The BBNaija ‘All Stars’ edition premiered on July 23, 2023, featuring stars from previous editions of the popular reality TV show.
The organisers of the show, which will run for 70 days, announced that the grand prize for the All Stars edition had been increased to a whopping N120m.
Recall that the Big Brother Titans, which featured Nigerian and South African housemates, was held earlier in the year, with South African, Khosi, winning the show and taking home $100,000. A Nigerian, Kanaga Jnr, emerged as the first runner-up.
But the All Stars edition will feature a new game tagged, ‘The Black Envelope game’, and 30 fans will be eligible to win N1m each.
Also, the ninjas will return for the new edition, in addition to the usual weekly wagers, Head of House Challenges — which will now last for four hours, Arena Games, and other sponsored tasks.
The past housemates who made it to the All Stars edition include Pere, CeeC, Alex, Kiddwaya, Mercy, Tbaj, and Angel.
Others are Neo, Alex, Cross, Seyi, Whitemoney, Uriel, Doyin and Princess, Soma, Ike, Adekunle, Venita and Ilebaye.
However, here are the popular ex-housemates and fans’ favourites who were not selected for the All Stars edition.
Tacha
A former Big Brother Naija contestant and social media influencer, Natasha Akide, popularly known as Tacha, was disqualified from BBNaija Season 4 edition (pepper dem) of the show for physically assaulting a fellow housemate, Mercy.
She was disqualified on On September 27, 2019, an event she described as a low moment for her. She was disqualified for being physically violent towards Mercy with just 10 days left in the show.
Tacha and Mercy had been embroiled in a shouting match, which turned physical after Tacha grabbed Mercy’s hair and she, in turn, tried to defend herself with an electric iron.
According to the official website of the show, Tacha was accused of losing her temper which led to her pushing, shoving and pulling Mercy’s hair which was considered violence.
Laycon
Born Olamilekan Agbeleshebioba, the 30-year-old Ogun State-born rapper and songwriter, known professionally as Laycon, is a Nigerian rapper, singer, songwriter, and media personality.
He is the winner of Big Brother Naija Season 5 and is currently the youth ambassador of Ogun State. The PUNCH reports Laycon won the 2020 edition of the Big Brother Naija reality TV show after he
got 60 per cent of the total votes cast by viewers to beat fellow housemate, Dorathy Bachor, who got about 21.65 per cent of the votes.
Both contestants were among the five finalists, including Nengi, Neo and Vee, that made it to the grand finale of the show, out of a total of 20 housemates. The rapper went home with N85 million grand prize.
Dorathy Bachor
Dorathy Bachor is the runner-up of Big Brother Naija Season 5 (lockdown edition). The 26-year-old entrepreneur hails from Delta State. She is a graduate of Joseph Ayo Babalola University, with a bachelor’s Degree in Accounting in 2016.
She got 21.85 per cent votes to place second position after Laycon, who won the season show, polled 60 per cent votes.
She is the CEO of an online procurement shop, Shop For Me.
Diane Russet
Former Pepper Dem housemate, Precious Yashim, aka Diane Russet, is also among the BBNaija stars who did not make it to the All Stars Edition.
She also recently ruled out the possibility of featuring on the All Stars. The actress explained she would prefer working with the BBNaija production crew rather than being on the show.
In an interview with The PUNCH, had said she defied her fears and pursued her dreams till she became an Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards recipient.
She said, “Being on the Big Brother reality TV show was a way for me to find myself and put things in perspective. There are people who know their talents and gifts at an early age and then there are some people that take their time and find it sometime later. I think I was just one of those trying to figure it out myself and when I got into the house, I was surrounded by talented people. So, for every task that they gave us, I feel like it challenged me to want to know myself better. The Big Brother house helped me find myself, know what to do, and challenged me to be a better version of myself.”
Tobi Bakre
Nigerian actor and model, Tobi Bakre, rose to fame after finishing up as a finalist in the BBNaija Season 3 reality TV show in 2018.
The movie star played the lead actor role in ‘Gangs of Lagos’ produced and directed by Jade Osiberu. The movie is the first African Original for the video streaming platform, Amazon Prime.
The movie that hit the screens on April 7, 2023, follows the story of three friends; Obalola (Tobi Bakre), Gift (Adesua Etomi-Wellington) and Ify (Chike-Ezekpeazu Osebuka), who each have to navigate their own destiny, growing up on the rough and bustling streets of Isale Eko, Lagos.
The thespian earned his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Lagos. He recently won Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Award (Best Actor in a Drama, movie or TV Series). He has 2.4 million followers on Instagram and is a brand ambassador of the betting platform, Bet King Nigeria.
Miracle
Miracle Igbokwe won Season 3 of the BBNaija reality TV show which was broadcast on January 28 and ended on April 22, 2018. The 25-year-old is a Nigerian pilot and model from Imo State.
On May 30, 2018, Miracle received his N25 million cheque, a Hyundai SUV, and a trip to an exotic location for two people as part of his grand prize for emerging top among the 20 contestants in the Big Brother Naija Double Wahala edition.
Aside from the top prize, Miracle also won another N1 million. Cee-C, who is a housemate in the ongoing All Stars edition, finished in second place.
Omashola
Kola Oburo, known popularly known as Omashola, was one of the housemates of the 2019 Big Brother Naija show.
The Delta State-born housemate endeared himself to fans of the show with his pidgin English and his “Warri street!” mantra during his stint in the house.
Omashola made it to the final five housemates before his eventual eviction from the show. The 42-year-old model and club manager is a graduate of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic.
Liquorose
BBNaija Season 6 runner-up, Roseline Afije, popularly known as Liquorose, was the first runner-up of Season 6 of the BBNaija reality television show tagged ‘Shine Ya Eye’.
The season was won by Hazel Onou, popularly known as Whitemoney, who is also a housemate in the ongoing All Stars edition. Whitemoney edged Liquorose to win the N90m grand prize. Born Roseline Afije in 1995, the young lady is a jack of many talents; she is a choreographer, entertainer, model, and video vixen.
One of the fans’ favourites, the native of Edo State noted that she discovered her passion and talent in the entertainment industry quite early enough and she didn’t hold back in pursuing her career.
She made her debut as an actress when she was featured in the award-winning, Nigerian TV drama series, The Johnsons, in 2012. Fast-forward to 2015, she starred in the movie ‘The OAP’ and a short film titled ‘HEX’ in 2016.
As a video vixen, some of her notable works include her feature in the music video ‘Chop Am’ by Reekado Banks, ‘Yo Yo’ by Selebobo, ‘Oh Oh’ by Runtown, ‘Jalla’ by Xcellente featuring Solid Star, among others. Liquorose was an established name before she headed into the Big Brother Naija house as she is one of the trio of the Girls Got Bold dance crew.
Nengi
Rebecca ‘Nengi’ Hampson is the second runner-up of Big Brother Naija (Lockdown Edition). She was appointed as a senior special assistant to the Bayelsa State governor, Douye Diri, in November 2020.
Diri appointed her as a Senior Special Assistant on Girl Child Development. Just two months after emerging as the second runner-up of BBN in 2020, she was awarded the Black Women Worldwide Award for Entrepreneur of the Year on November 1, 2020.
Nengi was the first female housemate in the history of the show to have one million followers on Instagram while still in the competition.
Ozo
While on the show, Ozomena Chukwu, aka Ozo, was the butt of jokes for many because of his doting affection towards another housemate, Nengi. However, that also endeared him to many fans. He currently has 1.5 million followers on Instagram. He has worked with brands such as FIFA, Nike, Budweiser, and Tecno.
