Ebuka, Nigeria's favourite TV personality, on BBNaija, HIS CAREER, AND THE FUTURE

HOW TO GET THE GLASS SKIN EFFECT ON YOUR FACE

BY OLAMIDE OLAREWAJU

Ebuka Obi-Uchendu exudes a powerful, unspoken simplicity. His calm self awareness is admirable. At 41, Ebuka is easily Nigeria's golden "boy" on television. He is most memorable for his tact, intelligent conversations, and, of course, his style. He is best known as the host of the reality show Big Brother Naija, which is currently airing an All Stars edition. He's also known for hosting Channels TV's long-running Rubbin' Minds talk show, which is now in its tenth year. He has received several award nominations as a brand ambassador and style connoisseur.

Obi-Uchendu, who was named Outstanding TV Presenter of the Year for his work on Rubbin' Minds, among others, began as a writer before heading to the US for his Masters of Laws with specializations in Intellectual Property. He even attempted to establish a law firm, ostensibly to help people who needed legal representation.

Obi-Uchendu himself was a reality show star; he was one of 14 housemates on the first season of the popular reality show Big Brother Naija in 2006, finishing in eighth place.

Ebuka's most notable role as the TV host for Big Brother Naija, a successful franchise in over fifty (50) countries with Nigeria consistently leading, has not been without drama online. He and, in some cases, his partner are constantly "dragged" online, sometimes for reasons over which he has no control, but the live show he prepares for days must go on.

Ebuka spoke about his big break, hosting Big Brother Naija, his preparation, which provided him with the opportunity, his career path, and everything in between...

You have a law degree and a master's degree, then you went for a reality TV show, and then you became an award winning TV host... Did you set out thinking, "This is what I want to do?" After studying law, attending law school, and earning a master's degree in law?

I finished with my law degree, went to law school, and worked for a few months as a lawyer, practicing, but the money was just not working for me. It didn't also help that I only studied law because I wanted a degree that didn't have anything to do with mathematics. I was just avoiding that, and law seemed like it had that prestige without math, so I wasn't particularly passionate about it. The salary was not making sense, and I saw an audition for Big Brother in 2006, but it wasn't something I was cut out for because anybody who knew me then knew I was very shy, quiet, and reclusive, but it was a hundred thousand dollars there, and I said, okay, maybe if I go for this, I can win the money and move to America and start a life. That was actually my plan because back then, unlike now, you didn't have people going to reality shows to be stars; the entertainment industry wasn't built that way, which is why for my season you had people who were regular people, pilots, bankers, just random people coming on the show themselves and going back to their lives.

Of course, I went on the show and didn't win. I didn't even get to the finals, but while doing it on the show itself, there were a few tasks that we did, and on two occasions, I hosted plays as the narrator. So when I came out, people told me, “You have a great voice”, “You have a nice baritone”, and You also look good. Why don't you try this TV thing? I was like, “Nah, definitely not my thing. I can't imagine standing in front of people, in front of a camera to do this. What I wanted to do was write, which was what I'd always liked doing. Before even going on TV for that, I'd always sent in articles to random newspapers. Once in a while, it would get published. So I went to the This Day office, interestingly, and applied, and I got a gig. I wrote for This Day for four years. But while I was doing that, the pay was also not great. But it was now even worse because I'm famous and broke. And that's a combination nobody ever really wants. And I kept saying, Okay, maybe I should try this audition thing and see how it works out. And I just started going for

TV auditions. And a few months later, I got a gig on NTA, which nobody watches.

I hosted a game show called Friend or Foe in November 2006. That was my very first foray into TV. I always say that I feel bad for the producers of that show because I was a total mess. I had no idea what I was doing, but they helped me and guided me. And that was where all of this started. But as I was doing that, for some reason now, the law thing kept pulling me ‘maybe you should do something. Are you going to just study this thing and drop it?’ And then that was the time when we didn't have all the streaming platforms for music, TV, and all of that. Piracy was at its peak. You had musicians who would release albums, and Alaba would just completely take over. So after three to four years, in 2010, I packed up and moved to America to get a master's degree in intellectual property and entertainment law because I had this bright idea that I would come back and save the industry. But when I left, I would say that year became the most pivotal year for presenting in Nigeria. You had all these new radio stations that opened—Beat FM—that brought in all these international OAPs. Africa Magic evolved so that they're having all these shows like 53 Extra; you had Eku Edewor, Dolapo Oni, and Toolz, and I was away. I was just like, Why the hell did I leave this place? The industry has completely transformed. By the time I came back, nobody knew me again. I literally had to build from the ground up, I tried to set up the law firm. It wasn't particularly working. Most people in entertainment at the time didn't see the need for lawyers. They were like, “Abeg, I can sign my contracts myself”. So it almost looked like I made a bad call. And I just said, “Okay, let me try this TV thing again while I'm trying to see if this law thing comes back up”. And in January 2013, after being unemployed for over a year, I got the hosting gig for Rubbin Minds on Channels TV. And that's where it all started. I got on the spot on EbonyLife, and things just sort of evolved from there. Yeah, so that's how it happened.

