Look, we are fairly used to Big Brother’s shenanigans – the show usually has more twists than a spiral staircase – but we admit that we are caught a little off-guard after tonight’s absolute slaughterhouse of a Live Show. Firstly, we just get told, without so much as a “how do you do”, that another Housemate is joining the show. Okay, then – we didn’t expect that, but fine. It happens. We can deal.
When Ebuka introduced Michael to the Shine Ya Eye audience, we found out that he doesn't have any kind of plan for his time in the House, which is probably for the best, since planning for a show that throws this many curveballs is likely going to be a total waste of time. It must have been strange for the existing Housemates when the doorbell rang, and a stranger entered the House. They’ve spent the past two weeks completing tasks, cleaning toilets and fighting about food, and to have this newbie just show up and take up their space could not have been particularly welcome. It certainly wasn't expected - stunned faces, an utterance of "excuse you" and general disbelief were the order of the day, although most of them eventually remembered their manners and introduced themselves to the newcomer – including the Housemates up for Eviction, which was particularly cringey.
Then came the first eviction of the season: holding aloft a gilt envelope, Ebuka asked the nominated Housemates to stand. This is not an envelope you want your name in. After what seemed like an eternity, Ebuka spoke the name: "Yerins."
Yerins was fairly emotional during his earlier Diary Session. When Big Brother asked if he had said his goodbyes, the self-described “polymath” shed a tear, saying it was too hard. That means he was left with just those 15 seconds to do it, right after his name was called as one of the Evicted. A few of the Housemates cried openly. There was much hugging, some wailing – you know the drill.
When speaking to Ebuka after his exit, Yerins spoke about the great connections he had made with his fellow Housemates, but admitted that he pulled back from the others, a little bit, because the "bonding" wasn't going so well. He did look chuffed at the news that "polymath" is now a word in common parlance. So there's that, we guess.
For those of you keeping track, that’s one new Housemate, and one Eviction – which means the House is as full as it ever was. At this rate, the Shine Ya Eye season is going to last forever. Or longer than that, somehow, because we then got introduced to two more Housemates.
Kayvee's strut onto stage had Ebuka remark, "I'm liking the swag." Not sure how much the Housemates will like it, although he did say that he would bring a "positive vibe, positive energy" to the House. JMK's introductory video also spoke about her "positive energy", but then you'd expect that, wouldn't you? Nobody ever talks about themselves as being a narcolepsy-inducing downer.
If the first new Housemate was a surprise, imagine what it must have been like when two people walked in. It took absolute ages for any of the Housemates to stand up and greet them. By this point, the reality had sunk in: the odds of them winning the competition were getting worse by the minute. Can't have been a great feeling.
At this point, we realised we had no idea what to expect, anymore. There were now more people in the House than there were at the start of the Eviction Show – which is kind of the opposite to what you would expect, right? But then a sense of normality returned, along with a sense of foreboding, as we returned to the House for another Eviction. While the new Housemates were getting acquainted, some others were waiting to find out if they should even bother getting to know the new names.
When Niyi's name was announced, it was immediately followed by a series of expletives - from his fellow Housemates. Clearly, not everyone wanted him to leave. Tough luck, though – that's how these things go. Niyi was somewhat sanguine about the prospect of his Eviction during his Diary Session. He seemed like he would take it well, should his name come up for Eviction – which it did. After a few hurried goodbyes, he walked out of the door and onto the stage where Ebuka was waiting.
Reflecting on his time in the House, he said it was a bit tedious during the first week when all the other Housemates wanted to talk about was the fact that he was married with a child. Fair enough – it's not most salient point about anyone, after all. Regarding the immediate future, he said he was looking forward to working on his assorted business ideas.
While we had barely finished saying goodbye to Niyi, there was another Eviction. Okay – at this rate, we might just find ourselves wrapping this season up next week, or something.
During her Diary Session, Beatrice was adamant that she did not deserve to be Nominated — despite the fact that she actively tried to con her fellow Housemates into believing she was one of the Wildcards, a strategy that makes as little sense to us now as it did when she was putting it into service. I’ll never understand how she thought that would endear her to the others, but she clearly thinks that it should have. The Voting audience disagreed.
She told Ebuka that she struggled to settle in during her time in the House, because it was very difficult to hang out with so many people. Not sure how she thought it was going to go if she had to stay in the House any longer, but I guess she'll never get to find out, now.
Three – count ‘em – three Housemates were Evicted, tonight, out of the five that were nominated. That’s a 60% attrition rate.Those are some pretty bad odds – future Nominations are going to be tense.
Biggie was still not done, though. That’s right, we got another Housemate. So the number of Housemates has gone up, after all.
Queen's introductory video made it pretty clear that she was... energetic? Yeah, that's the word people are using. She also said the House should get ready for her, because she's got a very bad mouth, and she would bring drama if the House became boring.
So, at the end of the hour, this is how things stand: Beatrice, Yerins and Niyi are outta there, while Michael, Queen, JMK and Kayvee are going to take their place amongst the Housemates. Awkward. Oh, and Boma has something to worry about – Yousef. Since Yousef survived the Eviction, Boma must realise that the voting public likes the guy he put on the chopping block. Whoops.
Anyway, we have whiplash from the constant back-and-forth in this episode. We need to find a place to lie down. Just kidding – we don’t need to find it, we know where it’ll be: on the couch, in front of the TV.
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