How Mazi White won Biggie’s N90m and Africa’s heart

Rotimi Ige chronicles how WhiteMoney, winner of Big Brother Season six, won the hearts of viewers round the world to emerge first and clinch the N90m prize.

Whitemoney, real name Hazel Oyeye Onou, had always believed that he was born to be great. He, at various times, told housemates about his struggle and how he rose from the streets of Lagos; doing many menial jobs ranging from barbing to later becoming a respected fashion brand supplier. According to him, “I made up my mind never to be poor again and that drives me to succeed in anything I find myself doing”.

Last Sunday night, his life changed forever, after he emerged winner of the sixth season of Big Brother Naija after polling 47 per cent of the votes in the final week. The show polled over one billion votes overall and about 300 million votes in the final week alone.

The show’s host, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, announced that the 29-year-old was the winner at this season’s grand finale on Sunday, October 3, 2021.

The native of Enugu State beat 25 other housemates to clinch the prize after an intensely competitive 77 days.

For the first time in the show’s history, the game ended with a top six instead of a top five. Liquorose became the last woman standing in the competition and the first runner up with 29.99 per cent of the votes. Pere came in third place after polling 14.7 per cent of the votes. Cross gathered only 6.44 percent of the votes and came in fourth. At the same time, Angel and Emmanuel finished fifth and sixth with 5.37 and 3.43 per cent respectively.

WhiteMoney, at the opening show, had said that he was going into the House to be himself and show the world his numerous talents, which he did.

Throughout the show, he positioned himself strategically such that most of the housemates depended on his cooking, loved his creative abilities with the various task deliveries and some even looked up to him as a brother figure, as became evident in his relationship with KayVee, Nini among others.

It was perhaps for these reasons that most housemates wished secretly to have him on their team during tasks. Mazi, as he was fondly called, also developed a special bond with Jackie B and later, Queen towards the end of the show.

His talents shone during the season; singing, composition, acting, comedy, among other attributes also stood him out. However, it was not almost smooth sailing as he had a few spats with some housemates, of which the most intense that may stand out as the season’s highlight, with Pere.

Pere, a wildcard who was second runner up eventually, had, during his reign as Head of House in the BBNaija, had thought WhiteMoney’s ‘takeover’ of the kitchen a strategy and removed him, a decision that led to a ‘revolution’ among housemates. A later confrontation between the two created conversations that lasted throughout the season and earned ‘Pere’ his military acronym, ‘The General’. Both housemates later became friends and finalists on the show.

Whitemoney seemed a seer during the entire duration of the show, and would speak his thoughts about certain and future occurrences about situations in the House. He, during various conversations, said that his time in the House taught him a lot about himself, and about the type of person he wanted to be. And so, with his various attributes and general humor, he endeared himself to the viewing audience who swole by the day in his favour.

Speaking on his win, WhiteMoney, said at no point did he think he would win the show.

“I never saw myself winning even when I and Liquorose were left. It seemed like the scenario that played out in 2019 between Michael and Mercy. The win is surreal”.

About what he would do with his N30m earnings, WhiteMoney said it would still remain in his account for a while as he needed to settle properly to know how to invest it.

“It will remain in my account. There are needs that it will meet later after the euphoria clears but of utmost importance is my music…and then business. I came from the streets and intend to pursue my passion. Music has always been my first love and I intend to pursue it fully”, he said.

By winning this year’s show, Whitemoney joins Katung, Efe, Miracle, Mercy and Laycon in the highly coveted list of BBNaija winners and no doubt, leverage the opportunity the BBNaija platform has offered him to push his career.

The year’s edition of the BBNaija franchise will go down in history as the most successful one yet, having recorded over a billion votes, an unprecedented number of auditions and broken social media engagement records. Despite following strict COVID-19 guidelines, just like last year, the innovative changes to the show and twists helped keep things exciting. It also had viewers on their toes and constantly trying to figure out Big Brother’s next move. The success of this edition is particularly remarkable, considering fans didn’t have the usual SMS voting platforms to vote with this year.