You were one of 14 housemates on the first season of the popular reality show Big Brother Naija in 2006, finishing in eighth place. Was that a plan to step into the limelight? Not at all. It wasn't in the plan. I mean, there had been Big Brother Africa before that. I had never had a Big Brother Nigeria. So I kind of knew people were going to watch, but I also didn't know how well it was going to do because there had never been a Nigerian version. So, the plan was to go in there and win the money. What it got to know was that, when you get into the show, you don't get any feedback; you don't know what's happening outside. I was honestly convinced that nobody was watching the show. So I think by my second week, I was mentally done being in there. I was just like, Why am I even wasting my time here? This thing is not worth it. Nobody's watching this. It's a big thing now, but I had no idea. So if you watch my eviction video, I think, to date, I'm probably the happiest evictee you've ever seen in history because I came out happy and smiling. Yeah. If you see the way I came out, it was like, Thank God. And then I saw the crowd. I was like, “You mean people were actually into this thing? Or “Maybe I should have gone back in”. So yeah, that was not the plan at all. The limelight thing kind of happened post the show when I realized what the show was and what it had done for me as a person.

You didn’t win Big Brother Naija, but you came out to be the most influential host of the franchise. How has the hosting of this Big Brother impacted your life and career? It's been amazing because, when I came out and eventually started hosting, it became what I fell in love with. It's one of those things where you find yourself somewhere and you are like, Wow! I didn't know I liked this. So I think by my second year of hosting, which was about 2008, I just said to myself, I'm going to host this show one day. I didn't know how it was going to happen. I didn't know if it was ever going to happen, but I just felt like this is the pinnacle of hosting on the continent, and I want to get there somehow. Of course, Big Brother Africa kept going on. IK was doing amazing work because he's really good at what he's doing. Big Brother Africa now rested, and then in 2016, I was in the States. My wife and I went to have our first child when I got a call saying, Big Brother Nigeria is coming back, and we would like to do a closed audition with you and see if you would be interested. “What do you mean by seeing if I’ll be interested?” Of course I'm in! Of course, I'm interested. (I just had a child that needs school fees.) So I came back, had a conversation with them, and got the gig. And I mean, initially, it was a lot of pressure because, I mean, there were about 40 countries watching you at the same time. There's a lot of criticism, but I think I was also prepared for it. I always say the one thing I'm always grateful for that I did before ever hosting Big Brother was Rubbin Minds. Because no matter how well you do television, if you've never done live television, you're not ready to host TV. And Rubbin Minds is live. There's no take two. There's no cut, let's take it again. And that sort of prepared me for what Big Brother is, where once you go on stage, you can't take anything back. So knowing that I could actually run this made that part of it easy for me. I think just getting over the two things that maybe we had at the start were the pressure of having a host before that people were used to and the comparison of that. And then, of course, like I said, all these countries are watching you. But I settled into it pretty quickly, I believe, and easily. And it's been one of the biggest blessings of my life because these opportunities don't come very often. I always say that in the entertainment industry, you have Nollywood, where multiple movies are being shot at once with multiple actors in them. So there are opportunities there. With music, you can sit in your house and keep putting out things, and one day you might blow. With presenting, it's very limited, especially if you want to get to the top. There are very few spaces there. So for me to have gotten that opportunity, I don't take it for granted because, like I said, how many stages are that big in Nigeria or even on the continent? So yeah, I'm very grateful it has gone the way it has. I'm very grateful for how people have understood me and what I bring to the show, whether it's with fashion, whether it's with how I put housemates on the spot, or whether it's with how I just am relaxed and charismatic on the stage.

