Sometimes, we define our relationships as partnerships and take active steps to ensure the partnership is mutually beneficial. In the Big Brother Naija house, there is a now-fully-grown ‘partnership strategy‘ that is becoming more hurting than real. And, while some may feel that love dramas in the house make for entertaining content, you can’t deny the fact that it eclipses possibilities of hiding housemates’ real nature.

We will recall how Lilo got into the house and jumped right onto Eric‘s hands. The lovebirds sold a love story that simply didn’t feel organic enough. And while, in their defence, they did put up a good show, they eventually couldn’t achieve their end goal – making the audience believe their love was genuine. They succeeded in irritating the audience rather than entertaining them and cut short their BBN journey in the process. Chances are Lilo would have stayed a while longer in the house if she was not stuck with Eric.

Convoluted relationships

What about the ones currently in the house? We can’t make conclusions yet, but we are allowed to assume that a number of things would have been different, and perhaps, more interesting if the lovebirds in the house didn’t cling to each other so much.

Ozo and Nengi

For starters, we should ask Ozo to stop putting himself in a terrible situation on live TV.

‘Leave me alone,’ has never been louder when it comes to these two. Nengi’s known lack of attraction or disinterest is becoming too bold to ignore.

She has called Ozo a brother, just a friend, and ‘my guy’ just to let him know that she has no plans to pursue anything romantic. She even put a pillow between them when they slept on the same bed, but Ozo is not getting the message.

He continues to push for a relationship, continues to cling to her, and continues to be curved in increasingly creative ways. And, if he doesn’t get his act together, he may end up being the Frodd of this season.

But the coin has flipped at some point when Ozo tried to pull away from Nengi. Responding too quickly, Nengi guilt-tripped the sweet gentle fellow into pursuing her again. Constantly asking him at the time why he was avoiding her. A conversation happened and the book opened again.

This is interesting to look at because, during the weeks when Ozo wasn’t spending most of his time with Nengi, he was genuinely a fun guy. He had more to offer and his fanbase now is honestly based on the followership he managed to garner when he was single. Fans gravitated towards the first-class handsome and brilliant economist, and they still cling to the initial perception of him.

Erica and Kiddwaya

Erica is another housemate who seems to be affected by her situationship. To be fair, her fan base is aggressive enough to stan her no matter what, but this weekend exposed her a lot and she came close to disqualification. It is the same story with Kidd.

And while the fans continue to be entertained by a daily dose of love-inclined stage plays, she seems to be losing her friendship with the rest of the housemates as a result.

Her persona is currently contrary to the fun-loving girl who got along with everyone when the show began.

Now she spends all day with Kidd and has had an altercation with a few ladies in the house because of Kidd. She is also in an open feud with Vee. And her friendship with Laycon, who she was closest to, has basically taken a nosedive.

Neo and Vee

Arguably the most complex relationship in the house. These two have found themselves fighting over trivial things like food, debates and hearsay.

For three weeks, one of either of them has been in the bottom six and both have been at risk of eviction at least once. So, you wonder how they think the ‘partnership strategy’ is working.

Interestingly, they were not in the bottom five on Sunday, but there’s always a next time – a next eviction show.

Brighto and Wathoni

These two started their partnership quite late; unexpectedly too. The Lord Baelish of the house must have also thought that strategy will keep him longer than it did. He got this one wrong and his exit shook BBN fans.

Nooooooooo not Brighto

— ?ITS DONJAZZY AGAIN? (@DONJAZZY) August 30, 2020

They left the house on the same day and when asked what could have happened, he simply said, “probably the Wathoni thing”. Time cannot be turned on this one and housemates might as well pick at least one lesson from this.

So why this strategy?

Well, we can’t ignore the role fans of the show have played in pushing the narrative that a couple will outlast a housemate who decides to play the game alone.

Fans of the show consistently push for relationships in the house, and housemates may have gone into the show with that in mind. But, the strongest character goes home with the money, not the one that got into an entertaining situationship.

Backtrack to Mercy and Miracle, BBN past winners, you will remember how romantic relationships in the house played a minimal role on their overall win.

But like Ebuka usually says to the housemates, ‘you don’t pay attention’.