35 Days After: 30 Lessons We Have Learnt From BBNaija All-Stars

It’s been 30 days since our favourites returned to the Biggieverse. A lot has been going on in the house. We can say it has been an eye-opening season filled with lessons.

The show continues to gather a large viewership because of the differences in housemates’ backgrounds. It calls for media representation and teaches viewers, especially those paying keen attention. Here are thirty lessons the All-Stars season has taught fans so far.

1. Adaptability is key: Only housemates who can adapt to different situations, form alliances, and adjust their strategies based on the changing dynamics of the game tend to thrive. Everyone must adapt to every situation thrown at them, even in real life.

2. Learn to communicate effectively: Biggie is a prime example of how this works, shown clearly during diary sessions, wager tasks and other activities in the house. The housemates also communicate to build alliances, avoid misunderstandings, and resolve conflicts. This should teach viewers they can do much with a team if everyone can communicate effectively.

3. You must think strategically and act accordingly to move forward: Every housemate wants to be on top of the game, and as such, they think strategically, making calculated moves to advance their position in the game, as viewers must also do in their daily lives.

4. Having great social skills and etiquette will help you garner favour easier:  Housemates can’t survive in Big Brother’s house with terrible social skills. The housemates use their socialising skills to build relationships, connect with others, read people and gain fan support. The housemates with the easiest-going characters, like Cross, gather goodwill from the house and fans, proving that humans always favour easygoing people with great socialising skills.

5. Be resilient to survive: One essential skill for maintaining mental and emotional well-being within the competitive environment is resilience. Irrespective of the bants and draggings, every housemate can bounce back from setbacks, handle criticism, and persevere through challenges. Anyone who wants to succeed at anything they do will also have to build their resilience so they can bounce back when things don’t go according to plan.

6. Learn to diplomatically resolve conflicts: The house environment can lead to disagreements. Housemates are clearly still learning to resolve clashes diplomatically, and fans have an opportunity to pick up some lessons here too. The housemates would have more fun and less trouble if they could easily find common ground, get off their high horse and deal with their issues diplomatically.

7. Respect Diversity: Big Brother Naija show cuts across different ethnic groups in Nigeria. Living with individuals from diverse backgrounds highlights the importance of respecting differences, embracing diversity, and learning from one another.

8. Mind Your Business: Adekunle’s first run in the house compared with his second highlights this fact. He has garnered more house love and fan favour this season by simply being determined to mind his business. He has also stayed out of trouble and compromising conversations by minding his business.

9. Be Yourself: No one can pretend to be someone they are not for 77 days in the BBNaija house. While the Biggieverse is not the place to display terrible behaviour, housemates who create fake personas more than often reveal their true colours before the show ends. As with Biggie’s house, where it’s impossible to be who you are not, faking in real life will also get you into uncomfortable situations, so be yourself.

10. In the game, no one is your friend: The housemates have bonded over sharing the same space for 30 days, but when it comes down to securing the bag, most will betray one another to win the prize. We can not blame them since they are in the house to secure the bag.

11. Public perception matters: Housemates’ actions and behaviour during the show tell how the public perceives them. It affects their journey in the house and outcomes. This is why some have a large fan base, and others have a smaller one. How people perceive you will affect your growth and success.

12. Don’t play on people’s emotions: Some people may appear weak around you, don’t take advantage of them if you genuinely do not have an interest in their lives. Because the day the latter “changes it for you”, you will be shocked to your bones.

13. Don’t Give What You Don’t Have: Don’t try to be what you are not or give what you can’t. For instance, avoid promising others your heart if you can’t give it. Don’t fake an accent and end up with the famous ‘Amerigbo’ one. At the heart of this is – ‘no do pass yourself’.

14. Learn to manage your emotions: We have seen the housemates lose their temper over trivial issues leading to strikes, punishments, and Biggie’s disapproval. The moral lesson is, irrespective of what happens, manage your emotions so you don’t end up disgracing yourself or getting into big trouble.

