Big Brother calls on pairs to enter

ScreenAfrica,

Pay-TV broadcaster M-Net has announced that entrants for season seven of reality-TV franchise Big Brother Africa must double-up if they want to compete for the USD 300,000 cash prize.

According to the series producers, this means that anyone who wants to enter must partner with another person to enter as a pair. This could be a best friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, mom, dad, brother, sister, boss, husband, wife, neighbor or hairdresser, as long as it is someone the entrant is willing to spend a lot of time with.

Liberia and Sierra Leone will also have representatives in the Big Brother house for the first time, while Ethiopia bows out of the game and Mozambique will take on a new role that will be announced at a later stage.

That means that this year, if you want to enter Big Brother Africa you can do so if you and your partner are citizens from one of the following participating countries: Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Both partners must come from the same country, must be 21 years or older, must be fluent in English and must have a valid passport.

Interested persons can collect an entry form from the nearest MultiChoice office in their country anytime from 5 February, or enter by logging on to www.mnetafrica.com/bigbrother and completing an entry form online. Or download an entry form from the website, complete and email it back to bba@endemol.co.za. All online entry forms will also be available from 5 February, and the deadline for entries is 27 February 2012.

As with previous seasons, entrants are expected to be fun-loving, vocal, creative, original and articulate. In addition all entrants must the social flexibility to live in close proximity with others and must be tolerant of views and lifestyle choices other than their own.

Commenting on the surprise turn of events, M-Net Africa managing director Biola Alabi says, “We are thrilled to be offering a huge, new, USD 300,000 prize and to include two new countries who were chosen to participate based on their ongoing interest in the series and their growing DStv audiences. And while Ethiopia won’t have a housemate this year, we’ll look to include them and other non-housemate countries in other ways if the opportunity arises, as we do every season. We are and have always been proudly committed to making this a truly African show. And as for Mozambique, they will be included with a housemate – but that’s all we are saying at the moment!”

She goes on to say, “Of course, the really big news this season is that entrants must enter as pairs. In the past we’ve seen a natural and continuous cross-over between individuals and their families, their friends. So this year, we decided to include that as part of the game. It will definitely make a dramatic addition to the series so we urge people to enter and experience what will be a uniquely different Big Brother Africa!”

Produced for M-Net by Endemol South Africa, the new season of Big Brother Africa will be headline sponsored by Coca-Cola for the second consecutive year and will be screened to 47 countries across the continent, live 24/7 for 91 days on DStv channel 198. The series starts Sunday 6 May.