Big Brother Africa: Farewell Hannington

ELVIS has left the building. No sightings have been reported.
Well not exactly! Tuesday night’s push-and-pull drama in the Big Brother Africa house resulted in Ugandan housemate Hannington being disqualified on Friday (see full statement), a first for BBA.

The move followed widespread media publicity, with even some international media reporting on the fallout between South Africa’s Lerato and Hanni.The Daily Mail in the UK ran an article, while international news agencies like Reuters and The Associated Press also filed stories.In South Africa, the media – mainstream and tabloid – had a field day. Accuracy fell by the wayside as various newspapers tried to beat each other to the ‘punch’ when it came to drumming up the most salacious headline.Still, it’s unlikely that the media exposure led to Hannington’s eviction, as some have speculated.The Big Brother franchise worldwide is no stranger to controversy, while the infamous ‘fingergate’ episode in Big Brother Africa 2 sparked widespread coverage at home and abroad.Given that both Lerato and Hannington were at fault, the producers’ quandary was likely whether to evict one or both of them for breaking the rules. When push came to shove, the producers took a page out of the football handbook and red-carded Hanni for retaliating, saying he could have ‘voluntarily walked away at any time’. Also, as a man, the greater responsibility for avoiding a physical confrontation rested with him.Lerato, whose belligerent and offensive behaviour pre-empted the face-off, was yellow-carded.Aggravating the issue, Lerato’s mother and a friend, Sunshine (who won the Fair Lady style internship broadcast on TV recently), launched a media offensive, started lobbying women’s organisations and were threatening to march on the BBA studios.DENIALBut it’s not the end of the controversy. While some have applauded the eviction, others are crying foul. They believe Hannington has been hard done by. Many viewers feel the fairer solution would have been to evict both Hannington and Lerato. No matter what detractors of the show may say, Big Brother offers many teachable moments.While Hanni’s behaviour on the night cannot be condoned, as much as it can be understood, he has not tried to excuse his actions.He has not blamed alcohol (he was not drinking on the night, anyway) – ‘I can’t use alcohol as an excuse’ – nor tried to get off the hook by saying he was provoked. Nor has he pointed a finger at Lerato. ‘I could have been a better man in that moment and I wasn’t,’ he subsequently told daCode. He also feels he has betrayed the values instilled in him by his mother – ‘everything she taught me went out the window’. For her part, Lerato remains unrepentant. Denial appears to have set in.Even the reasons advanced by Biggie on why she is being punished appear to have fallen on deaf ears.Rather she has been petulant and seemingly resentful that she is even being punished.I hope for her sake that she is able to come to terms with it at some stage. Maybe she’s just not ready yet. CODA Not really much space left to write about the rest of the weekend’s happenings, but we’ll be back to normal, whatever that is, from tomorrow!Just to say in passing that there were some juicy happenings in The Barn, which was treated to a live DJ, on Saturday night.Flirtyana, aka Tati, pushed ‘flirtatious’ to the max, teasing daCode with her sexy dance moves.DaCode seemed to think he’d died and gone to heaven, and was clamouring for more!Stay tuned …- At the time of going to print, the eviction results were not yet known but by now either Munya or Jen will have joined previously evicted housemates in The Barn. Keep watching all the action go down on DStv Channel 198 and remember to tune in for tonight’s nomination show. – You’re always welcome to send your views to: bba@namibian.com.na, or our SMS numbers: 99902 or 45045.

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