Reality Shows are all the rage right now….everywhere and in almost every country it is not uncommon to see behind-the scenes footage of what it takes to be a Super Model, survive on a deserted island, be part of a rock band, be a movie star, dance with the Stars or work in a blue chip-Fortune 500 company as an apprentice. Some are quite interesting and you actually do learn a thing or two from them but I’ve never been a fan of the Big Brother reality shows. I find them boring and totally pointless…what’s there to enjoy watching a group of people sitting around, talking, eating and sleeping? Some might say ‘it’s the Shower Hour, silly!” But then I’m a girl so why should I get turned on watching a group of women have their bath every morning? But the events that took place on the 27th of October 2007 in the Big Brother Africa House really crossed the line and reiterates my opinion that the show should be scrapped.Some have called it the ‘Big Brother Horror Show’, ‘Big Brother Sex Scandal’, even, ‘Fingergate’!
It all started one lazy, hazy Saturday when the Housemates were given tasks to do. They were required to catch an array of magnetized fish and on the reverse side of the fish do whatever task was written there. Simple enough but as it was Saturday, Biggie had provided plenty of booze (undiluted, Russian vodka) and what resulted was an incident that will definitely go down as one of the most scandalous moments in Big Brother history. The housemates became crazed, drunken zombies and engaged in acts better suited for a porno movie. The evening eventually ended in what many call a possible rape! Or how do you explain the actions of Richard the 24 year old Tanzanian film student and the only male occupant of the House fondling and ‘fingering’ a comatose, blind-drunk Ofuneka, a 29 year old Medical Assistant from Nigeria? What makes this even sadder was that it was aired live on international TV by MNET a South African cable network with more than a million subscribers. The whole of Africa saw this girl’s “privates” and they (MNET) allowed the cameras to roll instead of cutting to adverts or showing some other part of the House until the matter was brought under control.
As the Housemates continued to drink shot after shot of vodka, they got increasingly drunk; shouting, laughing uproariously, breaking things, falling about and puking their guts out. One of the Housemates, Tatiana from Angola passed out and had to be carried to the bedroom to lie down. She was later joined by her boyfriend, the controversial Richard who lay beside her. Ofuneka then entered the room completely out of it and unwittingly lay on the bed beside her two Housemates. What happened next horrified viewers as Richard lying between the two comatose women, undressed them and began to fondle, kiss and ‘finger’ both of them! Maureen the 4th Housemate walks in and seeing the scene tries to pull Richard off them but she is unable to. It is at this point paramedics are sent in and Richard is taken and locked in the Diary Room. Finally Big Brother cuts the live feed and switches to an empty garden.
This incident has caused a lot of outrage across Africa with people calling for Richard to be charges for sexual assault. What he did was morally reprehensible and no decent man would take advantage of a woman in that situation. Many diehard Rchard fans are trying to downplay the incident and are even shifting the blame on Ofuneka claiming she ‘wanted it’ too as she was unconsciously pulling Richard to her. Hello? Its like saying it is acceptable for men to have sex with women after giving her date-rape laced drinks!
My grouse is the way MNET is handling the whole matter;
1. They agree that a sexual act was committed between Richard and Ofuneka but it was consensual because Ofuneka (though obviously drunk) was pulling Richard to wards her!
2. They say Housemates were given instructions to only ‘sip’ cocktails after catching a fish; that they should know how to drink responsibly!
3. That they do not see any wrong doing in what took place in the House because no rules were broken.
Can you just imagine that? Why are there such double standards when it comes to Africa? If this happened in America or any of the developed countries this guy would have been hauled off to jail and MNET would have been sued. If you doubt me remember the fallout of the ‘wardrobe malfunction’ between Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. Sure what they did was consensual but the TV network that aired the incident got a lot of flack.
If there was nothing wrong with what was happening in the House why did they (MNET) send paramedics in and lock Richard away?
If MNET found no wrong doing why did they ask the Housemates if they needed to see a psychologist after Saturday’s incident?
