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Big Brother Naija has kept Africans in a chokehold (as the Gen-Zs will say) since it returned in 2017. Drama is at the heart of the constantly increasing viewership, sponsorship, and audition numbers. However, sometimes housemates take it too far and are sent home untimely.
Even though Big Brother’s house is its own universe, Biggie always keeps a tight lid on the housemates with his rules. Some of the most popular include no violent behaviour, no aggressive behaviour, no overuse of cruel words, no destruction of Biggie’s properties, no whispering, and no provocation. Since the show’s return, it has recorded at least one disqualification yearly, except for the Shine Ya Eye season (2021), where housemates kept each other in check from start to finish.
On the 14th day of the brand new All-Stars season, Ilebaye almost secured herself a place on the ‘disqualified’ list after physically attacking Doyin and Cee-C during an argument. Granted, she was goaded and had faced criticism in the house. Still, she lost control, and her actions sparked a debate, with viewers arguing whether Biggie should disqualify her or give her two strikes. According to Keyhole insights, this led to her appearing in over 124.3K posts between August 4 and 5.
After Big Brother announced that she would receive punishment alongside CeeC, and two strikes, the conversations picked up as some disagreed with the verdict and others celebrated it. Tacha, a Pepper Dem housemate, who was disqualified on the 89th day of her season, took to social media to demand an apology from the show’s organisers, MultiChoice Nigeria, in a series of tweets. She tweeted, “Bunch of jokers. Can somebody give me another word for 419, please? If I don’t GET AN APOLOGY Before tomorrow, War go happen here.”
In 2019, Tacha was a shoo-in for becoming the show’s winner. She survived the eviction cycle for a record time – every eviction week. The radio host had 2 slogans, “No leave, no transfer” and “Till day 99”. It appeared her constant chanting was manifesting as she was almost a finalist and one of two people fans were sure would win the show. However, an altercation with her only other contender – Mercy – led to her disqualification.
Throughout the season, the serial entrepreneur was a troublemaker, pissing off Ebuka and Big Brother. Most of the housemates weren’t fans. They always put her up for eviction, but she had a strong fanbase – Titans. They kept her in the house and rejoiced when Big Brother cancelled all strikes issued to the housemates on September 16. At the time, Tacha had two strikes for hitting Joe Abdallah, disrespecting authority and fellow housemates, and undermining the show. However, two weeks later, on September 27, Tacha acted violently against Mercy during their fight twice. In the first instance, she shoved her nemesis and later pulled her hair.
Big Brother explained why he disqualified her, saying, “The BBNaija rule book clearly states in Article 18 sub-section 1 that other types of violence, including provocation, goading, bullying, and victimisation may be punished by Big Brother in any way Big Brother chooses. Tacha, Big Brother finds you guilty of breaking the house rules – of physical violence and intent to harm the moment you shoved Mercy and pulled her hair on two separate occasions. Such physical violence has no place in Big Brother’s house. You are hereby automatically disqualified.” Mercy also received two strikes for her role in the fight.
Last season in 2022, we recorded the show’s earliest disqualification as Beauty unceremoniously left the Level Up house after three strikes. She received two strikes for aggressive behaviour – Day 7 and Day 14 and the last for destroying Biggie’s microphone. The ex-housemate has accepted her faults and openly apologised to fans and organisers for her behaviour, noting that she regrets it.
She shared, “My profound apologies and gratitude go to those hurt by my actions in the house. The entire organisers of Big Brother Naija Season 7 Show. The Miss Nigeria Organization, thank you for constantly following up on me to see that I get needed help. My family & friends – for your steadfast love and support. To my new family and the best fan base, #BeeNavy, the fact that I failed you all has hurt me deeply. I have cried for days, and I truly regret my actions.”
Then there is Erica, whose disqualification stunned fans because of the series of actions that transpired hours before Big Brother asked her to leave his house. It was also one of the most rewarded disqualifications, at least by fans. She received three strikes for multiple infringements over the course of the season. She got the first one for whispering and the second for disrespecting Big Brother by flicking her middle finger at the camera.
The third one came after she hurled insults at and goaded fellow housemate Laycon for hours. She kicked her deputy HoH, Prince, out of the Head of House lounge for refusing to take her side in her dispute with Laycon and poured water on his side of the bed to prevent him from sleeping there. She also peeked into the production room – an action greatly frowned upon by Big Brother as any interaction with the production crew by the housemates is prohibited.
After her disqualification, fans created a GoFundMe for the actress that netted $65,705 by the season’s finale. The GoFundMe eventually rounded up to $72,317 when the actress received it amidst other gifts. After she left the Biggieverse, she shared, “It was a sad moment for me because I knew I had not only let myself down but an entire army and family called the Elites. The Elite League stood by me all through, all 800k of them and counting, and I couldn’t be more grateful for you all. I love you guys so much.”
In 2018, the show recorded its only double disqualification as strategic partners – Kbrule and Khloe were disqualified. According to the game’s rules at the time, whatever affected one partner (including strikes) would affect the other. Kbrule got the team their first strike when he jumped from the house’s first floor and sprained his ankle and arm. Khloe got their second strike for using “strong abusive curse words”. Kbrule scored their third strike for using “strong, threatening words, attempting to physically harm a fellow housemate, and refusing to heed Biggie’s call to the diary room.”
Khloe and Kbrule were disqualified on Day 21, and Ebuka announced that the former would return to the house on Day 56. She brought back her spice and got to play as an individual until she was evicted on Day 77 alongside Anto and Lolu. She remains one of the most controversial housemates of all time.
Kemen had one of the nastiest disqualification reasons and the only one of its kind. Big Brother caught him on tape fondling Tboss while she was asleep and without her consent. He condemned the action and automatically disqualified the housemates.
Tacha’s outcry and Erica’s “I probably would have been disqualified twice” tweet caused arguments about whether Big Brother was biased in his ruling on Ilebaye. The conversations centred on how Tacha and Ilebaye were physically violent towards two housemates. However, there are significant differences between Ilebaye’s actions and other previously disqualified housemates.
Ilebaye didn’t have preceding strikes like Erica, Beauty, Khloe and KBrule did. And while Tacha didn’t have any strikes when she was disqualified, she was violent towards the same housemate twice. This was after being aggressive to a different housemate weeks before and constantly disrespecting Ebuka, Biggie and the entire game. Since it was Biggie’s choice on what to do in that situation, as cited in the rule book, it’s unsurprising that he chose to disqualify her after multiple warnings. Kemen’s case explains itself as it was a worse crime than shoving people who are provoking you in an already volatile situation.
In every disqualification situation, one thing is clear – Big Brother is always fair. No one is ever happy to have housemates exit the show because they’ve been disqualified. Still, a show with no rules would mean anarchy. The most essential thing in this evaluation is that the punishment always fits the crime. In Ilebaye’s position, the misdeed only deserved two strikes. Befittingly, having two strikes means she’s on thin ice, and any other significant infringement will definitely mean a disqualification.
The post Revisiting BBNaija Controversies: A Look At The Biggest Disqualifications In History appeared first on Nigerian Entertainment Today.
