Will Zimbabweans land the $300,000 Big Brother cash?

Tonight one lucky contestant will go home $300 000 dollars richer from the Big Brother Africa (BBA) House.

Africa's most popular reality show, which this year has been titled "Big Brother Hotshots", has reached an exciting finale in which the remaining eight housemates are battling it out to pocket the coveted prize money.

Zimbabwe, represented by Butterphly and JJ, is the only country with two housemates running for the big cash prize.

Butterphly and JJ will battle it out with Idris (Tanzania); M'am Bea (Ghana); Macky2 (Zambia); Nhlanhla (South Africa); Sipe (Malawi) and Tayo (Nigeria).

The question gnawing at the minds of most local BBA fans is whether one of the two Zimbabweans will smile all the way to the bank tonight.

With the winner of the $300 000 prize set to be selected by voters throughout the continent, it is clear that having two representatives among the final eight will result in Butterphly and JJ splitting the Zimbabwe vote.

On the surface, Tayo representing Nigeria has a slight advantage as he can rely on the huge voting population in the populous West African nation. Another housemate potentially well-placed to pocket the big prize is Ghanaian M'am Bea who could bang on the fact that the big West African region only has two representatives while southern Africa is represented by Butterphly and JJ (Zimbabwe), Macky2 (Zambia); Nhlanhla (South Africa) and Sipe (Malawi).

With Tanzania's Idris likely to get the backing of the East African region, the odds are heavily stacked against Butterphly and JJ.

In the past, the Zimbabwean duo relied on votes from Botswana, Malawi and from their countrymen to survive evictions from the Big Brother House. But as fate would have it, the support from Malawi is beyond reach in this instance because the citizens of what is generally referred to as the "Warm Heart of Africa" are expected to vote for their compatriot Sipe.

Botswana could still vote for Zimbabwe but the dilemma for Butterphly and JJ is that they could potentially split crucial Tswana votes.

Butterphly has appealed to Africa to help her get the prize money.

"I entered this game for a whole lot of reasons but the primary reason was to cater for my family, my sister, my two kids and my mom. She placed her life on hold so that we could play. For the first time I want to take her shopping, I have never taken her shopping and I have been working for four years.

"So Africa please vote for me, there is a whole lot of things that I want to do, I want to expand my career. I want to work; I want to make my country proud of me, as well as Africa," she said.

For either Butterphly or JJ to win, the Zimbabwean vote is crucial. Local voting platforms are Econet, NetOne, and Telecel on which each vote costs 50 cents.

According to the official BBA website: "Text the keyword "VOTE" followed by the name of your favourite housemate to your country code. SMS charges specific to each network. Free minutes do not apply. Vote up to 100 times by SMS."

Potential BBA voters can also download "the WeChat application on your smartphone, add ID BigBrotherAfrica and vote up to 100 times for free. Vote for free up to 100 times on the website and again up to 100 times on the mobile site."