If they knew nothing bad happened why didn’t they show the incidents in the daily highlights or the uncut show the following Friday? Why did they also refuse to air all texts regarding the incident and remove all threads pertaining to it on their website?
Its like there is a total black out about the incident by MNET and they are trying to sweep it under the carpet. Meanwhile neither Tatiana or Ofuneka remember anything of the incident though Richard (whose fans say he was drunk and didn’t know what he was doing) was heard 3 days later telling Ofuneka during an argument that she should be careful or he would ‘finger’ her! Imagine!
The contest is set to end on the 11th of November with the winner getting 100,000 Dollars but even if Ofuneka wins, that is still chicken change compared to what she might get when she escapes the Big Brother bubble and views footage of her very public humiliation.
75 comments
What is the meaning of reality show !!!! ? , things happen for real isn’t it, what what happens when you are drunk ? you do like exactly they didin bb2 by Richard and Ofuneka- Africans just let it go !!!!!
Yep tessy W, its good for you to pitty for us that way. But you and others with thoughts like yours have to know is that this is just our game and let Africans play the way they want. Those that feel its bad then stay tuned to a different station or rather just stop subscribing. Atfer all those who participate in the games are 18 yrs+(can you tell an adult on what to do?) If you are not interested with BBA, why do you send your chidren ‘initiation ceremonies’ where they are taught things of not their age?
It seems to me that most of the people leaving comments about this article 1) Have not seen or did not watch the actual footage and 2) Are trying to rationalise the programme morally….First they all need to find a clip of the footage and watch, then they need to sit down and ask themselves this question : WHAT EXACTLY IS BIG BROTHER, never mind Africa we didn’t start/ invent it we simply jumped on the band wagon like the rest of the world….
I’m sure after doing both things successfully things will be much clearer.. The programme is what it is and people that signup to go into the house know exactly what they are signing up for. The rest of the people, please don’t watch the programme if it is offensive. Religious bigots, please leave religion out of it and feminists please check out your facts before you shout all sorts…Enroute to cheap publicity and easy money lies a lot of controversial things, their choice..
In as much as I particularly do not find sitting down in front of the box and watching a bunch of people pass the time away interesting, a lot of people do , which is why all over the globe there are big brother this, big brother that, aside from the other numerous reality shows.. The simple reason networks show them and are willing to pay a lot of money is because they make money, period. Now, on the issue of MNET, you need to read the contract that the housemates signed which explained explicitely what they were expected to do and what the rules were. Whether you or me or anyone else finds it offensive that certain bits were aired on tv, it makes no difference as it was shown after watershed and part of the rules is that everything and anything happening in the house can be aired live…
To tell you frankly, I’m sure the viewing numbers increased as soon as people were aware that there was some sex scenes going on…
Honestly, I do not know what is wrong with us in Nigeria. Was this programme forced on us? NO!! We had several options of not watching…There’s parental control, you subscribe and you are even allowed to place a special request for that channel, did we do these at gun point? NO……So why are we making unnecessary noise here? Please let’s call a spade a spade and stop deceiving ourselves ….most of you do worse things in your homes!!!
did this realy happen in the big brother house or it is a rumor
the poster claimed not 2 watch d show,but funny enough provided a detailed occurence of events…..lol
I agree with you and now reading this 2 years later(2009) it still feels fresh. I just,this evening, watched Richard gloating; as he was being questioned at the launch of BBA 4, on his wonderful relationship with his wife and the birth of his son Joshua. He is still as crude and calculating as ever, willingly to do anything for money. I could see the longing in his eyes as he mouthed $200,000! He was wishing his prize money had been that…
i agree with u totally. entertainment doesnt have to be pornographic.
