by Wilfred Okiche

Last night on Big Brother Africa, the chase came to a halt for Bassey and Pokello two of the most popular contestants this season. The eviction live show began with a hard working performance by Botswana’s A.T.I. We were brought up to speed on last week’s evictees Natasha and Selly who proved they were settling quite favourably at home.

Natasha shut down Malawi’s international airport for some time as her home fans came out in their numbers to receive her while Selly was quite busy dishing out in a press conference, her plans to sue former paramour Nando for defaming her character. Nando had earlier accused her of gifting him with a sexually transmitted disease after their tryst.

Back to the housemates, host IK Osakioduwa asked the nominated mates to stand up and after some usual attempts at suspense, he called Bassey’s name and Big Brother instructed the springly Sierra Leonean to pack his things and leave the house. Bassey hugged everyone and came out to meet IK, stressing that he wasn’t surprised by Bimp’s decision to swap him. He also added that he was only being a big brother to Nigeria’s Beverly and nothing romantic could possibly happen between them.

Next up was serial nominee and eviction survivor Pokello from Zimbabwe. Formidable and sexy all at once, Pokello kissed Elikem passionately before passing out hugs to the other guys. Oozing confidence and lots of attitude she agreed that she may have put off some of the housemates who could not deal with her swag. She revealed that what she shared for Elikem was real despite having a man on the outside. IK then replayed some of their moments in the house and confided that the guys in the Emerald house were fake players brought in to mess with their heads.

The 3 houses were merged during the week with Biggie instructing Sulu to continue as head of house and housemates spent a lot of time getting to know the newcomers from the Emerald house. Ik announced that the Emerald house mates were exempt from nominating people and being nominated this week as they needed some time to settle in before playing the game.

As the game approaches the final arc, things are about to climb to feverish proportions. Who stays and who leaves? Find out in next week’s The Chase roundup.