It was very important to me to bring myself to the stage because when that conversation happens, people expect it to be somebody else. And that's one of the biggest lessons I've learned in my life as a presenter, be you, bring yourself, and that shines through easily. So I'm very grateful for it. It has taken me places and opened many doors. I work very hard for it. People don't know that. People see me on stage for an hour or an hour and a half every Sunday and think that's all it takes. I rehearse for two days before every live show, sometimes six or seven times. We run the full show six times. If it's a live show, you can't sleep. There are many sleepless nights, multiple meetings, and strategies. It takes a lot of work to bring that one hour to TV. But I'm grateful that people think I make it look easy.

This year marks 10 years of hosting Rubbing Minds. You've come a long way from the diverse debate, guests, and even the discourse. It’s also entirely different from BBN. How do you manage to juggle Ebuka of BBN with Ebuka or Rubbing Minds? In what ways has this role influenced your career?

You know, one thing that I've always had, even before ever venturing into this industry at a young age, is that I've always been very curious. I am one of those people you would say would know something about everything. I don't see a word and not try to Google the meaning or check a dictionary for what it means. I watch the news almost as much as I watch Cartoon Network because I want to know something about everything. So in my TV life, I've hosted sports, entertainment, politics, business, game shows, and reality shows. I've done it all. So I've been able to have a pulse on something about everything. And I think that's where it works for me. I'm very passionate about Nigeria. So for me, Rubbin Minds is a very easy feat, because it's mostly current affairs and what's trending at the time, with, of course, some entertainment interviews on the side. So because I'm able to sort of juggle, even in my personal life, understanding things, it's easy for me to also do that. When I'm in the Rubbin Minds space, I know this is serious; I'm wearing a suit and tie and discussing politics or national issues. And I also prepare myself. But with Big Brother, for example, I always say I see Big Brother as a performance, which is why most times I wear some of the things I wear because, for me, it's like, Okay, this is a stage to have fun. Some of the things I wear at Big Brother I would never wear anywhere else, because it's just like, Let's just have fun. So I'm able to say, Okay, let me come here and have fun, but also, you know, do serious work. But with Rubbin Minds, I know what the brief is—you know, discuss serious issues, pass the message across. It's actually been easier than most people think for me to juggle all of this. There have been times that I've had three or four TV shows on at the same time, and they're all completely different. And it works for me. When I was doing the sports on Ebony Live, it was completely relaxed conversation, almost like what we call podcasts now. But I'll go back to Rubbin Minds the next day and still do that. So I'm very grateful for, I guess, my upbringing and how curious I was, especially my dad, who made me curious, where most parents probably bought storybooks for their kids. My dad shoved newspapers in my face, you know, at a very young age, to read up on national issues. So I guess that just kept me curious and kept my mind open over time.

You’re easily the best dressed TV host around. Ebuka is synonymous with grand style, daring, dapper style, you name it! How do you come up with your looks? What inspires your unique style? Do you use a stylist?

I've always liked to dress up, but I never really took it as a thing or as a brand identity. I just like to look good. But when I was going to be on Big Brother, one of the first conversations I had with the production team was that nobody on a stage like this, and you can check back, has ever worn Nigerian attire on stage. When you have people who host all of these big shows, looking back, everybody had to wear a sort of suit. And that was sort of what it was meant to be. And I said, I want to come on this stage. I want to promote Nigerian culture. And even when I wear a suit, I want it to be fun. I don't want people to watch the show and say,Okay, the presenter did great, without also understanding what I stand for. So it was something that was intentional from the day I got on the stage on Big Brother. I was the first guy to wear an agbada on any stage like that, whatever big reality show you can think of, because it wasn't a thing before that. And people liked it. And then I started running with it. I said, let's have more fun with this. I have been in entertainment for 17 years. I've never had a stylist. I style myself every time. But there are certain designers I work very closely with. And I guess over the years, they've understood me, we understand eachother, and, we understand what we're trying to achieve. And it works perfectly. I mean, Atafo, for example, I knew him before he even became a designer, when he was still working in corporate Nigeria and doing this fashion thing on the side. I was one of those who kept saying,Mai, resign; you're really good at this thing”. So I've sort of grown with him to where he is now- this massive designer. And, you know, a few other designers that I work one on one with. So when a new season comes back, People don't know this, but before the first show of Big Brother, I already know what I'm wearing on the finale. I don't wait to say, What am I wearing next week? Before a season starts, I know everything I'm wearing throughout the season. And it's planned out that way. Because the show is so hectic that I don't want to be thinking about what to wear in between, you know, it's all done. Everyone knows what they're doing. I know what I'm wearing each day, and it's delivered that way. I guess because I've understood what works for me, I haven't necessarily needed to be styled. People have seen that because what works for me works for me. And I think because they see me in it.

