It is indeed a social experiment, intentional in all its specs.
Before even setting foot in the house, your emotions are already tested.
Although you could easily make out where exactly the house is if you’re familiar enough with Johannesburg, you’re still blindfolded to not only play at the suspense but also retain some kind of mystery.
The nerve-wreck is in the waiting though.
From the minute you hand over your phone to the production company, your patience is set against an hourglass.
If it were up to you, you’d be ushered into the house as soon as your phone leaves your possession.
In my case, the people I was going to be housed with overnight were making several calls to their loved ones but because I had already made those calls to prevent panic from disappearing, I was one of the first few people to hand in their phones.
And if you know anything about me, you know that I’m always ready to part with my phone for hours and even days for a good time.
I believe that the digital world gets too consuming and steals away so many beautiful moments from human experience. Families go out to a restaurant just to sit around the table and still be on their phones, from the parents to the children, when they’re supposed to be bonding, creating memories and getting to know each other.
Yes, there are tons of families who merely share a communal space in their homes but don’t really know each other because their phones and the digital world are thieves of that valuable time together.
Sadly, romantic relationships also suffer from this because how else would you explain the high divorce and breakup rates during the covid lockdown when people were actually forced to stay together indoors and sometimes without electricity?
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They had time to realise that they not only did not know their partners, but they actually don’t like them enough to spend the rest of their lives together.
Anyway, I digress.
My biggest source of excitement was from the thought of getting to experience people who we’ve gotten to know on our screens as basic human beings, who they truly are and how they truly think when they’re not in character for the world.
Blindfolded among influencers, journalist colleagues and actors outside the notorious house, the moment of reveal was nearing down.
Vuyo Biyela, Nkanyiso Mchunu, Nozuko Ntshangase, Sikelelwa Vuyeleni and the former Big Brother Titans contestant, Juicy Jay were just some of the notable people joining the overnight experience.
To get your best way through the walkway you can’t even see, you need to be holding the person in front of you, trusting the stranger in front of you to not let you fall, trip or bump into something.
That’s where the fun begins. Just as the sand is about to run out in the hourglass, the dark lightens as the doors to the colourful house open.
Cheers roar throughout the house as blindfolds come off one by one and everyone starts inspecting the kaleidoscope-colour-themed house. Those who think ahead even start choosing their beds in the two bedrooms on opposite sides of the house.
At this point, privacy has now become an illusion. The truth is, you’ve actually signed it away.
Although we were assured at the launch that there would not be the explicit shower hour this season, there are still cameras in the shower, inside the toilet cubicles and every other corner of the house.
As they always say, “Biggie is always watching and listening” and “Big Brother’s house, Big Brother’s rules” but with time, you get over the daunting thought of having someone watching your every move.
To break the ice, an introductory game was played and in this, everyone had to perform their favourite skit, sketch or scene from either local or international TV. Somewhere between this game and the time spent together in the jacuzzi, we all got along like a house on fire right before we were locked inside the house to avoid noise disruption for the neighbours. Yes, Biggie has neighbours.
Before we knew it, we were singing gwijo (war cry) songs together from the top of our lungs, popping each other’s pimples, dancing, dishing up for each other and watching some drama unfold.
One soldier after the other, the beds were occupied and niche cliques with the last housemates standing were created.
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By the time the sun rose, we had become vulnerable in conversations that nearly brough us to tears, we had shared with each other the darkest experiences of our lives and watered each other’s wisdom plants from mere engagement.
Coming out of the house with some swept-away issues now laid bare on the table with a stranger – refreshed as ever - I couldn’t help but wonder how much healing I would have had, had I stayed longer and had more of those engagements for three months as a contestant.
Would I consider being a contestant? Probably not because I know I wouldn’t survive sharing every little thing with people, I was my mother’s only child for 18 years; didn’t have to share much with anyone. It got worse when I left home for varsity because I never even shared a room. If I could help it, I didn’t even share a kitchen or bathroom/toilet.
If there’s one thing you can take from my experience in the Big Brother house though is that taking time off from the digital world and immersing yourself in a space with people (it doesn’t even have to be your close loved ones) to experience them for who they truly are before they are what society deems them as is so refreshing and once in a while, try it out.
One other thing is that, opening up and talking to a stranger who doesn’t know you from a bar of soap and has no basis to judge you is sometimes all you need to get a fresh perspective on things and just heal through the subconscious confrontation of the things you’ve been avoiding or running away from. If what came to mind is a therapist, then maybe it’s a sign to book that session.
