Crazy Dramas Or Sexual Content: What Actually Drives BBNaija?

By Fatima Idakwo,

Big Brother Naija Season 9 (No Loose Guard) has just wrapped up and the ‘married gang’ who are overwhelmed with joy have flooded social media to show how proud they are for making a champion of their favorite housemate, Kellyrae.

Amidst the excitement, a good number of individuals, particularly the fanbase of the second runner up, Wanni have expressed their disappointment in the results. They have accused the show organizers of rewarding undeserving and ‘boring’ housemates with the title of winner.

For them, the recently crowned winner, Kellyrae provided viewers with no juicy content that was worthwhile. This of course, is the opposite of their favorite housemate, Wanni who was constantly involved in one drama or another while also suffocating ship lovers with romantic moments all thanks to her relationship entanglement in the house. These baseline arguments therefore trigger questions that have to do with the aspect of BBNaija people derive the most pleasure from.

Big Brother Naija was originally created as a show which brought people together under one roof to compete for a grand prize. The idea behind the show was to keep contestants locked inside a house for a duration of time to see who would persevere and cross the finish line. This was achieved by testing the strengths of housemates both in the house through games and outside the house through fanbases. Even though the show was enjoyable as it was, two new elements – dramatic conflicts and romantic entanglement came into the mix and influenced the audience’s viewing behavior.

The love for heated exchanges can be traced back to the beginning of the show when certain hot tempered housemates were brought together by fate, and the show of course. Their hot temperedness triggered constant fights which provided viewers with an enjoyable watching experience and a craving for more. Clashes in the first few seasons of the show weren’t premeditated and came naturally as a result of disagreement however, in a twist of events, viewers began developing a love for the clashes and it slowly defined the show and also helped curate a significant number of viewership.

During the final weeks of season 9, an evicted housemate, Ruthtee revealed via X that herself and two other evicted housemates, Dami and Chinwe, who had reentered the house were sent on a mission by Big Brother to spice up the game and bring those boring the show to life. For this mission, DRC chose to pick fights with some selected housemates in order to get a fierce reaction from them – and they did.

Ruthee claimed that this mission helped in increasing the viewership of the program and even encouraged people to renew their subscription. Her revelation therefore hints at the importance of drama in maintaining the viewership of the program.

Asides from the lovers of drama, there are also the category of people who have developed a love for the show because of the romantic situationship dynamics that accompanies it. These individuals remain glued to their screens in order to catch every cute moment of their favorite ‘ship’ in the house. For these people, public display of affection was entertainment and without it, the show would only be bland.

The shallow trending conversations about BBNaija proves that this year’s show failed to gather many invested audience members as it did with preceding seasons. Although the lack of interest and decrease in subscription number can be easily tied to the current economic conditions, the fact that there was a lack of ample dramatic confrontations or romantic relationships in the house cannot be overlooked.

Housemates of previous seasons have set a bar for dramatic and sexual content. Therefore the sustainability of the show might be challenged if the organizers have no means of providing viewers with the much needed gratification.

Similarly, with the performance of each new season, the viability of the show is put to test thus, regardless of whether it is drama or sexual contents that encourages viewing, organizers must find new ways of revamping the show rather than trying to emulate past seasons.

Fatima Idakwo is an intern at PR Nigeria and can be reached via: [email protected].