I stopped myself from forming an opinion on the reality… I was about to say TV show but I’m not sure what it is so let us just call it a reality show for now till I find out.
Any-ha!
The whole thing has been plagued with a lot of misinformation and speculation; reason why I decided to wait until at least the official launching before I say what I think of it. For a start, it was once again another window for us to see just how many people are flocking into the entertainment industry almost as if to seek refuge, but that is a story for another day.
I see a lot of pleas online for critics to curve the standards of grading and go easy on the organizers and give them some slack for novelty’s sake. Well, I’ll give them credit for going against the big fish but let the fish kill them and not the water. We have all talked about a Big Brother Cameroon. I am sure many people have thought about organizing it. They just did it first.
According to the Director, Fred Keyanti, the concept started under the name Big Brother Ndop. It is an initiative born out of the Anglophone crises. Realizing that many of the indigenes of Ndop had been displaced by the crises, Big Brother Ndop was created as an activity that can keep people busy to keep them away from being drawn into participating in armed conflict.
Contestants on the first edition were given tasks to complete. I was not able to find any details on the kinds of tasks but it appears everything was done entirely via WhatsApp. The second edition, according to Fred, will be somewhat similar with weekly tasks that contestants will complete from the comfort of their homes and submit via WhatsApp every Friday to be broadcasted on Saturdays. Viewers can vote for their favorite contestants via sms. Contestants will be eliminated on a weekly basis.
I think the show has the enormous potential to give us some viral moments in entertainment. My fear from the onset has been about the presentation and branding. It went from Big Brother Ndop to Big Brother Cameroon, to Biggy237 in a period of about 6 months. There is no consistency in color themes, website is tacky, you name it. Let’s not fool around and have a nyangono of reality TV shows.
My fap shi is:- they need to get a better graphics team and content planner/manager.
“Biggy237 is a reality show powered by We Love Ndop Community group. Biggy237 is talent based initiative and uses technology to advance its mission.” - reads the about section of their Facebook page. I guess the technology here is WhatsApp so through the tasks, we will know the talent.
-Tino Foy