Nigeria’s Uti was chosen by Africa as the winner of M-Net’s Big Brother All Stars during last Sunday night’s spectacular Show after 91 gruelling days.
He beat Zimbabwe’s Munya by 8 countries to 7 to scoop the massive US$200 000 prize, outlasting the 13 other All Star Housemates over three months.
When the evening began, there were 5 housemates in with a chance of claiming the continent’s biggest reality show prize – Lerato, Munya, Mwisho, Sheila and Uti, but they were evicted one-by-one, leaving Uti alone in the House.
Then it was time to get down to business as the Alexander Forbes representative delivered the verified results to the stage, to evict the first Housemate of the evening. ‘The first Housemate to leave was Sheila, Mwisho and Lerato in that order, leaving behind Uti and Munya to slug it out for the top prize.
While the continent digested the news that Uti and Munya were just one step away from the US$200 000 grand prize, and with the continent waiting with bated breath, IK took viewers into the house to reveal the winner of Big Brother All Stars.
IK finally announced: The winner of Big Brother All Stars, with 8 countries behind him, isÂ…Uti you’re the winner, Munya you’ve been evicted!’ Uti leapt from the couch while Munya sat stunned with his hands behind his head, before congratulating his Housemate.
When Munya emerged on stage to a raucous reception, IK tackled him on the method behind his longevity in the House: ‘Dude, you are a survivor. If there was ever a story of survival, it’s definitely yours. You were up just about every week for eviction! What was your strategy?’
‘My strategy was just to do better than I did the last time and I succeeded in that, and I’m really happy,’ said the Zimbabwean.
‘I know this is not the last we’ll be seeing of you as what are you going to be doing next?’ asked IK. ‘I’ve just shot my movie, so I’m trying to get my movie onto the big screen so that people can see more of me. I belong on TV, I live here, you know?’ said Munya with that ever-present smile.
Then it was Uti’s turn to emerge. Dancing his way through the fireworks in the garden and jiving onto stage, he was greeted by a wall of sound as the continent paid tribute to the ultimate All Star.
He wasn’t going to get off without revealing his secret, though, as every evicted Housemate has to let the other Housemates know their secret.
‘You managed to keep your secret till the very end, so you keep your US$1000 as well as tell us what it was,’ said IK.
‘My secret is, when I was a teenager, I had a teenage crush on Britney Spears,’ he revealed.
‘Being the winner of Big Brother All Stars and having kept your secret, you leave with US$201 000, which probably makes you the richest guy in this room!’ said IK.
‘I’m going to ask you to shut down the Big Brother House. Count down from 10 to 0Â…’
As Uti counted, the lights in the house switched off and the cameras faded to grey, signalling the end of the continent’s popular show and hailing the latest Big Brother winner.
