by Wilfred Okiche

You are easy on the eye, have you had experiences where people dismiss you because they assume you are not smart enough?

I think that for us in showbiz, people tend to assume that we do not have to work, that all we do is show up looking pretty. But when they try to do half of what we do they confess that men, we dey try. There is a lot of work involved in entertainment. It is in Nigeria  that we do not take training in entertainment very seriously. You have to respect us because a lot of what you see is us making it up as we go, raw talent. Only a small percentage of us does any training. We should learn to give ourselves a break and avoid this pull me down mentality.

But most of these naysayers you get are anonymous, I don’t think people come up to you to say crap in your face. There has to be some consolation in that.

Exactly. I am not even talking about the anonymous ones, those ones you cannot take seriously. I don’t even know why bloggers still approve anonymous comments, I guesss it is for the fun of it because I read them and laugh. But seriously, anyone that takes anonymous comments seriously needs to have their head examined.

If I were famous, I would think that I’d want to see some of these negative comments because in some ways they keep you from believing your own hype

That is if you are not grounded. I always tell people that are aspiring to act, you have to be grounded, you have to be around family, know where you are coming from. If not for you guys, Sunday is my family time. I am the last  born so I need to go back so my elder ones can remind me that I am still that smallie from Delta state. But I also think that there is no such thing as being celebrated too much. If you are good, you are good. It is not like you are paying people, no one is doing it to get money from you. I realise that in Nigeria we do a lot of things for money but I can tell the genuine “I love you” from the fake. You have to pray for a discerning spirit to know which is what. For me, the compliments are very necessary because we work for the applause. I would rather dwell on the positives than the negatives.

Everyone has their first time, what was your first time on television like?

You mean when I got disvirgined? I was a  bundle of nerves. My first try was the Next Movie Star but that wasn’t so bad because it was more local. But for Big Brother Africa, I was shaking up until the moment that we went up the stage but once I got up there, it was like this is where I am meant to be. The minute I stop getting nervous before a big show or before my movie is released, then maybe it is time to stop because it is a sign of a need to better myself.

Was there any opposition from your family?

Not at all. They were worried at first that I would get carried away but I showed them I am a leader not a follower. After they saw how I handled my first year of fame, they relaxed. They are good.

Lets say Big Brother Africa did not happen, what would you be doing?

I don’t know honestly. I guess I would still be where I am today but I would have had to work a lot harder to prove myself. BBA was a divine intervention and I am forever grateful for that. I am a spiritual person and I always trust in the lord to make it happen for me.

Alright, you were going to tell us about your first sexual experience

It was the most awkward moment, I didn’t know what to do. This was SS 2, I was 15 I think. I had no clue what I was doing, had no idea about the motions, I had problems finding where to put what and even after finding it, I did not know how to move, it was a disaster and my partner even complained about it. I was so embarrassed.

Doesn’t sound romantic…

There was nothing romantic about my first sexual encounter, no candle lights, no whispers of I love you, it was a one night stand which was horrible. After that day I went to watch some adult movies and by the second time I was a champion.

And the partner?

I am happy I never saw her again till this day and I never want to see her in my life because it was really bad.

There are those who say reality shows are a lazy way of becoming a celebrity.

Lazy? Let them go and be locked up for 90 days with a camera tracing your every move. There is so much to prove. If they focus a camera on you for just 2 days, people will probably hate you forever. It is hard work, your whole life on television for 90 days. Non-stop. Haba!

Surely the food and free booze has to help?

The food will help but the alcohol may depend on how you conduct yourself. You can drink alcohol and act a fool and embarrass yourself and your whole family. It brings out the best or the worst in people. Let those people go and audition sef and let us see what will come out of it.

After the last BBA, we were getting reports that there were 2 different camps, one with you and Melvin and Beverly and Denrenle on the opposite side,. What is the story?

Even in politics, you have PDP and APC, life is like that. Me and Denrele aren’t enemies, we are friends. I met him after Next Movie Star and he is one of the most wonderful persons I have met my entire life. He has a heart of gold and even hosted my charity show last year and both Beverly and Melvin were present. It is like a competition, we are all friends but when it is time to compete we know to bring our A-game. Beverly is my friend but she is closer to Denrele so naturally he had to campaign for her, like he had to do for Karen, the same way I had to campaign for Melvin and Kelvin before him. We are friends. I cannot have a friend and not support him. There was no bitterness, we were just rooting for our friends.

Then some Nollywood insiders have accused you, Alex Ekubo and some others of forming a clique and cornering all the roles for young guys

There is no truth to that. If you are goo, you are good, if not, then it is what it is. I went to audition for BBA with thousands of others and I was selected, what does that tell you? For movies, I hear about auditions and I attend like everyone else. When I go for events, I network and express my intentions about working with people I meet. If you don’t take that initiative to do that, that is your problem not mine. And then packaging is everything, I stand out so people take a chance on me. There is no friend of mine that anyone has given an opportunity without trying them out first. More often than not the friends I put in a word for turn out to be good. It is just sad that people try to ascribe reasons for not making it instead of bettering themselves.