shown the way out of the game.
“Cleo made a huge mistake the moment she moved from her original Ruby house to specifically follow Hakeem in the Diamond house. That was a big blunder because now that Hakeem is out, she looks almost lost,” Mercy says.
Moses Mwape of Lusaka concurs with Mercy and says Cleo might be shown the way out this Sunday because she completely lost focus when she went into the diamond house.
“Cleo would have been focused like Sulu not for getting what she went there for after being manipulated by the Zimbabwean.
In fact, she was letting our courtly down with her worthless ‘love games’ instead of playing the Big Brother game worth $ 300,000” says Moses.
Now, facing facts, Cleo is actually standing on a very sharp knife edge looking at the possible countries that might support her.
Malawi and Zimbabwe are definitely out, as they will be saving their own candidates Pokello for Zimbabwe and the loquacious Natasha for Malawi.
Zambia would be banking on Tanzania and maybe South Africa, Botswana and Uganda for possible votes.
Now the Diamond Head of House Melvin might just survive the elimination after deciding not to use his prerogative to save his own neck from the gallows but said would leave the nominees’ list that includes him just as Big Brother initially announced it.
In short, the Nigerian on Monday night played a very clever game that might win him a number of votes from across Africa.
Now the nominated housemates for possible eviction this week are, in alphabetical order: Annabel (Kenya), Cleo (Zambia), Melvin (Nigeria), Natasha ( Malawi), Pokello ( Zimbabwe) and Sally (Ghana).
This week two of the above-nominated housemates will be shown the way out of the Big Brother house. Their chase will be coming to an end this coming Sunday. Who will it be? Vote now and save your favourite housemate.
Last week’s evictees, Bolt and Maria, seem to have been enjoying their time away from The Chase. Bolt told viewers it was awesome to be recognised in public and promised that he had never faked anything about his feelings for Betty.
Maria said she wouldn’t have changed anything about her time in The Chase and that told viewers that she would love to keep in touch with Sulu and Bassey – and of course her friend Dillish.
The Chase is now heating up as evident from what is happening in the house. Remember that you as the viewer are part of this chase. Get involved through voting. Each week voting opens immediately after Monday night’s nomination show and closes at 06:00 CAT on Sunday morning.
There are three ways to vote to keep your favourite housemate in Big Brother: The Chase – via web, SMS or mobile site. You can also win amazing prizes by voting in the process, like DStv HD PVR’s and DStv Walkas.
To vote via web or mobisite, go to the official websitewww.bigbrotherafrica.com. Log in, click ‘Vote’ and then click the appropriate button for the housemate you’d like to keep in the house.
You may vote once per hour on the website or again one per hour on the mobile site. It is that simple!
To vote via SMS, send the word VOTE, followed by the name of the housemate you would like to keep in the game, to the number 414. This applies to all networks.
SMS’s are charged at specified network tariffs in the various countries. VAS rates apply. Free minutes do not apply. Please note that you can vote 100 times by SMS per telephone number during each voting period.
Big Brother: The Chase fans can catch all the latest news, video, and all-important voting information at www. bigbrotherafrica.com.
Stay tuned to DStv channels 197 and 198 for all the Big Brother: The Chase action 24/7, or catch the daily shows on AfricaMagic Entertainment at 20:00 CAT, Tuesday-Friday with highlights of the week on Saturday at 20:00 CAT and tuned to Radio Power FM for updates.
Now Times of Zamia would love to publish your opinion on this dramatic Chase and the housemates so far. Email your opinion and observations on this year’s Big Brother The Chase to samphiri77@gmail.com
THE CHASE IS SURELY ON!!!!