BIG BROTHER AFRICA COMES TO NIGERIA.

Now m-net, the pay TV channel that broadcast big brother Africa has answered the question and is coming up with a reality TV drama, which promises excitement and entertainment. The plan is to screen a new version of big brother, this time film on location in Nigeria with a Nigerian cast and crew. It is dubbed big brother Nigeria, and the show is to be produced by a Nigerian production team and is scheduled to run for 91 days, starting this march 2006.

Big brother Nigeria will see 12 Nigerian contestants sharing on home while 68 microphones and 27 cameras capture their lives for a continental television audience. At the end of the competition after multiple rounds of public voting and contestant elimination, one winner will walk away with a prize of $100,000. Launch in 1999, the big brother phenomenon has storm the world and the end of 2005 would have produced exactly 100 big brother series produced across the globe. Dramatic and controversial in every edition that has been created, the big brother experience has redefined standards for media environments, with records high in television, Internet and other media.

In the USA, 10.9 million viewers tuned in for the debut show of big brother 4; In Spain, 10.7 million viewers watched it’s finale and in Italy season 4 (grand fratello 4) had a peak audience of over 11 million. In Germany big brother 4 launched to over 3 million viewers, in Australia it peaked at 3.1 million viewers and in the UK, big brother 6 Launched with an audience of seven million. Big brother websites are popular as well, as audiences looking for more information go cyber surfing. in the Bulgaria, the BB Bulgaria website average 5 million hits per day, in the Netherlands the websites attracted 52 million page views, in Scandinavia the website boasted 9.5 million pages impressions during the first week and in Hungary on-line fans helped the show to log 1 million page impressions in the first 11 hours after launch. In the UK, 200 million page impressions proved big brother 3’s popularity.

Big brother Africa was a phenomenon in it’s own right. The show drew 100,000 text messages in the first 10 days after launch. It was screened in over 40 counties and enjoyed an estimated viewer-ship of over 20 million. Popular with audiences, the shows housemates are transformed into stars. But for all its records highs for voting, viewing and more, it is the contestants who truly makes the big brother concept successful. Whether they are sharing their tears, tantrums or triumphs they captivate attentions and provide some of television most unforgettable viewing.

To date big brother series has been produced in Africa, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Croatia, Czech, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Middle East, the Netherlands, Norway, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Now as big brother Nigeria launches on m-net, DStv audiences in Africa should get prepared for more memorable moments from the latest version of the hit show. In addition to been filmed in Nigeria with Nigerian contestants, big brother Nigeria will include 80 Nigerian crew. The massive production crew will operate in association with 16 South African crew. The additional crew will share the experience they gained working on big brother. Together the team will produce 3 shows every week for screening on m-net. Audience will be able to tune in for 30 minutes Monday night nomination programme, A one-hour Wednesday night highlights show and a one-hour live eviction show every Sunday evening.

Plus, big brother Nigeria will be screened for 20 hours daily on DStv channel 37. Entries were open to all permanent, legal residents of Nigeria over the age of 21.