By Oyinlola Awonuga (The New Diplomat’s Entertainment, Fashion and Sports Desk)
Big Brother Nigeria season 5 winner Olamilekan “Laycon” Agbeleshe has received his N85Million whopping Grand Prize from the show organisers, MultiChoice Nigeria today. The 26-year-old was awarded his gifts at a prize presentation ceremony held earlier today at the MultiChoice studios in Lagos. At the Studio, he was presented with the cash prize of N30m, an SUV and a two-bedroom house.
Also mentioned was a N5m prize from Betway awarded to Laycon and Ozo on their MAD Sports initiative, and an all-expenses paid trip to the Guinness House Dublin for Dorathy and Laycon. Speaking at the Prize presentation, the Chief Executive Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria, John Ugbe said, “Planning a show of this magnitude during these times was not without its challenges. For one, we resorted to holding virtual auditions where we received over 30,000 video entries, from which the “Lockdown 20” were selected.”
Mr Ugbe added that Big Brother Naija has changed the way we define employment and relevance. According to him, in addition to participants being instant celebrities and influencers, other industries have been significantly impacted by the show and its participants. He also disclosed that over 900 million votes were recorded across SMS, Mobile, Website and the DStv & GOtv Apps.
Mr Ugbe thanked viewers for watching and appreciated the Headline sponsor, Betway; the gold sponsor Guinness, Category sponsors; Pepsi, OPPO, Flutterwave, Indomie, WAW Detergent, Darling Hair, Innoson Motors, Revolution Plus, TravelBeta and all others who supported the show in different ways.
The Big Brother Naija reality show continues to touch not just the creative industry, but other industries as well. Over 1,000 people directly and indirectly supported the production of Big Brother Naija Lockdown edition. Cumulatively over the years, Big Brother Naija has provided over 10,000 jobs for fashion designers, content creators, interior decorators, logistic companies, prop makers, make-up artists, photographers, housekeepers, carpenters, caterers, and many more.
Channel Director, Africa Magic, Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu also stated that the level of engagement for this season was off the chain. While appreciating the housemates for bringing the drama and keeping the viewers tuned to the channel, the director said the programme has come to stay.
Earlier in the competition, MultiChoice had promised fans who locked in their favourite housemate a chance to win 1 million naira each. At the prize presentation, Laycon with the help of host Ebuka, did a raffle draw where 30 lucky fans won 1 million naira each.
After 71 days of intense drama and competition, the BBNaija Season 5 came to an end on Sunday 27th of September 2020. Laycon emerged the winner after scoring the highest votes in the final week of the BBNaija Lockdown Edition.
The season 5 reality show winner made history with over 60 percent of the Big Brother Naija final votes. He thanked the organizers, fellow housemates, family members, fans and sponsors of the event. “I don’t know what to say, I love you guys very much,” he said. When asked about his plans and projects after the house, Laycon disclosed that he intends to work on projects that will impact the society positively.
