Is Big Brother Naija Becoming More Diverse?

With thirteen Gen Zers, a stripper and a polyamorous man included in the new season’s roster of housemates, we engage the question of whether the culture shock surrounding BBN is simply a gimmick, or if the reality show is truly committed to diversity and inclusivity.

Image Credit: Calcified

The seventh season of Big Brother Naija opened to an amount of buzz equal to what has become standard for the divisive but undoubtedly popular reality TV show. The reveal of this season’s housemates, however, sparked particular conversations about diversity. One housemate self identifies as a “stripper by night, chef by day,” and another is openly polyamorous. Thirteen of this season’s twenty-four housemates are Gen-Zers, up from only four, last season. With all these developments, it has become an important question to ask if Big Brother Naija is taking a more progressive stance as a show. But before we ask that, we have to answer the question of context. That is, how does this season compare to its predecessors regarding diversity in the big brother house? 

Ethnically speaking, the Big Brother house has always been diverse, fielding housemates from all around the country since even the very first season in 2006, before its long hiatus that ended with the second season’s release in 2017. But ethnicity is not the only way to be diverse. Besides, Nigerians would not have stood for the show if it displayed any blatant favoritism on that front. If there is any area of diversity Nigerians have developed a keen eye for, it is the area of ethnic diversity. However, there are other areas. 

Season 1

The first season of Big Brother Naija featured a surprisingly diverse pool of housemates, from scriptwriters, lawyers and engineers to entrepreneurs and flight attendants (male flight attendant). However, a worrying number of the female housemates were simply students. Five out of seven, to be exact. This gender imbalance is perhaps more noticeable in hindsight, but it remains that, while most of the male housemates were well into their careers, most of the women had simply taken a break from school to join up.

Season 2

Eleven years later, after one of the longest hiatuses between seasons of any Nigerian TV show, the Big Brother House roster contained women whose primary listed occupation was something other than student. Singers. Rappers. Actresses. Models. Woohoo, right? Well… All of the female housemates in Season 2 of Big Brother Naija were some combination of singer/rapper, actress, and model. Every single one. As for the male housemates, 25-year-old Miyonse, who was a chef, was about as atypical as the season got. If anything, the men’s occupations were about on par with, if slightly less interesting, than those of the first season. In terms of relationship status or sexuality, the most exciting thing was Soma’s long-distance relationship.

Season 3

The next season of Big Brother Naija seemed to fix the major issue of Season 2, much like Season 2 fixed the student problem of Season 1. While there were singers, rappers, actresses and models, those weren’t all there were. Vandora was the show’s first makeup artist and vlogger (which is actually quite shocking that they could have so many models in Season 2’s roster, but not one makeup artist). Princess managed public relations for a construction firm, and was hoping to start a lingerie line for plus-size women. Ahneeka came from an engineering background into a career in media. Ifu Ennada’s occupations fill out two lines of text. Anto was HO of the CBLA. In fact, it was some of the male housemates that seemed to be falling into the box of rapper/singer/songwriter this time around (though Miracle was a hot pilot, we can’t forget that!). Teddy A had a four-year-old son. This was also when certain housemates began to support causes. Ricco wanted to raise autism awareness. Princess wanted to make lingerie for plus-size women. Still no spicy relationships or sexualities, though (you know inter-housemate rendezvous don’t count).

Season 4

There was a truly massive roster in Season 4, with 26 housemates. This season seemed to want to go for the best of both worlds: mixing diversity, with more of the Season 2 type of housemates—the ones who they knew could bring drama. Because drama is what sells BBN. This season had Avala, a single mom. Esther, who was a lawyer at 21. Isilomo, with an MA in Human Resource Management. Jackye, a software engineer. But it also had Tacha, who was all drama. Season 4 was one of those seasons BBN fans could tell you more about than any blogpost, story article.

Season 5

The year of Laycon. With a smaller roster of 20 housemates, Season 5 refined the approach of Season 4, milking maximum drama from a good mix of diversity. It is, however, somewhat noticeable that Season 5’s female housemates are somewhat less impressive in the stats department than those of Season 4. The men are decidedly more impressive. Intentional? Maybe. Perhaps the most highly accomplished women do not make for good house drama. 

Season 6 

The number of male models in the roster has been ticking somewhat steadily upward each season, to the point where you can probably write a whole story on the male actors/models/fitness coaches of Big Brother Naija. Undeniably, Big Brother Naija has been trying to appeal to the female gaze just as heavily as the male, and that was well apparent this season. In Season 7, many viewers would admit to missing some of the highly attractive men of Season 6. There were more single mothers in Season 6 than other seasons. Also, both Angel and Arin identified as proud feminists, bringing up that sorely underrepresented demographic. Otherwise, Season 6 was much like Season 5, without any major shakeups to what was becoming the Big Brother formula of well-managed (some might say curated) diversity.

Image Credit: news24

Season 7

For the most part, Season 7 follows the formula that Big Brother Naija spent the last three seasons proving and improving. Just enough professional diversity to keep perspectives interesting, with an update in career choices to reflect the current reality (we see more digital marketers, freelancers and content creators this year). Gen-Zers dominate the roster and the others are close enough in age, with only a couple of outliers. There’s a guy with a hall pass (seriously, don’t they all have hall passes at this point?). 

The real stickers this year are Chichi, the 22-year-old exotic dancer (our “stripper at night, chef by day”), and Hermes, the pierced dancer in a polyamorous relationship with two partners. We have not seen these before, and they immediately draw our eyes to what looks like a big forward leap for diversity in the Big Brother Naija. But is it?

The female housemates are still no more professionally impressive than they were in Season 3, but that is something that the show has shown by repetition to not be chasing anymore. No, there is a formula. Hatched in Season 4 and improved over Seasons 5 and 6, the bones of it can still be seen clear as day in this new season. 

So, why have a stripper and a poly man? More drama is one obvious answer, but there is another one, too. Simply, this formula of curated diversity has seen three seasons of BBN. And for the organizers of Nigeria’s favorite reality TV show, there is perhaps no better time than now to level up.