Media personality and TV host Ebuka Obi-Uchendu has recalled how he ended up on the very first season of Big Brother Nigeria.
Speaking on the latest episode of the Menisms Podcast, Ebuka recounted his humble beginnings as one of the housemates in the first season back in 2006, stressing that he never intended to become popular.
“I was 23 when I first started Big Brother. We were in the first season of Big Brother Nigeria. It was even called Big Brother ‘Nigeria’ then, not ‘Naija’. Naija wasn’t a thing then and I feel like we were just guinea pigs because nobody knew what the show was going to be like if they were going to watch, what to expect and all that,” he began.
Ebuka narrated how he came across the advert for the show and how he ended up auditioning as a dare, but found himself being motivated by the beautiful ladies at the audition…and the grand prize.
“I didn’t go in to blow, which is what you get now. Now it’s like a path to entertainment for people. Back then the prize was even $100,000 and they still advertised in newspapers because there wasn’t social media then.”
He continued, “So I saw the ad in the newspaper and it wasn’t something I would have ever done. I was a lawyer then and my sister dared me to do it, so I auditioned, they called me and I saw mad babes and I was like ‘I have to do this’. But the main motivation was the money. I wanted to win the money, go to Yankee and get my master’s. That was the plan I had at the time and there was no entertainment in my path.”
Ebuka also revealed that it was after the competition ended that he found himself in the entertainment scene, and how he went in strictly for the money at first.
“Of Course, I didn’t win and then everything went left. I had gotten the fame and I wasn’t enjoying being a lawyer and I was kind of broke. And that’s how this started, people kept telling me that I had a great voice and I looked good, so I started going for auditions and then I got my first job with NTA. I started doing this strictly for the money,” he said.
Ebuka has since become one of the most popular media personalities and TV hosts in Nigeria, and the host of the very reality show where his career began.
