By Petronella Sibeene WINDHOEK Less than a month since Multi-Choice announced the return of Big Brother Africa 2, a considerable number of entries were received from Namibians before the deadline of May 02 2007 passed. While she could not provide the exact number of applications received, corporate communications practitioner Wil-Merie Greyling said entries so far received surpassed those of the last competition. The selection team will begin short-listing and interviewing potential housemates soon. Endemol, commissioned by M-NET, has a specific selection process, which the candidates short-listed will be asked to complete in Namibia in the coming weeks. Anyone over the age of 21, who is a citizen of one of the 12 participating countries and in possession of a valid passport, was encouraged to enter. The final contestants will come from Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The show’s selection team is looking for housemates that are vocal, fluent in English, fun loving, creative, original and articulate. Entrants are expected be tolerant of views and lifestyle choices other than their own and must have the social flexibility to live in close proximity with others. The 12 different participants from all across Africa will compete for the grand prize of US$100 000 If selected, the housemates will spend 98 days with no contact with the outside world. They will share living space with 11 other housemates, monitored 24 hours daily by 27 cameras and 64 microphones. Their words and actions will be screened to audiences across Africa. Every week, housemates will perform a series of reward-based tasks, and every week from Week 3, housemates will nominate each other for eviction from the show. Once nominated, public voting and the country-based voting system used in series 1 will determine which housemates leave the show and those who remain. Ultimately, Big Brother places the outcome of the show firmly in the hands of its voting audiences, who will decide the final winner using text and online voting. In 2003, M-Net became a household name for 106 memorable days when the show first hit the screens, entertaining the entire continent and saw a 24-year-old Zambian, Cherise Makubale, picking up the prize money of US$100 000 (ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚£63 000). Twelve housemates did not only represent their countries culturally, but also brought to the house their emotions and laughter while others found themselves falling in love.