15. People need distractions from real-life issues: The show has proven to relieve Nigerians in a trying economic time, distracting them from things that otherwise give them sleepless nights. If you also find a way to help people enjoy healthy distractions, you may be on your way to great wealth.

16. Women’s power still exists: We saw how the ladies took Pere out of the Head of House game true to their strategy session. This demonstrates their ability to collaborate, strategize, and make impactful decisions. Last last, if women truly supported women, they’ll be unstoppable.

17. You cannot fool people twice: Safe to say Nigerians are not mugus, Whitemoney came back to the house with his chef appeal, but that did not go well with netizens, even down to Uriel, who stated that she constantly feels intimidated by Whitemoney’s actions towards her in the kitchen. It may have worked in the Lockdown season, but it didn’t hold water during this All-Stars season.

18. Nigerians Appreciate Cultured People: From the votes so far, Seyi has constantly been in the bottom three since the show began because netizens do not appreciate his behaviour on the show. Viewers say he should have been evicted in place of Princess and Uriel. But as we all know, the jury had the final say. After his disgraceful spiel at the end of the fourth Saturday party, more Nigerians have ‘cancelled’ him and actively awaiting his disqualification or eviction.

19. Stay away from bad energy: In their few weeks in the house, some housemates have encountered unpleasant situations they should have walked away from. Some chose to fuel the heated moments more, while others stayed to take the bad energy. Either way, they should have run away from the terrible scenario. In Wizkid’s words, they should have said, “Bad energy stay far away!”

20. Be a good person: This season, the housemates have used their ‘pardon me please’ cards to save the people they consider the kindest. If you are good to people, they’ll return the favour.

21. Humans are unpredictable: One minute, they are laughing together. Next, they formed alliances against each other. No one can see the heart of men, so play safe.

22. People will do almost anything to get to the top: The housemates have played all sorts of dirty games this season to one-up each other, and we don’t see that ending anytime soon. At the end of the day, most people will do almost anything to win.

23. Teamwork makes the dream work: BBNaija compulsorily creates groups during tasks to make the housemates work together. So far, they’ve won all their wagers except the ones where they couldn’t foster enough unity to make sense of the task. It is no coincidence that the most aligned team always wins every activity.

24. Never speak ill of others: We can see how the parrot continues to expose house gossip. If any housemate had suspected that their words would come back to haunt them, they’d have treaded lightly instead.

25. Leadership skill is a life essential: It is a custom that a new Head of House emerges every week, and it takes wisdom to be a leader or head, especially in a place where we have adults. So far, we have seen the heads of house carry out their responsibility well, proving leadership skills are invaluable.

26. Don’t let People Know Your Next Move: Even though every housemate has formed an alliance, Whitemoney decided to be a one-man mopol. He has refused to join any coalition or deliberately go out of his way to hurt other people’s game. Instead, he has focused on playing his game as best as possible and insists on keeping his cards close to his chest.

27. Pretence is Everywhere: People will say one thing and mean another, and the housemates have shown just how easy it is to pull one of those ‘scams’ off. Viewers must remember that not everything is what it looks like.

28. You can find love anywhere: The Biggieverse has proven that love can thrive there. With two married couples from the show and four children, anything is possible. Just remember not to close of your heart to possibilities.

29. Watch how you speak especially when you are inebriated: People say a lot of things they don’t mean or they would never say when they are sober once they have a little alcohol in them. You must watch what you say at every point, but especially when you are tipsy or drunk.

30. Expect the unexpected: Biggie decided to shock everybody this season, introducing the Jury, Parrot and the Please Pardon Me session. Irrespective of where you find yourself or whatever you do, have it at the back of your mind that anything can happen and be prepared for the unexpected.

Viewers can still learn a lot every day as the show continues. It’s all in the drama, the entertainment and the personalities playing to win the grand prize of ₦120 million naira.