Posted by By Akinkunmi Farinto on
Sunday, 23 November, amidst cheering fans and glittering confetti, in an electric atmosphere, M-Net's Big Brother Africa 3 came to a dramatic end after 91 days, when Angolan Ricco Venancio was voted to victory by the show's fans.
Sunday, 23 November, amidst cheering fans and glittering confetti, in an electric atmosphere, M-Net's Big Brother Africa 3 came to a dramatic end after 91 days, when Angolan Ricco Venancio was voted to victory by the show's fans. In a 2-hour finale screened live across the continent, on DStv, and featuring performances by gorgeous Jamaican superstars, Brick and Lace, the 21-year-old from Luanda scooped the big prize, walking off with a hefty USD 100 000!
From the minute it began, the final of Big Brother Africa 3 looked set to provide an exciting finish to a rollercoaster drama that has kept audiences entertained and engaged for over three months. Kicking off the action was the duo of Brick and Lace, who got the party started with their hit single Never Never!
Then audiences got the chance to catch up with last week's ninth Big Brother Africa evictee, Tawana, as she headed home to Botswana for a press conference and her eviction party in Gaborone. Fans also got the opportunity to see South African housemate, Thami, head onto the dance floor at his eviction party held earlier in the month, in Johannesburg.
In addition, last night's final recapped the highlights from the series including the Big Brother Africa swap with Finland that saw Zimbabwe's Munya head off to Europe as Finnish Johan arrived in a ‘snowy' African house specially prepared for him by Big Brother.
Also featured was the memorable ‘Rubbish Dump' surprise of week three as Latoya and Tawana found themselves isolated in a rubbish dump as they waited to hear which one of them would leave the Big Brother House. Other highlights on the third season of the series included the first ever wedding in Big Brother Africa, the inclusion of older guest housemate, Richard Fondom, from Cameroon, a special United Nations-driven task to promote a greater understanding of the Millennium Development Goals, as well as a ‘fake eviction' which saw Morris and Thami return to the Big Brother Africa house just moments after leaving it.
Meanwhile, as the series drew to a close, the twelve Big Brother Africa guest presenters said their farewells to the continent whilst audiences were also treated to a last dose of ‘diary room gems'. Also included in the final was a quick whip around the continent as fans showed that support for Hazel, Munya and Ricco seemed evenly split.
Then, heading onto the Big Brother Africa stage for the very last time, were the nine previously eliminated housemates. Latoya, TK, Lucille, Mimi, Morris, Sheila, Tawana, Thami and Uti, took to the spotlight to take questions from series host, KaBelo (KB) Ngakane, about their time in the house, punctuating their answers with good humor and smiles.
However the final was all about one question…who would win Big Brother Africa 3? That question began to be answered when Zimbabwe's Munya became the tenth person evicted from the show after voting lines closed at 20:00 CAT (7pm). Then, as Brick and Lace took to the stage again, with a change of clothing and their crowd-pleasing anthem Love is Wicked, the tension began to rise.
When the time came for the winner announcement, auditing firm, Alexander Forbes, were on hand to deliver the voting results for KB to announce. The host soon revealed that the results were evenly split with Hazel and Ricco each receiving exactly 6 country votes apiece. Ricco received six votes from Angola, Ghana, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania and the Rest of Africa. Hazel also got six votes from Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.
Following the format rules of Big Brother Africa, the auditing firm then consolidated the collective percentages that Hazel and Ricco had each received. At that time, host KB crossed live back into the Big Brother Africa House to make the big announcement. Waiting a few breathless moments, KB announced that it was Ricco who was Africa's winner!
As Hazel headed outside, she was met by her mom and the cheering approval of the crowd. Then it was time for a thrilled Ricco to head outside as fans roared their support and his family, including his mother, welcomed him back into the world outside the Big Brother doors!
Commenting on the dramatic final, M-Net Channel Director, Africa, Biola Adekanbi, said, 'Big Brother Africa is all about drama, excitement and action. M-Net wishes to congratulate all the housemates on their stay in the Big Brother House, especially Ricco, as he heads back home with 100 000 reasons to celebrate. Meanwhile M-Net would like to take this opportunity to re-affirm it's commitment to creating entertaining pan-African programming and we look forward to the M-Net Face of Africa 2008 Finale, to be held next weekend.'