There are times when I wear some things on Big Brother intentionally just to spark conversation. I've done that a few times. I say, Okay, let me just even do this one. I know it's a little outlandish, but for the most part, it's things that I just want to have fun with. Like I said, things I wouldn’t wear off the stage because it just wouldn't make sense This is the stage to have fun with it. So yeah, over time, it's just being intentional about how I look and making a statement. It started off with me wanting to make a statement about Nigerian fashion. I've done Big Brother for seven to eight seasons altogether. I've only ever worn Nigerian designers on stage. And this was at the time, at the start, when it wasn't a thing. And now it's normal.

Do people know you style yourself?

I think some people do, but I don't make it a thing, Some people who know know, but generally I don't know.

People think I get styled.

People think I have a whole team. I have my hairbrush in my bag. I rub powder on my face, and I’m out. But yeah, it takes a few weeks, sometimes months, of going back and forth. “Okay, this works”. “This colour doesn't work,” and I enjoy it. So, it works for me.

You’ve interviewed influential guests, hosted exciting shows, and more. What’s your most memorable interview and personality so far? That's very tough because I've actually sat down with a lot of very interesting people. Um, let me see. 2014 or 2015, I believe. I remember granting an interview for a magazine, and -yeah, 2014, January, I believe. And one of the questions they asked me was, “What's the one thing I'd like to achieve this year”? And I said, I hope I interview a president this year. This was in 2014. And I didn't know how it was going to happen. I mean, I wasn't doing Big Brother then. I was pretty successful on TV at the time, but I had about three TV shows on air at the time, and I just didn't know how it was going to happen. Three weeks later, I interviewed President Jonathan in Aso Rock. And it was just a very mind blowing moment for me to have that moment with the president of the country for two hours, you know, conversing. And I remember that moment a lot because I think that was one of the first times I felt like, you know, when you speak things into existence, they do happen. And it's happened to me quite a few times. And so I clocked on it, and I've always just done that.

I mean, of course I interviewed Bill Gates recently, and that hit me because I had hosted an event for the Gates Foundation in New York last year. And I think it says a lot that he noticed that I did a great job and said, I'm coming to Nigeria, and I want to sit down with you and let's talk about Nigeria. Things like that make me feel like at least I'm doing something right. But a lot of my interviews on Rubbin Mind have actually been very, very interesting for me. I remember sitting with Reminisce. I always tell this story because I like to emphasize the fact that, you know, never judge a book by its cover. Before then, I'd never met him. And I think I prejudged what he was going to give me. You know, he raps in Yoruba. I was just like, I just want to come and sit down; let's go. To this day, it's probably one of the most intellectual conversations I've ever had in my life. You know, sitting with him and seeing just how smart and eloquent and brilliant he is as a person That moment always stands out for me. I interviewed Asari Dokubo one time, and that was also a moment. And you know, when you sometimes interview some of these people who you think are larger than life, what I always find interesting is that when you go on a break and you're off air, they're like, Are they trying? They're also looking for validation, and I've had those moments a lot on TV with massive politicians and ministers. I'm like, you're also as human as everybody else is. So a lot of those moments stand out for me. I like to look back on a lot of my early Rubbin Minds interviews, whether it's Davido, Tiwa Savage, or Burna Boy, and see where they are now as one of the things they've said that have come to pass. It's just like, Okay, I guess life actually does happen. So yeah, Rubbin Minds has blessed me a lot because this has been every Sunday for 10 years now, off and on. And I've sat down with almost everybody who matters. And yeah, sometimes I forget some of them. Once in a while, I bump into them, and I'm like, Oh, I interviewed this person.

Ebuka let’s talk vanity, you are a public figure, good looking, married too... How do you deal with unwanted advances? How do you stay disciplined, as we can imagine how ladies flock around you?

