BOTH Zimbabwean representatives in the Big Brother house, Butterphly and JJ have reached the final of arguably the most popular reality show in Africa.
It is a first for Zimbabwe to enter the final with both representatives.
Butterphly made it after not being nominated for eviction by fellow housemates, while JJ was lucky to survive eviction last Sunday.
The two now join Nhlanhla (South Africa), Macky 2 (Zambia), Sipe (Malawi), Idris (Tanzania), Ma’mbea (Ghana) and Tayo (Nigeria).
The winner of Big Brother Hostshots will pocket US$300 000.
Zimbabwe is the only country with both its representatives in the final while Botswana saw both of their representatives, Sheillah and Goitse, being evicted last Sunday.
What then are the chances that Africa will vote for either Butterphly or JJ in order for either one of them to win?
Although Zimbabweans can be happy seeing the two in the final, sadly chances of either one of them winning are slim.
Viewers usually vote for their country’s representatives, but leave room for supporting other housemates.
However, this season of Big Brother Africa removed that tradition and viewers were supporting housemates depending on the regions they come from.
Zimbabwean ex-housemate from last year’s season, Pokello Nare took to her twitter page saying the ‘regions move’ made this season of Big Brother Africa boring.
“People didn’t understand what I meant last year,” she said.
“We stopped playing entertainment a long time ago, now it’s a game of regions.
“Regionalism dynamics, you leave a split West Africa, a split Southern Africa and an East Africa that is solid.”
Currently in Big Brother Hotshots, the housemates left vying for the grand prize, Southern Africa is the only region with many housemates still in the game.
And because viewers shifted from the tradition of voting for the best housemate, but for their region, it becomes a disadvantage to Southern Africa because viewers will split votes considering the region has many housemates in the final.
In previous editions of Big Brother, viewers voted for certain housemates to stay in the house based on how entertaining they were.
In 2010 Zimbabwe’s Munyaradzi Chidzonga and Uti from Nigeria were good examples of housemates who got overwhelming votes not just from their regions, but from Africa as a whole.
At one time Chidzonga survived eviction after receiving 14 country votes from countries from different regions.
This year it would not be a surprise if Tanzanian Idris bags the money this Sunday since he is the only housemate left representing his region, East Africa.
Countries from East Africa that are participating in Big Brother Hotshots include Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda while West Africa only has Ghana and Nigeria.
Southern Africa has more countries that participate in Big Brother, and in this season of Big Brother, it has more housemates in the final.
Of the 26 housemates that entered this season of Big Brother Hotshots, eight are left in the final and only one will walk away with US$300 000.
Will Butterphly or JJ bring it home? We will just keep our fingers crossed.