By Petronella Sibeene
WINDHOEK
Who is catching an early flight home? This is the million-dollar question in the heads of millions of viewers of the Big Brother Africa II following the first nominations on Monday evening.
Will it be Justice or Jeff? Namibians poured their hearts out yesterday on the nominations in the Big Brother House.
Actually, Bertha was nominated but was saved by Meryl who replaced her with Jeff based on the powers accorded to her as head of the house to pick out a person she feels should leave the house.
Many of those who spoke to New Era felt Justice could be on his way home. Many also said that the nominations from inmates in the Big Brother House, which entered its sixteenth day yesterday, were fair.
And how exactly “African” are the housemates, was another question New Era asked:
Twamona Hilukaluah: Justice should go. He always has debates that go nowhere. There is no point in keeping him in the house. The behaviour of housemates is African in a sense that they are considerate of each other.
However, I am not too sure if Namibia chose the right person to represent the country.
Julia Matsi: It has been more than a week since Big Brother Africa II started and I think Justice has not really been a team player. He does not get along with anyone in the house.
Perhaps he feels discriminated against considering his height.
The nominations were fair because when you look at Jeff, all he does is eat and he is always in the “background”.
Meryl did well to nominate Jeff. It was unfair for the housemates to have nominated Bertha but maybe it’s a strategy to get rid of her since she seems to be intelligent and stands a chance to take the money home.
Generally, I also feel that Meryl and Lerato are childish. Maybe because they are the youngest and want to show that they are funky or whatever it is they want to show to us, they know better.
As for Meryl she simply embarrassed us the first days in the house.
Anyway, it is good she has started showing some level of maturity.
Gisela Hiskia: Justice is not interesting in whatever he does. Big Brother is an entertainment programme and not a place where people should have their egos fixed. If people make fun of his height, he should turn the criticism into jokes and the game continues. He becomes sad over silly comments that other housemates make about him but there is no one in the house to start mothering this baby. Let him go home and get the pampering he is missing.
This time the Big Brother show is a bit boring when compared to the first one.
Some housemates are mature and keep to themselves. Others are intellectuals and because of that, they do not bring out characteristics that would make the show interesting.
Festus Goseb: Both nominations fit the bill because Jeff is a total introvert and doesn’t really fit in the whole set up, while Justice seems to have a very, very low self-esteem.
Critics
The Big Brother Show has brought about mixed feelings across the continent, judging from the thousands of SMSs shown on the Big Brother TV channel. In Namibia, people have also expressed their views particularly on the behaviour of the housemates.
While many regard the show as pure entertainment, others feel that the behaviour in the house is a true reflection of what Africa has become.
Renowned researcher Merab Kiremire says while the Big Brother show’s aim is to entertain, the happenings in the house show the extent to which Africa’s morals have decayed.
“The greatest demonstration of Big Brother is where we are,” she says.
Expressing her dissatisfaction over the behaviour of particularly women in the house, Kiremire, a mother who carries “six decades of values” says an African woman is today caught in a dilemma.
While they are expected to portray values of society, the behaviour of some girls in the house shows that society has entered a stage of sexual revolution.
Even if most girls and young women today view what is western as the right way to go, Kiremire says, “the women have stopped carrying the values” and yet society has not forgotten.
She said the Big Brother house is like a celebrity house where inmates want to show what happens in Hollywood.
Despite being a game, Big Brother has an impact on society and what is reflected in most inmates’ conduct shows moral erosion in society, she said.
“It is not only the US$100