Ricco Wins M-Net’s BBA3
Posted To The
Web: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 - By Akinkunmi Farinto
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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.”
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