You know, this thing is actually one of the easiest things for me. And I guess people are built differently. With my DMs, for example, I don't even bother. I see them. They have reduced recently. Maybe they realized this one would not answer me. But at times when it was pretty intense, I would even get pictures of things, which I would sometimes show my wife. If you've ever met me in public, I'm pleasant enough but also unapproachable enough. I don't know how to describe it, but I know how to set the boundaries, and sometimes people call that arrogance because this Ebuka does not even greet people, or he just keeps his head. But I know what it means. I always say it's a weird thing, but I always say that I have almost a morbid fear of bloggers because of the way blogging is shaped in Nigeria. Even if they are hailing me on the blog, I really don't want to be on it because the comments become a whole other thing.

All it takes is you hugging a girl innocently. I mean, I interact with people when I'm in public, but I know where to draw the line. And I don't like to give people any ideas that, you know, it also helps that I respect my wife a lot. And she has come to understand the kind of work I do. So for the most part, even if she hears or sees anything, she knows it's not that deep. But for me, over time, one of my biggest assets is the fact that I'm able to. I think it's back to what she said about self-control (I had previously told Ebuka a short story about how my late dad watched and voted-even got all three of us airtime to vote Ebuka on BBNaija and fell in love with the fact that he had self control and always told us that “young man will go very far in life”!).

I'm very big on that. It's very, very hard for me to be influenced by anything or by anybody. I've had friends around me who have done things that I've never indulged in, you know, and peer pressure hardly ever gets to me on that level. It's even harder now that I'm getting older because I feel like I've seen it, so I wasn't able to tell me now that it's going to excite me. Almost nothing excites me now at this stage in my life. I'm very grateful for the self-control that I have with everything. And it's not just about people; it's just things, you know, indulging in. You hardly see me outside. I'm not the guy who you're going to see clubbing every day or being at every concert because I also feel like those things open up doors for even more drama that I don't need. And it helps that my home is happy enough for me to be there. So I'm mostly at home. The DMs come once in a while. I see them, and I ignore them. And I just focus on what matters, which is my personal life. If you check my personal page, for example, if there are 100 posts on my social media, 95 are about work, and maybe five are about family. And it's very intentional. I don't like to bring that into that space because it's really nobody’s business. The more you put out, the more they have an opinion and have things to say. So I keep my private life very private so that when I'm there, I can wear my boxers and lie on my couch, and nobody's judging me. You know, nobody cares. What people know me for is my work, and they should see that. Once in a while, I would bring you in, but it really shouldn't be about that. So I think I've been able to find that balance, and it's worked for me so far. It doesn't work for everyone. There are people who have made careers out of being public with their private lives. It works for them, but it

just isn't what I want to be.

A few fans called for you to step down as host of the Big Brother Naija Season 5 reunion a while back, and it was all over Twitter. How did that honestly make you feel?

It happens every year, I even saw it again before the season started. But like I said, I have a huge love for the fans of Big Brother because there's a reason why it's the biggest show on the continent. It's literally because of the fans and all of the noise they make about it. But we also have a lot of fans who are very emotional. Like, when they have a housemate who they feel was hard done by the show on whatever level, who will they attack? Who's Big Brother? Nobody knows who Big Brother is. Who's MultiChoice? They just know the organization; they don't know who's in there. So who's the person to be the foreperson? It's the face of the show, which is me. So whenever there's any backlash from any housemates or fans, I bear the brunt of it. So I think that came from people being upset about how they felt about their favorites. Or that comes even every season where it's Ebuka; you people have da-da-da-da-da, so Ebuka must go. And it's fine. I know that even if I leave Big Brother today, it's not because I haven't done a good job. So when I see calls like that, I don't necessarily panic. Not because I don't think I can be removed. But mostly because I know that if I'm told to step down today, it's not because I did a bad job. It's for whatever reasons. And as long as I'm happy with the fact that I've done a good job, I'm okay with that. I love the fans. The fans are passionate. And it has made the show what it is today. And I'll never, ever take that for granted.

This year's All-Stars reunion featured contestants from previous seasons. Why didn't they pick someone from your season?

