For weeks, I have been drifting in and out of this Double Wahala season of Big Brother Naija, which I have deemed as popcorn entertainment. But ads are placed virtually everywhere that the housemates look like walking graffiti sometimes. During Miracle’s diary session last night, he referred to Ahneeka as a “man in a woman’s body,” an offbeat description to capture Ahneeka’s commendable performance at their just-concluded challenge.

When Big Brother spoke, his voice had a small strain of discipline; he wanted what Miracle had told him to be kept a secret. That specific comment on Ahneeka. It was like Miracle just farted and it was a bad fart. After his session, Miracle joined the rest of the housemates and I couldn’t stop thinking about how he was mansplaining to Nina in the morning.

Miracle is a type of guy, handsome, but is intimidated by smart women, so he deceives the innocent girl selling plantain or bread in the area to bed. Coz he has nothing to offer apart from his face. He settles for the vulnerable. #BBNaija

— intinomz (@GENTLEGIL) February 18, 2018

I have watched Nina a couple of times, and a major factor that gave rise to her “relationship” with Miracle is that she embodies that kind of disastrously clichéd femininity, with no awareness on navigating gender politics in the 21st century. Miracle’s “man in a woman’s body” reference to Ahneeka is what men say when women defy expectations of their gender. Have I touched on how it also sounds transphobic? Problematic comment from Miracle. Problematic.

Bernard Dayo

When Bernard Dayo isn’t writing about pop culture, he’s watching horror movies and reading comics and trying to pretend his addiction to Netflix isn’t a serious condition.