“This level of crowd at the #BBNaija auditioning highlights the plight of the Nigerian youths. The struggle, the uncertainty of the future is on another level.”
Such is one of the comments on social media in reaction to the massive crowd of Nigerian youths who turned out for the reality television show, Big Brother Nigeria, BBNaija.
The auditions for the much anticipated reality television show, commenced today, Friday, February 1, in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Calabar, Warri and Enugu states, as revealed by the TV show. Reports on twitter have claimed that in some auditioning centres, as many as over 50,000 Nigerian youths turned up for the auditioning, leading to heavy traffic.
Other reports claim a youth slumped at the venue because of suffocation from the crowed. But why the craze for BBNaija?
The auditions for the much anticipated reality television show, commenced today, Friday, February 1, in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Calabar, Warri and Enugu states, as revealed by the TV show.
Reports on twitter have claimed that in some auditioning centres, as many as over 50,000 Nigerian youths turned up for the auditioning, leading to heavy traffic. Other reports claim a youth slumped at the venue because of suffocation from the crowed.
But why the craze for BBNaija? 
The answer is not far fetched.
Avoiding the temptation to delve into discussing the unemployment rate in the country, as well as the recent millions of job losses, however, the ongoing university strike action in the country is not a reason unconnected with the large crowed at the auditioning. More so, the revelation made in a recent interview, by the Chief Customer Officer of MultiChoice Nigeria, Martin Mabutho, says it all.
He had revealed in the interview that the prize money for the 4th edition of the show will be above N45 million, which is way bigger than what previous winners went home with.
And Nigerian youths can’t keep their eyes off that prize! Hence, the frenzy.
According to him, “I’m not on the selection panel but for this year, the mixture of different individuals will determine the final number that will go into the house.”
“I can put it this way – I can’t say about the prize money but the total value of the grand prize will exceed N45m.”
In last year’s edition, tagged, Double Wahala, it was Nigeria’s flyboy, Miracle, who smiled home as the winner. This year’s winner is really going to be tougher in arriving at, owing to the large crowed that has made itself available for the show.
Source: Vanguard