I think it's a combination of many things. Okay. First of all, I think there's also the fact that Ebuka now hosts his colleagues. Imagine if I had colleagues in the house and I told you to get out of the house. This is what I'm insinuating now. More than half of us are not even in the country anymore. People have moved on with their lives. People are married. And of course, there's also the age factor. I was one of the youngest in my season. I think there were just two people who were younger than me, if I'm not mistaken. Because I was 23 at the time. And that was 17 years ago. I had people who were already in their 30s at that time. Are you going to bring a 50-year-old guy to come? People have grown kids. People have kids who are going to university now. So it's, I guess, touch and go. I mean, there are a few people they could have called. But I guess all of that probably worked into it. And they thought, You know what? Maybe we should just let these guys rest. Yeah. So I think all of those factors factored in.

Looking at what you've built career-wise, would you say you are fulfilled? Is this the life you've dreamed of living career-wise?

I'm very grateful. Right. And I think I can't say that enough because a lot of what I'm doing,

I imagined. I didn't necessarily see how it was going to work out. So I'm very grateful for where I am. And I don't ever take that for granted. But at the same time, I think with everybody in life, as you grow in your career, you find out that there are bigger goals. And you never really achieve everything in life, unfortunately. But with every step, it's important to stay hungry. And I think that's what luckily helped me get to where I am today, where I always feel like, Why can't I do that? Why can't I be there? Why can't I be that person who's doing that? It doesn't come from a place of envy. It's just a place to challenge myself. And I continue to do that. So I feel—I don't know if fulfilled is the word—very grateful for where I am. But I also know that there's a lot to do.

I always talk about the fact that Nigerian music is gone. We see what's happening there now. It's almost like we don't even own them anymore. So it's amazing to see what's happening there. Nollywood is going now. Streaming is taking them places. All of a sudden, we're having premieres internationally. We're seeing collaborations. People in the US and Asia are tweeting about our local talents. So that's also exciting to see. We are the orphans of the entertainment industry. We presenters. We have not found out how we're going to join that train. And that's supposed to be the next goal for a lot of us to say, Okay, we are good at this thing. The world also needs to see us, celebrate us, and understand that there's a lot more to Nigeria than these great things that are happening already. So yeah, I guess figuring that out is the next goal. I don't know how it's going to happen. I don't know where it's going to come from. But yeah, I'm very, very grateful for where I am and all that I have done so far.

Online, people love you, and some people don't love you. There are days when they “drag” Ebuka and sometimes even your family. How does that make you feel? How do you deal with that?

With trolling, I guess, social media, dragging, all of that. I don't read my mentions on Twitter. I am not one of those people who says, Oh, abuse doesn't get to me. It doesn't necessarily always, but people tend to want to get to the things they know would hurt you the most. And I've seen certain things about my family that have upset me in the past, and I don't like getting to that point. So I hardly ever check my mentions on Twitter. I follow people I follow, I tweet, and I see their timeline. And you would hardly ever see me go into that aspect to see what's happening. Same with Instagram. Most times, I would respond to a few comments on Instagram, but for the most part, once I see where the conversation is going, I move on. I'm a believer in “if you don't see it, it didn't happen”. So most times I don't see it. I hear about it sometimes. People tell me, and I say, Okay, good luck to them. But I also know that it comes with the job that I do. I don't expect to be loved by everyone. If you do a job that's so public, whatever it is— politics, entertainment—you have to expect other people to disagree with you. And the culture of social media now says disagreeing comes with abuse and vitriol. It's a sad thing, but it's reality. So I can't say that nobody should hate me or say mean things to me. I know it's there, and I know it's going to happen no matter what I do. If I wear the best outfit in the world, there's going to be someone who says, What does this one think he is wearing? It's normal. So I don't take those things too seriously because, for the most part, I don't see them. So I expect it, but I just don't look at it.

With Big Brother, we have divisions. People who follow it religiously. Some people know everything going on; they are fans of different people and all of that. And we have the other side of people who don't watch it, who don't understand it, and who literally will just talk down on it. And sometimes that turns into its own conversation. But you've hosted Big Brother for a while, and you've been a housemate. And I think you've become an insider over the years. What is the point? What do you see that we can't see? What is the essence of this reality TV show? It goes back to what I said earlier, you can't expect everybody to love everything. And when a show is this humongous, I call it a monster. There are going to be people who are not going to like it. I mean, even in football, there was this thing about watching 11 grown men chase one ball. So, when you have something that popular, people are going to have their opinion about it. I understand how people feel because, you know, it's 24 hours on air. Most other territories around the world now do a one hour special every day where they do Big Brother. If you want to watch it 24 hours a day, they have a link online where you can watch it, and then they curate an hour's show per day for TV. We're one of the few who still have a full-on channel for you to see everything. And if you're going to watch people live their lives, it's impossible not to see things that you'll be like, “Why the hell is this thing on TV?” Because people are living their lives, they're going to shower, they're going to have relationships, and all of that. So I understand where that comes from—where people think all of these moral conversations need to happen. But the original idea, and I would like to go back to Big Brother, was, using the word loosely, lab rats, right? We live as human beings, but the truth is that every human being likes to watch people. You go to a restaurant, and you see people, and you go, “What are those ones doing?”

