9 years ago Project Fame by MTN was brought to local screens across West Africa and what a show it was that year. Everything was perfect, from the sensational hosts, Dare Art-Alade and screen goddess Funlola Aifoyebi-Raimi (FAR) to the prizes! Safe to say the show was ‘lit’ even before ‘lit’ became a thing.

It was a delight to watch and the amazing voices! The whole point of the show right?

Contestants are scouted from 4 west African countries. Even ‘Oreo master’ Iyanya who won that season dedicated a song off his first album to the win.

9 years on and 2 countries off, we have watched the slow decline of the show and if we are being honest, Project Fame is becoming too painful to watch.

Here are 9 reasons why we are placing this show on probation till its producers fix up.

The auditions

This is the beginning. The part where we get cracked up as scouts suffer through the range of ‘talents’ in West Africa to come up with the most promising 18.

Lately, it just seems like there are no more ‘talents’ for MTN everywhere they go. Auditions are just no longer as funny and that’s sad.

The Academy

This section of the show does represent the strength and power the show wields. Since inception, the academy has proven to be the repertoire of knowledge and music education. We have watched how The Academy has helped contestants work through accents to better their performances through weeks of rigorous training.

The changes made to the voice coaches and fitness trainers over the years makes us think the academy might fare better with a little more shaking up.

By the way, while Uncle Ben still gets the thumbs up from, we are getting just a little bored of all those threats.

The judges

This one just beats us. Some people have very little business being judges on a show with this much following. Yes we said it. The great minds that have occupied the judges’ seats over the years –the likes of Kwame, Nomoreloss, Adebantu- leave big shoes to fill and the show’s producers don’t seem to have it all together in that department anymore.

The hosts

We cannot deny how much we love the duo of Bolanle and Joseph this year but Project Fame has been hosted by its fair share of hosts that couldn’t carry us along. The hosts make or mar these shows and continuity is an idea someone needs to pitch to the guys at the top. We don’t want to keep wondering who will anchor each new season.

Actually, all we are saying here is: keep Bolanle and Joseph moving forward.

The house

This right here was where all the fun was! Project Fame’s house was right up the with the likes Big Brother in terms of drama. Remember the Bisola and Kojo episode?

Not all the begging and wailing for votes we now have. What happened to housemates having that power to end some of their competition’s careers? Speaking of …

Voting

Voting is NGN100 per “PF” text message. Let’s let that sink. So who’s really voting these days?

The commercialisation of the show

Can we at least pretend the show is still about the talents please? All that #MTN this and that gets a bit boring.

When was the last time we got a star from this show?

Chidinma? Iyanya? Praiz?

All we are saying is look at Timi Dakolo and Omawumi. The show that introduced us to them even got yanked off TV already but they are still relevant years on.