Believe u me, what you see in BBA is what is happening in our society….most Africans are sexually reckless and are good at hiding it..BBA just magnifies the real world…NOTE …even before the first BBA was aired…the HIV rates were high, how then can u claim that BBA is bringing moral degradation!? im not disputing the fact that BBA is flanked by bad elements..but there is the good which we should focus on…..it shows our capability as African countries to come together…its a step closer to unity. so please be objective, whatt happened to ofune was unfortunate.but don’t demean the work done by mnet Africa through BBA……….A GREAT JOB.
u are right but on the other non of these inmates wants to be remembered for evil, laws are meant to be flexible, even when it is 18 and above, some things are better not shown.put urself in the shoes of ofunneka and imagine what pains she is passing through. u dont want to feel i tell u the truth
bba is an interesting program
i pity for africans.they think it is a serious way to learn.
I finally was able to see the clip in question, and I think the writer has it all wrong.Her account of what happened was so diffrent from what I and others saw that I think her article was simply too biased to be taken seriously.Its like she has a personal vendetta against MNET or something.For one thing apart from the fact that housemates knew what they were getting into and all that, in this case it was obvoius Ofunneka was horny from being drunk, which was not Richard’s fault making absurd the writer’s parallel to “rape date-laced drinks”; nobody forced the alcohol down her throat.I particularly am concerned about her constant use of assault; its such feministic crap there was no assault of any kind confirmed even by women advocacy groups who had threatened fire and brimstone before they reviewed the clip.and by the way it was so wrong to say “both comatose women”;Tatiana was obviously comatose but Ofunneka was far from it she was moving around and it was obvious she even enjoyed it so much that when the paramedics came Richard had trouble disengaging himself from her!Lets always get our facts right before going to press and misleading just cos we have access to the press pls!! and to Proud American if u ever read this, I find ur post totally bigoted to say the least. Worse things than this happen in America, fully of psychotic pedophiles, murder rapists and the like many of which go scot free so dont preach to us.
I read through all tghe post here and I amazed at that some poits were not mentioned on here..
1. When ever Mnet is about to air a program that has sex,strong language,nudity or violence they make it it know and advise for viewers discreation.
2. Most of the nude parts are not air till late nights.
3. The housemates have watched previouse edition of BBA and knows that there would cameras every where even in the showers.
4 Most people who has written something here are just hippocrites…the way they themsleves dress is questionable and they are up here talking about the future of kids,immorality and stuffs like that.
5.Any body any where at any time would do what richard did under the circumstance and ofuneka would also respond t5he same way under that same circumstance if not more…
6.They are all above 18 and should be responsible for their actions including what they drink…
The write has tried to raise some issues but in all we should all help the future generation with more inspiring write ups not castigating people for other peoples mishap
is this thing real?…..
thats something,,,,,
Though u can decide to shelter pervasion under your very coat, it will nevertheless eat you up till you are left a skeleton and still the pervasion will be seen by all!
That’s some thing!
It is a shame what is being shown on our screens. Parents have a lot of work to do th protect their children from such horrible acts.
I can’t agree with you more. Parents have a lot of work to do to protect their children from such horrible acts.
these things happen everywhere and no o ne has the right to define wht morally upright and wats not just based on their convictions and religion. worse things happen everywhere,full intercourse when you drunk, sinceraly i dont see wht th fuss is all about. you hate BB, dont subcribe. if you really have to, dont switch to th channel. if you do, shut the up and enjoy. if you ask me more worse things have happend in bb3. plus ofuneka was 29yrs for crying out loud. 29YEARS and she cant contain her alchohol. and we blaim Mnet? common give me a abreak
You should make sure that your childen do not watch this show because it has the age restriction. This is for adult only, not for kids.
There is nothing uncultured about Richard. He was just playing the game and he played it well. Without him and Tatiana in the house BB2 woould have been a boredom.
it is dis hearten that she is a Nigerian i pity her mother
I do not see the lady’s problem. BBA intermitently advertises that the show is rated 18 and even goes to the extent of educating us on how to lock the show if there are children 17 years and below at home. What else should they do. The nudity and sexual acts are all parts of life. Human beings can’t live without them and remember the housemates have already signed the contract and are aware of what would happen. Nobody forces them to do it, they both or all agreed to it. Just imagine watching a reality show only with them sitting together drinking tea and talking about things less interesting. The acts brings spice to the show and to me takes some of my stress from work away. It is a paid TV programme, if you don’t like it, don’t subscribe period. Remember they are all adults way above eighteen (18).
