Rather than invest our energies on how to ban it, should we not develop our own home-grown reality show where most of the money gained would remain in Nigeria. The youth are looking at the N85 million the winner gets… Did I say develop our own show? Of course I am beginning to dream and almost forget that clear thinking is an insult in hypocritical societies.
This week, I am indulging myself and venturing into the strange world of reality television. As we all know, once again, Big Brother Naija is the most exciting thing happening for the Nigerian youth today. I first got curious about it when, in February, I saw a video that had gone viral about a “normal”, , respectable church-going lady declaring her love to be on Big Brother – she did not fit the profile in my head.
The God-fearing girl I was referring to was interviewed on Legit TV during the Big Brother Naija audition in February this year and the video went viral. She describes herself as a female worker with the Redeemed Christian Church of God and she expressed her hope to be a contestant in the show.
The issue of sex is of course the key objection to the whole show, as everyone knows that they have sex on Big Brother Naija, on television in front of the whole continent. SCANDAL! Precisely because of this, there are loud demands to ban the show in Nigeria. Can it be banned? Of course, yes. What impact will the ban have – none at all, because in anticipating the ban, the show is streamed live on the Internet and millions of Nigerian youth follow it directly on their website.
I then decided to watch the show myself – three people were chatting about nothing interesting; after a few minutes, I was bored to death and changed to CNN to watch the gory stories of death, diplomacy and COVID-19 affecting the world. I then asked my adult children why people watch such a boring show? They asked me what time I watched and I said afternoon. Wrong time, they said…