by Wilfred Okiche

Day 37 dawned bright and early in the Tails’ house with South African Luclay starting up his day by hugging and wishing Mumba a happy birthday, before joining the other Tailsmates for a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ for the birthday girl. Soon it was down to business and the Tailsmates got ahead of their colleagues in the other house by betting 100% against the Heads’ 75%. This week, the house will be transformed into a hospital called St. Nowhere – complete with doctors, nurses and psychotic patients, and housemates will be assigned a character – a sometimes exaggerated version of their real selves, to play in the hospital drama that will unfold during the week. For reasons known to Big Brother alone, Luclay and Nic were assigned double roles.

Housemates spent most of the morning getting into character and wardrobe and when the task began, Miss P, as the hospital manager Conception Masterson, quickly called the staff to order when an emergency disinfection session turned rowdy before heading for a therapy session with her ex, Surgeon Jerome whom she is battling for custody of their two Chihuahuas. Meanwhile, Karen as trashy nurse Verity stole a moment from her clinical duties to declare her undying love for Dr Romeo Valentine, played by Luclay while they relaxed on the couch. She caressed his face and insisted she would give anything to be his Juliet.

After the day’s task, the housemates reviewed their performances and Luclay complained that Karen kept forgetting other people’s names, making it difficult to tell when she was in character. Karen quickly countered that Luclay was ignoring her advances and insisted that she was a nurse not a maid and as such should not be bossed around by anybody except by Dr Romeo whom she had a crush on. Miss P had a hissy fit that saw her screaming and cursing till Big Brother had to intervene and housemates had to get in character once more to save her. Luclay and Mumba had another fight which started when she accused him of stealing a kiss when he was supposed to be resuscitating her in a hospital task that occurred during the day, and ended with Luclay storming out of the room.

Oluwapelumi