I think the writer is emotional. We ought to be conscious all the time. But alcohol does alter our capacity to reason objectcively and choose what could be considered best at any moment. This is a reality show!! Someting real that would normally happen given the circumstances. No body to blame let alone the Nigerian woman. Biggie should pick up these piceces of advice for better counselling.
You got all your facts wrong miss. I watched the particular episode and your article contains alot of exaggerations and non-factual information. Why comment on the show if you are not a fan and since you are not a fan how did you get your facts since i assume you didnt watch the show? It carries an over 18 rating remember..stop the hypocricy this just mirrors the state of the african society…and the superbowl event was a family show that is not rated over 18 and that was why there was so much fuss. O'wise there wouldnt be any issues
I agree with you fully, but we should remeber that all these people did read the terms and conditions on the contract before signing. As for Richard, it was a disgrace to see a married man do such things on the world wide Tv.
I think BB managed to bring the reality of the modern day Africa into the limelight. Let us be honest for once, what happened that day on BB was just a tip of the iceberg, moral decadence among the youth is much more worse and the real African values are a threatened species. I think we should use BB as a mirror of what actually happens in sociesty and what we should seek to correct is not BB but the society. It is funny how quickly people have rushed to judge BB without asking themselves one question: If before cameras watched accross the world someone could do that, how about else where. Groupies, Homosexuality, prostitution, rape and other vices are nowadays commonplace accross Africa and if you think it first happened in BB then you need to wake up from your slumber. Hello? Do not judge BB based on your envy for the charaters talents!!!
Yes, I agree with the author of the article. There are sites for people interested pornography. It should be explicit in tv channels watched by families including children. If these so called models think they have anything different or attractive to offer I invite them produce videos, etc- those interested will buy. Those who agree with this explicit shows have twisted minds and need counselling services immediately
I agree with u, dat act should stop
Nigerians have double standards indeed. The fact that they where not one of the countries to evict their Uti for the violent behaviour in the house tells us another story. If they are really against immorality, practice what you preach.
Really the writer of this article is a BBA critic every single thing done in this world we have critics who come out to say these things but some make sense some dont! LET US ALL NOT BE NAIVE HERE!we know there’s God and those who aknowledge him do…we have born agains and def we do have sinners…now those who choose to participate in this show had a choice sign the contract or refuse like some one siad here they are fame hunters they wanted this…offunneka could have controlled here drinking now one forced it down her throat and then she faced the repacaution of excesive alcohol intake pls if u dont like BBA dont watch it…MNET and human beings in africa have rights..its free will my dear u dont own anybody so pls dont judge.
You didnt make sense to me.sorry.
has age ristriction of 18 yrs, so everything that could be done by 18 and older people should be shown on big brother, shouldn’t be hidden by cameras, why???Cause the age ristriction allows the act.
My GOODNESS!!! BBA3 has commenced and you all are still going on about what happened last year? Ofunneka has moved on with her life and I suggest you all do and give MNET a break! No individual was forced to participate and the viewers subscribed to it.. So let peace reign….
Did the writer and many of you who complain actually see what happened, or are all of you just making assumptions from what you heard and were told? To be honest, from what i’ve heard, it was unfortunate for such a thing to happen, but pls don’t judge/assume from he-say-she-say>
The first big brother show was interesting and provided good entertainment. We all enjoyed it!! The second one was almost like watching a porn movie!! Tatiana and Richard! Eeeeh..! how could a married man be that free with another woman knowing that he’s on live tele???? Actually, some of the people who were evicted earlier had better behaviours than Richard who finally got the money. Would we be right to say most of those who participate in the Big Brother show are not very morally right??? I think a bad picture is being painted about the show and as a result, the third show is not as popular!
