The Evil In The Big Brother Africa Reality TV show

Before many die-hard admirers of the big brother show start hating me for the headline of my article, let me clarify that the “evil” I mean here is in the sense of morally objectionable behavior, as defined by Wordweb pro, an internet word definition software. Please, even if writing on the big brother Africa show's moral aspects is becoming redundant, let me still make the point.

It's been close to a decade today since a reality television show known as Big Brother Africa hit the airwaves of DSTV-exclusive television channels notably Mnet and channel 198 in South Africa. The show which initially brought together participants from fourteen African countries (excluding Cameroon and other French speaking African countries), will witness the presence of new entrants this 2012.

It is a show that has gained a lot of admiration from all corners of the continent by both the old and the young. The show, it is believed, is meant to entertain with certain limits, and as well portray the possibility of peaceful co-existence by persons of different nationalities, sex, opinion and backgrounds, for a long period of time.

Within a period of 91 days, that is three months, the various actors in the show, known simply as Housemates who live in luxurious apartments, get evicted as fans who watch the show vote. The last person to remain in the house automatically wins a staggering prize. Last season, USD 400.000 was won by two housemates and this year, we hear it will be USD 300.000

Over the years though, the show which was supposed to present to the world the richness of the African way of life, has suddenly come under constant criticism from pundits, moralists and those who hold dear the African reality and identity. Despite the fact that the game is rated 18 (that is, not to be watched by persons younger than 18), strong debates have risen about the morality aspects of the show and the values portrayed by its actors which include excess smoking, alcoholism, sexual promiscuity, idleness, wasteful feeding habits, gluttony just to mention a few. A Nigerian screenwriter and film producer Bolanle Aduwo once said this of the Big Brother show; “I've never been a fan of the Big Brother reality shows. I find them boring and totally pointless…what's there to enjoy watching a group of people sitting around, talking, eating, drinking and sleeping? Some might say is the Shower Hour silly? But then I'm a girl, so why should I get turned on watching a group of women have their bath every morning? Some of the things that take place in the house only go to reiterate my opinion that the show should be scrapped”.

What the Housemates do in the house especially the female, is more or less a slap in the face of African dignity. It is indeed shameful that girls, who should bear the flag of sacredness for African woman hood, instead drink, smoke, get drunk and strip themselves almost nude in front of live television cameras when maybe, even the youngest child in some corner of the continent is watching, all in the name of fun. Most often, the Housemates get crazily drunk and engage in acts better suited only for a pornographic movie.

Their wasteful feeding habits and gluttonous attitudes are quite far from being African. A conscientious African doesn't waste food because he is aware there's someone somewhere who hasn't enough to eat. Their living conditions are exceptionally luxurious. In fact, the extravaganza that exists in the game sharply contrasts the reality of African life. Many observers have raised questions about what they have described as the misplacement of priority in the use of the wealth of the organizers of the so called Big Brother Africa TV reality show which has now become more of drama. They find it hard to understand why such gargantuan sums of money should be spent on affording cartons of drinks, bags of food, packets of cigarettes and on luxuriously equipping the apartments of the Housemates including the media production aspect, whereas several African children who are dying every minute of malaria and other preventable diseases as well as orphans and hungry children on the continent cannot be assisted with those millions.

It is expected that all what should transpire in the Big Brother house should be what can transmit a positive value to those watching the game, but contrarily, the vices that unfold there in, are really a call for concern. The obscene and vulgar conversations, the gossip, the quarrels, the arrogance, the hypocritical nature of some of the Housemates and in some instances the fights, have all stirred up questions about the essence of the game.

Each season of the show goes with a different label. In 2009, it was Big Brother Revolution, the following year's edition was called “All Stars” and last year, it was the Big Brother Amplified version. I was tempted to ask what they were amplifying in there. This time around, it is “Double up” where we learn one can double up with his girl friend, boy friend, mother, grandmother, aunty etc.

With this new rule, the worst may be yet to come as my friend, Namibian journalist Clemence Tashaya wrote in an article. This is what the article said in part “…Judging by this new rule, as an Entertainment journalist in Namibia here I can foresee that the worst is yet to come in Big Brother Season 7. Can you imagine your wife or your mother dressing in front of the big cameras or taking a shower with other housemates? That will be completely against our African values and surely unAfrican. Quite honestly, I don't think the producers of this much- talked about and viewed show, Endemol South Africa, are serious about this unless of course this is a confirmation of what we have been writing about and saying all along that they have run out of ideas.”

We see Housemates in the Big Brother game with exaggerated tattooed bodies, nose and tongue rings for girls, ear clips and shabby hair styles for the men, anklets and several other things which African parents consider almost a taboo for their children. Most of them want to speak rap like the Americans and Europeans, a fact that only goes a long way to highlight how we seem to be quickly emulating western culture at the expense of our rich African heritage. The most intriguing thing of all is that some of the contestants in the game are parents who have their children watching their every move in the Big Brother house, be it good or bad. Conscious of this fact, one of the Housemates of last year, Confidence from Ghana for example in one of her chat sessions with the invisible Big Brother, asked her children, man and other relatives to pardon her crazy attitude in the show.

But however, despite the several misdoings by Housemates in the Big Brother show, a few positive things take place in it. Although the idea of co-existence between Housemates is almost derailing, fans of the show sometimes still find the them sitting and chatting away in a friendly atmosphere. At times in the course of such chats, good and useful ideas are exchanged between them. The fact that some of the Housemates who misbehave to the extent of getting into a fight are punished by Big Brother goes to demonstrate one of man's principles that virtue should be rewarded and vice punished. Big Brother from time to time, presents the Housemates with tasks that most often help them develop certain skills such as painting, design, carving etc.

By and large, despite the above virtues that exist in the Big Brother Africa reality TV show, most of the daily actions of the actors do not carry with them values that are worth emulating especially at a time when Africa is struggling to shrug off certain obnoxious practices it has been noted for. In order to maintain the African pride, organizers of the TV show must endeavour to revise certain of its aspects so as to give it a more decent and appreciable image, given that those who watch the game the most are the youth who are known to be quick at copying vices than virtues. It shouldn't just be to play the game, win and get rich.

By Macdonald Ayang Okumb
Buea, south west Cameroon