It has been quite a while since Ricco Venancio from Angola became the third winner of Big Brother Africa (BBA3), taking home the $100 000 (Sh7million) cash prize.

Despite this there has been a lot of showbiz buzz about the star, with reports on his steamy affair with a Brazilian model gracing showbiz headlines.

The pair met in Sao Paulo recently. Ricco is said to be so smitten that he is even thinking of asking the model to accompany him back to Angola.

But it is not only Ricco who is providing paparazzi with juicy gossip. Hazel Warren, 26, the Malawian BBA3 finalist is now spilling the beans and stealing the thunder from Ricco.

During an exclusive interview with Pulse this week, Hazel came out talking tough, revealing how she was denied the ‘win’ and revealing her romantic affair with South Africa’s housemate Thami. The steamy affair that started in the Big Brother House has blossomed with wedding bells on the cards.

"I am with Thami. He is the love of my life and this should end speculations. What you saw on camera is what it is. Maybe, I will announce wedding plans when I come to Nairobi for the Idols reunion concert,"Hazel disclosed.

"I don’t think I lost. I still consider myself the winner who never got the money. BBA 3 had two winners for the first time, but what makes the difference is that only one person walked away with the ultimate prize, the money," she told Pulse during the interview.

"I also think if it had been clear in the beginning as to what would happen incase of a tie, then maybe, the result would have been different. However, that is all gone; it was God’s way of redirecting me to another path…maybe," she said.

Hazel is still bitter and so are her Malawian fans who still believe Ricco was ‘favoured’. The two finalists had a tie and only one could be announced the winner during the end of the dramatic season which was marred by bisexual scandals, housemate rivalry and bitter outrage from the continent’s conservative class.

"Malawians were not happy at how the tie was broken. To begin with, it was not explained clearly as to how they arrived at the final results. My fans were very disappointed and still are to this day."

But even after the heartbreak, Hazel came home to a heroic welcome, the biggest ever to be accorded to a BBA participant. There were three Cabinet ministers at the airport to welcome her and had two songs written and recorded in her honour. Malawi’s president sent a message of congratulations to her through the media.

And Hazel now confesses that her steamy love affair which got them exposed before millions of TV fans kissing was not a mere fling. In fact, the two could be wedding soon.

It was this affair which sparked a bitter hatred between Hazel and Kenya’s Sheila Kwamboka in the house. But that is all behind her, just like her hate for Ricco whom she hints will join her for the Idols Nairobi concert.

The Malawian might not have won the big money, but like many other reality TV show participants, Hazel used her popularity as a launching pad for her showbiz life which is now headed towards the right direction.

"I registered a charity foundation, The Hazel Warren Foundation, that will be launched together with my recipe book called Cooking with Hazel. I have been inspired by what Madonna has been doing in support of Malawian kids. I am going into charity work," she adds.

It is not strange that the ultimate winners in most local and continental reality TV shows do not necessarily end up as the most successful. They may enjoy all the media glitz and the fame that comes with it, but not the fortune.

Gaetano Kagwa, the BBA season 1 Ugandan runner-up and Tanzanian Richard Bezuidenhout the BBA season two winner are doing well both in media and movie production respectively.

And there goes Ricco and what have we heard of him besides him hooking up with a Brazilian model?

Counting from BBA to Tusker Project Fame to Idols, many losers have ended up landing themselves lucrative deals and other contracts and hence being more successful than the actual winners.

For Nakaaya Sumari, for example, who was one of the contestants bundled out of the regional Tusker Project Fame (TPF1) show has been on a rollercoaster life touring the world as a United Nations special ambassador. She got signed to Sony BMG last year and married American rapper MI of Dead Prez. Her music has found its way abroad where she is touted as one of the fastest rising stars from Africa.

"I believe reality TV shows are great opportunities that do not necessarily create but expose talent. I don’t think it’s all about who wins the money but how good one is to cash on and run with the fame," Nakaaya told Pulse.

After her failure to win during her two attempts in TPF and Idols shows, Christine Apondi ended up landing herself a job with a multi-million company.

Sheila Kwamboka, last year’s BBA Kenyan representative has also seen her showbiz career take an upward scale since she left the Big Brother House.

The Tanzanian sensational songstress has ever since been more popular, across the region, than Valerie Kimani who was crowned the winner back then.

The 23-year-old soulful Samantha Tirivacho, the M-net Idols (East and Southern Africa) participant from Zimbabwe left her band Do You Wanna Country Rock and went solo after her fame during the reality TV show.

And even before Eric Moyo, the Idols winner — one of the top 10 to be eliminated at the early stages of the competition — releases his debut album, Samantha is already making a kill out of her Idols fame and is set to launch her debut album in Nairobi in September.

"I have been busy working on my debut solo project and things are looking up for me since the Idols experience," she said.

Even Sheila Rabala who lost out in the MTV VJ search is now head of news and presenter at Homeboyz radio. In the local showbiz scene, she is just as popular as Emukule Ekirapa who was voted the winner.

"In reality TV shows, sometimes it’s not about who wins the money. But what a participant does with the opportunities created during that time he or she is in the limelight," notes Nakaaya.

"You are like a product put up for bidding. Potential players in the showbiz industry stand there and watch out for the best talent. You never know who is coming with the big money," she adds.

It seems that sometimes not the best candidate who wins but the most popular among fans. Sometimes it’s about the votes and voting blocks, not the talent.

And critics still argue that there is more to reality TV shows than meets the eye. The balancing act between the viewers, advertisers and other forces that push sales or the sponsor’s interests.

The shows have been good avenues for sponsors to showcase and promote their products especially owing to the fact that stringent commercial advertising have been imposed on some leading market products.

But the key players maintain that all reality TV shows and in particular BBA Africa, Tusker Project Fame and Idols are purely star tailored for talent search and only the best win.

"They (winners) may not do better than the other contestants after they have been crowned. But it is not our mandate to help them become celebs. After the short contracts expire it is up to the singers to market their act out to the world," says one of the key players in the TPF organisation who sought anonymity.

M-net, a subsidiary of DStv concluded the BBA city-to-city new season auditions in Accra, Ghana, last Saturday and it’s only a matter of weeks before the new season housemates are unveiled to the public.

Big brother revolution

With Sh14 million at stake for the eventual winner, this year’s edition, dubbed Big Brother Revolution comes with a complete transformation and might be the greatest season yet.

The old rules banning conspiracy have been lifted and contestants will be free to forge alliances, discuss strategy openly and play the game in an entirely different way.

"The team has been working for months, fine-tuning the latest edition, focusing on delivering the ultimate BBA. We’ve got quite a few secrets this time round, so you’ll have to wait and see what happens. We aren’t going to give away all our surprises, but it’s definitely a new series and we mean new," asserts M-net Africa director Biola Adekanbi.

She goes on to say: "After three seasons, it was time for a fresh spin, time for bright ideas. This series is for the fans, to say thank you for supporting BBA since it began. So we’re giving them the best gift we can — a show to beat all the others."

Following up on this vision, series producers Endemol, South Africa, have also been busy analysing and observing other Big Brother successes around the world to develop innovative series elements and inject fresh new creativity into the production.

Besides housemates being drawn from the traditional countries; Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the search has been widened to include housemates from Mozambique and Ethiopia.

Tags: Hazel Geting Married To Thami

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