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14.09.2009 General News

Ghana treated unfairly in Big Brother Africa Revolution

By Ameyaw Debrah - ameyawdebrah.com
Ghana treated unfairly in Big Brother Africa Revolution
14.09.2009 LISTEN

I was starting to enjoy the exciting twists in the Big Brother Africa Revolution but after seeing the elimination of Ras Wayo and no introduction of a Ghanaian female housemate, I think the concept of the revolution was not fully thought through and rather unfortunate.

Some of the twists are pointless to the core: why are there more housemates from certain countries than others when in fact the idea of having a continental show was to bring the various countries together. With the introduction of 12 female housemates into the house on Sunday, there are now 4 Nigerians, 2 Kenyans and other multiple entries for some other countries while Ghana has no rep at the moment. Is this all in the interest of exciting viewership? Or are some countries better represented in the house because M-net/DStv stands to gain more from those countries?

One funny thing is that Big Brother has allowed 'voting conspiracy' this season and most likely alliances are going to be formed along nationalities. This would most likely create a lot of antagonism among housemates and yet M-net came out boldly to say that they changed the voting rules this year so people would vote to save their favourite instead of voting out their least favourite to promote 'positivity' instead of negativity.

In a surprise announcement, Ghana's representative, Ras Wayo became the second Housemate to leave the BBA House during the show's first Eviction Show. Wayoe entered the stage to a crowd chanting his name to a Reggae tune. He told IK, the host, that he was not surprised to have left the House and does not think his Rastafarian way of life played a part in viewers not voting for him.

Well Ghanaians aren't surprised either because his Jamaican patois became an issue immediately when he was introduced into the house. So why was Ras Wayo chosen to represent Ghana in the first place? M-net and the producers of the show chose someone whom in their view would over the best entertainment value for viewers from all participating countries. What made Wayoe the best candidate for Ghana when the whole of Africa thought otherwise only in the first week of the show? Could individual countries choose their own reps instead of having the producers force representatives on them?

M-net must understand that even though the Big Brother Africa concept is hugely to provide entertainment for Africa, for some of us, it is an issue of national pride and as I Ghanaian I am disappointed at the so-called revolution!

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