Unconsciously, we like to watch people, whether we admit it or not. These guys in Denmark and Holland decided to do this experiment, let's put people from diverse backgrounds in the house and actually see how they exist. And it became a hit show. So the original idea of Big Brother was to watch human interaction on full display. And what happened over time is that people started seeing themselves in people on the show, which is why you have people who are so stuck on “my fave”, because somehow you feel like if I were in that house, I would probably be this person, I would talk this way, and this is how I would be treated, which is what makes people get so passionate and emotional about it. So that should not be lost in the bigger conversation now, in which people have started seeing it as this engine room for birthing stars.

People are going on this show to become superstars, to start careers in entertainment, or to “blow”, like we say. That cannot be taken for granted, whether I like it or not. I'm a big example. If I never went on Big Brother, I would never be doing this. I always said there was no way I'd be doing what I'm doing now. I'll be a lawyer somewhere, probably in another country, living a quiet life. And I met people who are doing things in industry now that happened just because they took this route. And I'm like, Oh, I guess this makes sense. You can't also take away the jobs it creates. The live show alone, which is on Sunday, has about 120 employees. Just the live show. The entire show itself takes almost a thousand people to run. That's how big this show is. And these are jobs being created every year. Plus the spillover jobs that come from it. Because now you go to another gig and you're like, I was a cameraman on Big Brother. “That means you know your work”. So it has its own ripple effects, whether it's designers who are clothing the housemates, people who are supplying food. It's such a massive industry that people sometimes forget what it does for the ecosystem. And I would take that over anything. If your anger is because you saw something that upsets you over all of the good things that it's doing, I'll take that any day. So it's a very tough show to run. And I never really thought Nigeria could pull it off with the way we have now because of how technical it is. We still have our errors here and there, but I think we're doing an amazing job.

In 2019, we became number one globally for Big Brother. And there are over 50 or so countries that do Big Brother. I mean, we dropped off a bit, I think last year or two years ago, to the Philippines or something. But that's how big the Nigerian version is. I have become very good friends with the host of Big Brother Canada. She calls me every time we're on. She goes, “What are you guys doing there?” Your show is trending here. You know, she's in Canada. So these are things we should be proud of—that we are doing something almost out of nothing and it's working as well as it is. People will have opinions. People are entitled to their opinions, as with everything else. I mean, we love all these musicians, Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy, and Tiwa Savage. As much as we love them or hate them, they are doing great. What tips have worked for you over the years that will help those who look up to you or want to follow in your footsteps in this industry?

I think one of the first things I figured out was that being a TV host is such a broad thing. You have to find out what you're good at. And I did try out a lot of things. I don't know if everybody has that luxury now. They probably have more luxury now because podcasting has made it easier for people to do things online and have their own platforms. So are you great at talking fashion or doing red carpet things? Ryan Seacrest built an entire industry from, you know, being a red carpet host. And he became a multi-millionaire off of that. Are you a great game show host? Are you great at whatever it is—talking sports? I did all of these things. And I found out that my biggest strength was actually interviewing people, which is why I've done Rubbin Minds for as long as I've done it. Which is why most times, on the live show on Sunday, the highlight is always me interviewing the housemates in the house, because that's my biggest strength, being able to get information out of people. And I've built on that. And every other thing has come out of it. Yes, fashion has become a byproduct of it, and I use that to drive whatever else. But it’s about finding what you're actually good at. And sometimes it takes you trying things to know what they are. You can't just say, I want to be the host of Big Brother. Well, maybe you're not great at live television. Maybe what you're really good at is critiquing things. You have to just find what your passion is and build on that. That's the biggest piece of advice I always give people. Find out what your strength actually is. And then use that to build everything else around it.

BY DANIELLE ANENE

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