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Hakeem

Bongani Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
WANNA be part of Big Brother? Are you handsome, do you have swag, do women find you appealing physically and are you a prince charming, who is a good listener?
Are you an intellect, a fashionista who is a risk-taker and hopeless romantic? These are some of the qualities that Big Brother Africa 9 male aspirants must possess for women to be glued on the screens during the show.

Big Brother Africa 9 will be screened live 24/7 on DStv channels 197 and 198 while GOtv audiences will see highlights of the show, which begins on Sunday, September 7 and is scheduled to run for 91 days. Big Brother Africa is produced by Endemol SA.

The whole of Africa is waiting for a chance to watch new characters and their shenanigans light up the screens.
Auditions have been carried out across participating nations in Africa with male and female enthusiasts thronging the venues for a ticket to be on the show. The reality soapie has all the themes of love, hate, backbiting, betrayal, loyalty and heroes also having villains, damsels in distress and knights in shining armour.

One character that stands out is the male character that must have the instincts of a hunter to rise above his rivals, sex appeal and be romantic for the ladies in the house and across Africa and then a bit of brotherly love or bromance.

A well toned body, with biceps and triceps, six-packs and all the muscle in the right places is what is needed. People like Hakeem and Elikem from last year’s edition got the ladies’ tongues wagging.

Having a lot of fashion sense and being able to walk around in outfits that fit you well and leave a mark wherever you go. A mean sense of humour and eloquence in speech with a strong character that shows leadership qualities is what is needed in the Big Brother house. Timidity just does not make the cut.

A touch of romance will not hurt and people like Zimbabwean model Hakeem Mandaza come to mind whose love affair with Cleo from Zambia last year was the talk of the house, Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole.

This may be the reason why the hopeless romantic Hakeem “fell” in love with Cleo, got down on his knees and asked to marry her live on television. At the time it was the boldest move a guy could do to show his love from a woman whom he had known for a few weeks.

At the dinner table while in the Diamond House Hakeem said: “This is coming from the bottom of my heart. You changed my life, you really did. At some point I lost my voice and you gave it back to me. I lost my sight and you gave that back to me. My heart was broken up in two and you brought it back together. I know a lot of people have questions right now; where is this going to lead to?

“But if I could explain it, I wouldn’t know the exact words but I would say that my love for you goes out of this house, out of this country, out of this world and out of the galaxy to infinity times infinity. And I know that time can never be enough and words can never say enough but in this moment tonight, I hope that this ring will say more than enough.

“So, Cleo Clementina Mulenga Mai Kamela, with this ring I’m holding in my hand, this is a promise between you and me so I’m going to ask you, would you, in the future, out of this house, want to marry me?”

Cleo: “yes, yes, yes of course!….”
African women watched gleefully and with cow eyes in amazement at what he did.  He became the perfect man who proposes love to his woman in front of the world. Women living in a world of fantasy and looking for men who were like Hakeem were won over in an instant.

The ordinary guy on the street who does not go out of his way to propose love to his woman and declare it to the world was now compared to Hakeem.

However, in retrospect it was a funny, surprising and downright desperate move and people who watched the series last year were shocked to see this young man give himself over to the whims of love.  Maybe it was a stunt by Hakeem to win over the females across Africa to vote for him to stay as he was tagged as a hopeless romantic.

The move was as if it came straight out of a soap opera story line. Hakeem was unfortunate to be booted out after a week and then said he would wait for Christie and then the relationship did not materialise.

The love was not shown only to the opposite sex but also to the same sex. A lot of bromance was flying around in the house as the men were showing manly affection to each other. This was evident when one of them is booted out bro hugs and handshakes and tears were shed for each other.

The most emotional was two years ago was when Roki was booted and his best friend in the house Ghanaian Prezzo was inconsolable when Roki left. It was an emotional time for them as they had made good relations within the house. What remains is that one has to have an x factor within their character so that they can be called the IT Guy. The guy other guys wishes they were.

So the whole of Africa waits with bated breath for the next prince charming to see some of Africa’s ‘best’ men on the screen in September in the reality show that will bring Africa together for three months.