Big Brother Africa Hotshots kicks off today

BIG Brother Africa (BBA) Hotshots will hit television screens tomorrow with 26 housemates from 13 African countries set to entertain viewers, living in a confined house for the next two months.

Big Brother Hotshots will run daily on DStv channels 197 and 198 with DJ and presenter, Tariro "Butterphly" Mharapara, 24, and actor, musician and director Jerome "JJ" Arab, 23, carrying the country's hopes.

For the two Zimbabwean housemates, the call is simple, they should be united during the two long gruelling months on the television reality show as history has shown that not being united has not got any housemates far.

Like former housemate Pokello Nare said, JJ and Butterphly should stick to one thing, if they want to be themselves, they should do so till the last day. If they want to pretend to be some other characters, they should stick to that as viewers of the show and housemates likewise take note of such behaviour.

It is also key for the representatives to try and make alliances with strong contenders in the house, something that can draw them closer to winning the coveted $300,000 prize money.

But, in all they do, they should always know that the image of the country is the bigger picture at the end of the day as Zimbabweans do not want to witness a Roki and Maneta situation.

The two, instead of pooling resources together, fought each other and were subsequently disqualified from the game. The game is not necessarily about the housemates, but the country they are representing.

JJ and Butterphly should not see each other as competition and instead help each other get as far as they can in the game and be happy if either one wins a task in the house or the prize money.

Sexual intercourse is inevitable in the house considering that there is not much entertainment among housemates, but that may be a recipe for disaster for the Zimbabweans as they unfortunately do not have the privilege of a non-judgmental society as compared to other housemates.

"Butterphly and JJ must always remember they carry the burden of the Zimbabwean judgmental nature and that limits their freedom as compared to other housemates from more tolerant nations," said Pokello.

At least Butterphly seems to know that as she has declared that she would not indulge in the illicit act on television. Her bubbly nature may make her a fan favourite.

Alliances are critical in the BBA House and the Zimbabwean representatives should try to join hands with fellow Southern Africans such as Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia and desist from nominating each other for eviction. Previous years have shown that West Africa has been the most supportive with countries from that end always having each others' back. Southern Africa has left a lot to be desired as the countries rarely ever support each other but usually support South Africa.

Zimbabweans are strong candidates as they have won BBA once and narrowly missed the prize on countless occasions. The country's representatives are usually seen as a threat to the West Africans who have won most editions.

As usual, Big Brother has promised viewers a lot of twists and surprises during the show. The biggest twist was the month's delay to the start of the reality series due to a fire that gutted the BBA house in Johannesburg. Another twist was the disqualification of Ghanaian shortlisted housemates who were replaced by Ghanaian nationals resident in South Africa.