“Big Brother Mzansi” season 3 has finally come to an end and the dust is settling as contestants ease into life outside Biggie’s house.
IOL Entertainment recently caught up with winner Mpho Vundla, runner-up Gershwin “Gash1” Mthombeni and the rest of the top five contestants at a press conference in Sandton.
In attendance were also the rest of the eliminated housemates.
Director of local entertainment channels at M-Net, Shirley Adonis, and commissioning editor at MultiChoice Group, Sipho Ngwenya, also attended the media briefing.
Lawrence Maleka continued to hold down the “Big Brother Mzansi” host duties.
Season 3 of “Big Brother Mzansi” was a huge success, with the show trending these past three months as audiences on Twitter engaged daily about the show and the votes showed this.
Adonis shared that 343 million votes were cast and it was the most watched show apart from sport. She noted that viewers fell in love with the show from day one.
As to whether another season of “Big Brother” will come to fans’ screens, Adonis said the team was still to meet, debrief and do a post-production analysis and only then would a decision be made.
Mpho received 36.45% of the votes, clinching the R2 million prize money. When she entered the room she was beaming with excitement.
“I’m still overwhelmed. I think I still need to process all of this, it's been a hectic few hours.
“I’m just trying to adapt to being outside of the house. My new reality, everything is just a buzz,” she told Maleka.
Mpho revealed that during her stay in the house she lost herself at some stage as she hadn't planned on revealing that she is a sangoma, but there was a moment during the first week that showed her that she needed to be herself.
When asked whether her ancestors played a role in her winning the reality competition, Mpho told everybody that she did not ask to be a sangoma as this is a gift she has.
Mpho recalled introducing herself in the first week as a sangoma, but she reminded everyone that she said she was not a magician but a healer. She also said that her faith kept her going during her time in the house.
“I went there and I was myself. I broke stereotypes. Being a sangoma still exists a person. And I lived my best life in the house.
“I kept faith a lot in the house … Winning was destiny, it was a dream that became reality,” she said.
As to what she intends doing with the prize money, she explained that she has many plans she has to fulfil, plans that were in place even before she entered the house. The hard worker in her is set on securing more bags and the R2 million is a nice kick-starter.
Tulani “Tulz“ Madala was the only housemate who left without ever being nominated for eviction.
He explained to IOL Entertainment that the longer he managed to stay away from elimination the bigger the target grew on his back.
“At some point, I got paranoid and started asking people, ’Can I trust you?’ It kind of felt like my game plan was coming together,” he remarked.
The housemates seem to have been bitten by the reality show bug as they were all open to the idea of taking part in another reality show, following in the footsteps of previous contestants Mandla and Lex.
Another thing they all agreed on was choosing the best Saturday night house party.
They loved them all. Well, who wouldn't have their own private house party with the hottest DJ spinning the decks and drinks flowing?
The contestants had good times in the house, but their mental health was also a priority, with all the necessary services being available to them during and after their time on the show.