I agree with you fully, but we should remeber that all these people did read the terms and conditions on the contract before signing. As for Richard, it was a disgrace to see a married man do such things on the world wide Tv.
The BBA is not a must watch TV show thing, cos every individual has a choice and if you think it is bad for you it could be good for someone else. As for those who participate were obviously told the rules of the game that cameras will show every pin in the house including their most treasured part of their body. so what do you expect mnet to do? to turn off the cams and knowing fully well that the contestant are out to make money and fame for them self and the subscribers are to watch, its unfortunate that it happened to Nigerian that is why the noise making cos if it were to be somebody from another part of the world no Nigerian will talk that is what we are and above all for Ofuneka I think she will never get drunk again and should be sorry for herself cos its part of the game.
you are right with richard wining even after that i belive those who watch should expect worse peformance from housemates in this season 111 i wont be surprise if the show turns out to be an x rated movie i pity those who spend their money to subscibe to such nonsense and waste valuable time watching this show of shame
Infarct the whole word is going out off control; we have forgotten our God that created us,
for Richard alone taken such support to win that money, did immediately affected my way of reasoning , I got angry to the extent that i called my brother to let him know that from today on,,,,, i will have no more respect for the rules of this word, if a married man could go to the house of BB which is been televise life to comet all this atrocities and and come out to win that money, i tell you i am now free to do any tin bad from today , infarct God should help the word ,
pls i believe any sensible and respectable person should not sign up for this…if richard raped its because she was stupidly drunk…no body asked her to touch the alcohol, she wasnt forced to take it, so who cared if it was aired, abeg she is a shame, for signing up for bba, that means she has no self respect
nigerians are known to be hypocrites. this writer paid to watch and then sat down, watched the show in detail and had a good time viewing and yet for who we are is complaining.
you need to see the crowd of people coming to register in multichoice office in abuja since the bba3 started to know the kind of double mouth kind of peple we are.
My condolences to Ofuneka; if indeed she is as outraged as the rest of us seem to be. The least said about Richard the better – what he did was certainly despicable. However, I would like to point out that these are all “consenting” adults who have chosen to participate in an obviously immodest show. They are aware that their nakedness will be viewed all over Africa, they know the effects of excessive alcohol, they deliberately take of all their clothes and take showers on international television. So whose modesty are we tring to protect? Not everyone has a sense of shame you know!
nice article, but how did the writer get to see the incident? Did u come across it unconsciously or u actually watched that episode of the show? Anyway, i think from the producers to the housemates to Mnet to the viewers and everyone that saw the incident, there was a form of consent btw them. Though I agree richard went overboard, Mnet & ofuneka with all others directly involved should be left to sort out their issues. Nigerians should learn to mind their own business, if u dont like the show and it doesnt affect you directly, then turn away. That said , im happy the 3rd show has started. Lets face it, if a significant no of people ignored the show, the producers and sponsors would have stopped production. Pls paste this comment
big brother africa as be a very interesting music,video, all sort of entertainment.
Well, Y’all av rights to ur opinions and I kinda agree with most of them. My only issue with all these is the fact that we all keep blaming Mnet like BBA is showing on Local (Free) television station. These shows are transmitted directly into the homes of viewers that consciously and knowingly subscribed for the program. Furthermore, the digital providers avails you the option of locking the station. It’s like complaining about the nude scenes in a Porno movie you bought from a film shop. I cant be bothered about what they show as long as they aint transmitting into my home without my permission. Plus, house mates always know what they are getting into before & during audition and are also well councelled before the real show actually begins.
goood job
This was just superb
The best thing to ever hi treality tv.
Well done my sister. There’s no excuse for such a shameful act. But it’s more shocking that a few African (crackpots) viewers are defending them.
i strongly believe u.the programme should be banned and the station sanctioned
Though they were drunk their true charater came out.
i think what happened on the show was reprehensible but its in the past & y’all shld let ofuneka get on wit her life.
