Big Brother:Real reasons Melvin, Beverly lost to Namibia’s Dillish

 
It is no longer news that pretty Namibian celebrity Dillish Matthews floored two Nigerian finalists, Melvin Oduah and Beverly Osu to emerge victorious at the recently concluded Big Brother: The Chase, in Johannesburg, South Africa, after 91 days in the house.

But what many Nigerians are yet to fathom is how Dillish was able to clinch the coveted prize money, ahead of Melvin, the show’s clear favourite.

In the words of the organizers, she surprisingly won more viewer votes than Beverly, Melvin, Elikem and Cleo in the final week; to scoop the USD300 000 prize and thus became the third woman to win a season of Big Brother Africa.

After emerging victorious, dazed and delectable Dillish tearful walked out of the house and moved straight to the beautiful stage, where she was greeted by her four fellow finalists.

 Steven, her very proud man, who was invited on stage by the zany host, IK, hugged and kissed his queen before crowning her with a tiara amid applause from guests at the capacity-filled Sasani Studios.

“Dillish, it’s official, you’re rich!” proclaimed Big Brother Africa host IK as fireworks and streamers signaled the end of 91 days of drama and intrigue.

The breath-taking two-hour  grand finale, which was screened live on Africa Magic Entertainment and Channel 197 and 198 on DStv, kept viewers enthralled and amazed, with some of the continent’s hottest entertainers lighting up the stage as the tension built.

IK, who kicked off the show with a spectacular dance routine of his own, delivered the eviction news to Beverly and Melvin from the stage, before heading into the house to evict Elikem. He left Dillish and Cleo in the house to ponder their fates, before finally delivering the stunning news that Cleo was the final housemate to be evicted from The Chase - meaning that Dillish had won season eight of Africa’s biggest reality show.

All the evicted housemates from throughout the season were on hand to wish the Namibian well, having been introduced to the crowd in pairs, earlier in the evening.

Meanwhile, throughout the spectacular show, viewers had been treated to inserts about the romances in the house, the housemates’ original auditions, the introduction of the fake Emerald housemates and individual highlights of The Chase.

New Media specialist Boity Thulo joined IK on stage to remind viewers that they could relive all the magic of The Chase by visiting www.bigbrotherafrica.com to watch all the video highlights, from day 1 to 91. She also announced the winner of the ‘Most Romantic Gesture’ – Elikem, for making breakfast in bed for Pokello. He won an amazing holiday package: a five-night all-expenses-paid trip for two, to the Sarova White Sands Hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, two return tickets from RwandAir and some spending money – all valued at USD10 000. He made no bones about the fact that he’d be taking Pokello along as his ‘plus one’!

Interestingly, the stage was graced by some of the continents hottest performing artistes throughout the show, with Nigeria’s Ice Prince wowing with “Aboki”, Ghanaian duo of R2Bees rocking with “Life (Walahi)” and Ugandan rap superstar Keko dominating with “See Ya”. There was even time for evicted housemate Sulu to make a cameo with the mic, performing “Ruby Ruby”, featuring Salma. South African DJ Ganyani played out the show as the after party continued at Kong nite club.

Big Brother: The Chase was headline sponsored by Airtel and produced by Endemol South Africa.

Speaking at the post event international press conference, visibly excited but relaxed Dillish said: “I had only given myself three weeks on the show, but I made it through to the end and I’m truly shocked… It is going to take a while for me to have it sink in and adapt to the outside. I’m just going to start by partying a bit, and I’ll take it from there.”

When prodded further on how she would spend the prize money, Dillish further reminded all what she said at the beginning of the chase. “I want to use part of the money to buy a good house for my siblings and I. And also enjoy part of it with them. I said that at the beginning of the show and now that I have won, I still want to fulfill that promise.”

On whether she would share part of the money with Maria, her evicted pair and fellow citizen, she said an emphatic no. “It’s my money and I won’t share it with anybody, not even Maria,” she warns amid laughter.

Also speaking at the press parley, the very charming, articulate and cerebral boss of Multi Choice, Mrs. Biola Alabi thanked all those that assisted in making the reality show a huge success. She was particularly grateful and thankful to Airtel and Endemol for sponsoring and packaging the show, respectively.

Ever smiling Alabi had this to say on Dillish: “I want to congratulate Dillish for winning and I thank her for carrying herself gracefully throughout the three months…”