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"DEAR Auntie Helen,' wrote in a female reader, ‘What do you think of the performance of the girls or ladies who took part in the Big Brother Nigeria Reality show?  I know you're not a psychologist, but don't you think that they could have been more serious about what they were there for? However, I'm glad that Katung won  the money, but I would have liked a lady to win because I rather liked all of them. How can three of them make it to the end and then a man won?  What do you  think marred their chances? Please assess their performance for me so I can see if we were thinking along the same lines. That is, if you were able to watch enough of  the show to be able to do so.  I watched most of it, at least as much as NEPA permitted, at home and at work, when I could.  Thanks, auntie.'

I must congratulate all the house-mates for having the courage to stay in there, ‘imprisoned' along with people they didn't choose, until their fellow house-mates and  the public flung them out. Thank God that they each came away with a prize, apart from the exposure and experience gained in the house.

Each one of them was a potential winner, if they had played their cards well and God cooperated with them.  The reader asked how the ladies fared and I'll assess  them on what I saw and observed, even though I wasn't privileged to watch them 24 hours a day for the duration. All in all, I think all of them, except perhaps Ify and  Joan (at the onset) thought they were in the House to get a boyfriend.

Missing home - Some made a beeline for the man they fancied as soon as they got there, while others waited for sometime.

ICHEMETA - To me, she is a lovely and intelligent young lady who could have stayed in the House longer than just two weeks, if she had settled in to observe and  then play the game as well as she could. We learnt the parents didn't want her to take part.  That could be why she seemed to be aloof, and was watching from the  fringe and it was easy for the others to feel she didn't belong there and should leave.  Even Helen, her closest friend there at the time, who liked her, felt that way,  saying she thought she was missing home.

JOAN - Joan came across as an intelligent and experienced young lady who could have stayed much longer and even gone on to win the prize, but she was not as  warm, cheerful and involved there as would have made a good impact on members of the public.  Constantly shaking one leg, it was as if she was  dissatisfied with  things and  was waiting for something to happen, instead of devising ways to make  things happen and be regarded a force in the House.  The distraction in the form  of her relationship with Chinedu who wasn't the ‘darling' of the public, didn't help her cause.  The public was waiting for either of them to be put up for eviction and  they were grabbed each time and pulled out!

MAUREEN - She was always cheerful and she mingled well with the other house-mates, but was lazy about doing the chores, preferring to sit around gisting, playing  and laughing out loud.  After a while, her loud laughter got some people irritated. She made a play for Joseph, who unknown to her, had a fan club established outside  for him.  Joseph was slow in responding to her moves, and the young lady thought she should cast her net in another place.  She caught Gideon with whom she began  to have a lively and entertaining friendship. There were flashes of seriousness in her, like when she and Sandra told Helen that it was wrong of her to start flirting with  Ebuka who every house-mate knew was openly being pursued by Francisca; especially as Helen was Francisca's confidant in the matter.

Maureen really didn't make any effort to want to ensure that she stayed on in the house and won the prize.  Joseph's fan club felt she slighted him and they saw to it  that she got out. They also extended the gesture to Gideon.  It was nice to hear Gideon say on eviction that he's fond of her.

HELEN - I had a lot of hope for her as the winner, not because she's a namesake, but because of her sense of responsibility and usefulness around the place.  She  (and later with Sandra) saw to it that the foodstuffs they were given, stretched for the week, checking the excesses of the others so that they wouldn't lack.  Most of  the time, the House revolved around her and she was nicknamed ‘Mama H.'

She had the world at her feet; judging from the text messages on the bar.  Then she mucked it all up, ‘snatching' Ebuka from Francisca, and she, Sandra and Joan,  gossiping about Francisca and even running her down to her face.  The other house-mates weren't offended by this and for a while, she wasn't nominated for  eviction, but the outside world was outraged by the ‘betrayal', and were just waiting for her to be put up for eviction.  When Ebuka was chucked out by the public,  even she knew that her days were numbered in the house.  One wonders why she got involved with Ebuka, knowing the pattern that couples in the house are  chucked out one after the other, if the public got the opportunity.  I'm convinced that if she had steered clear from getting involved with any man there and remained a  friend to all, looking after them like she did at first, she would have been the winner; unless the organizers didn't want a lady to win this time around.  Funny enough,  on eviction, Ebuka said there was only an attraction between them and that who he really wanted was Maureen, but Maureen had refused him, and anyway, she had  chosen his best pal, Gideon.  That's life!

SANDRA - A pleasant lady who was truly natural, she bonded right away with Helen, as they come from the same Edo State, and she was able to settle in quickly  even though she and Katung came into the House three weeks late.  She tried her best to be everyone's friend, but joining in the gossip on ‘young Franca' got the  public against her, and she remained in the House as long as she did, only because the public was busy chucking out those they didn't want to miss as they came up  i.e. Ebuka, Helen, Joseph (to spite his fan club and for his lukewarmness in the house), and Frank.  If Big Brother had not halted eviction to allow the remaining four  remain till the end, she would have been next. I must confess I felt  embarrassed for her when she approached Joseph for a relationship and he refused!  Lord help us!  Ladies! Ladies!  She bore the disappointment well, though.

IFY - She's the ‘fine' one with a western accent which many people couldn't stomach in an African! She came across as a grand lady who wouldn't want to soil her  hands with household chores, or indulge in idle gossips.  She would float around in her finery, right through the kitchen where Helen and Sandra would be slugging it  out, preparing meals for the House!  She shunned relationship with the men, brandishing her boyfriend as the love of her life, composing him a moving love poem.  But  then, she fell for Katung, even crying or sulking at those times when he chose to shun her. She was a cat with several lives as she survived several evictions and came  third.

FRANCISCA - She was up for eviction so frequently that it was obvious the other house-mates didn't want her there. Her downfall was openly pursuing Ebuka, and  moaning aloud about his lack of interest.  At a point, she told Helen that she seriously needed a psychologist as Ebuka was an addiction for her. She pursued him so  hotly that I wondered if that was part of her strategy to win! This is because she's intelligent, young, a good dancer and a show person who has many things going for  her.  Did she really desire Ebuka that much to the extent of being shameless about it?  However, thanks to Helen who butted in, Franca became the under-dog that  the public didn't want to leave the House.  ‘Let young Franca win the money. She deserves it,' was frequent on the text bar, and against all odds, she went on to  come second!  She was a lucky number 13 in the eviction!  That teaches us that a rough beginning doesn't mean we're condemned to a rough end.  There's always  divine intervention.