I agree with you fully & i think such disgraceful acts should be discontinued in Africa-lets face it-children are also watching.
I agree with you 100% .But i think all these things were explained to them before they got into the show. Richard did what he had to do under the circumstances. If he was not on Big Brother, i think he would have done the same under the same circumstances.
Africans are not known for such acts though but it had occured and lets hope this doesn’t repeat itself in the future.
reality shows should not just be dismissed with a wave of hand.atleast i look forward to coming home to have something to watch. The selection of class of inmates should be of high standard inorder to improve rating and number of public view. We need shows like this to take our minds off the seriousness of the world. chasing up jubile line trains or northern line as the case may be. bringing smiles to faces hwho have given up hope.
Its a pity that such thing can happen and women, not only Nigerian women but generally, are keeping quiet. Women should rise up and say No to that, otherwise a repeat will be the case, and culprit will claim to be DRUNK. DRUNK indeed.
a disgrace to the afican continent
in a world where everyone is concerned about the now and not life after death,it seems to be normal to promote sexual sin/promiscuity. BBA does not in anyway fit into the word entertainment-it is not informative,educative or entertaining.as someone rightly commented is this the way Africa intends to fight AIDs and refocus our young ones to be future leaders. Everyone talks of sustainable development,BBA show is motgaging the values of ‘generation next’ to make a few quick bucks-promoting moral decadence. Let us all take time out to reflect on what values we leave for generations yet unborn.
I really agreed with the writter of this article that the programme is a digrace of the highest order to our society. No useful message was sent to our children.And i don't think Richard deserve the money but in a situation where we are talking of immorality he deserved it.
i think it's repugnant 2 natural justice,equity and gud conscience 2 air d big BBA in d 1st place. It is unafrican.What signals are d producers tryin 2 pass 2 2day's youth? It's a complete show of shame!!!!!
frankly speaking,that event is a high order of human dignity degradation in africa with respect to african culture and tradition
You are very correct and it's almost time they paid for this.
We understand they've been sued by her lawyers.
Keep this up
i will like to ask about richard wife and how will she bear this situation?
i will like to ask whether they were in sexual mess.
In as much as the house mates can be termed as fame hunters,there was a carrot dangling(100,000usd)Mnet should be sued for airing the situation and BB should be scraped cos really what is the motive behind da reality show anyway.I feel for Ofunneka though,and i dont think Richard deserves to win,the guy is very uncultured.
Well articulated thoughts,i wish something drastic could be done by Nigeria government against mnet
Who are you to judge others? You cannot control the world.
I have read your article. Unfortunately you seem to derail from the fact that every single housemate in that house was fully aware of what they were getting themselves into when they signed the contract. they were aware that showers would be recorded and MOST of them chose to take showers naked , baring themselves to the world. i dont believe a decent person would take part in BB. They are all fame hunters in one way or the other. They deserve whatever they get if they cannto control themselves in a moral and respectful manner. They chose how much they had to drink and they chose to flaunt what should have been private to the public. DONT BLAME MNET. BLAME THOSE WHO ALLOW THEMSELVES TO BE EXPLOITED
What a Shame.Is this the way Africa would fight AIDs,RAPE,AND SEXUAL DISCRIMINATION ON TELE????
I agree with you 100%Ofuneka deserves guidance and legal redress. Someone should help this her!
Big Brother Show is immoral and a vehicle encouraging immorality, promiscuity, fornication and adultery which will eventually lead to spread of HIV and Aids. Africans who see Big Brother as a way of advancement should realize that it is that kind of "advancement" that led the so called civilized countries to the high level homosexuality & its official recognition.
Let us save our children.
A counter to your claims.
http://bbafrica2.wordpress.com/2007/11/03/the-sex-that-never-was-fingergate-scandal-laid-to-rest/
while I agree with you that these reality shows are a wast of time, I am now reading from you about the Big Brother story… I think the people who take part in these shows are also questionable! so you are expecting too much from nothing
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