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Mr Idris Sultan is all smiles as he receives a dummy cheque for his hefty BBA prize. PHOTO | COURTESY, MULTICHOICE
By Paul Owere, The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. When Idris Sultan, 21, joined the Big Brother Africa reality show 63 days ago, not much was known about him, except that he was a mere rookie photographer in Dar es Salaam.
To many, he was just another post-teenage youth, trying out a shot at fame just like many others before him.
But nine weeks later, he has joined the Millionaires’ Club in Tanzania, thanks to the BBA Hotshots win on Sunday night that translated into a cheque of $300,000 (Sh510 million).
Idris picked up an avalanche of viewers’ votes across the continent after weeks of fun, drama and intrigue to become the hottest of the Hotshots in the 9th Season of the show in South Africa.
Though it has always been maintained by the powers-that-be that they don’t endorse Big Brother as a show, meaning that contestants don’t represent the country, his win reverberated across the region.
In most nightspots in Dar es Salaam, activities stopped towards the final announcement of the ultimate winner between Idris and Nigeria’s Tayo. The host’s unveiling of Idris was followed with wild scenes of jubilation.
Mother speaks out
His mother, Ms Naima Idris Ngido, 44, was among those who were elated by Sunday night triumph in Johannesburg. Yesterday, she narrated to The Citizen her struggle raising Idris and her words before letting him take into the game.
“I raised Idris as a single mother and one of the pillars that he was brought up on is being simple and down-to-earth,” said Naima, a businesswoman.
She adds: When he told me for the first time that he was set for Big Brother, I was a bit hesitant but then after some careful thought, I said okay and cautioned him that he should always be tolerant of others while in the house.
She admits that at times she thought that Idris was going off the radar with his game plan in the house, because there were certain things that he did that didn’t go down well with me.
“As a mother there’re certain things that I saw which pleased me, and there’re some that even Idris knows that on any given day they cannot be acceptable in my house,” says Naima.
She added that when she was invited to the Big Brother House a couple of weeks ago, these were some of the things that she had to iron out with Idris who had by then become very popular for his romantic exploits.
Idris’ sister, Nasra, who travelled all the way to support her younger brother, was another person who was spellbound after her brother was declared winner.
“This is really big deal for my family,” she told The Citizen of South Africa in Linden, Johannesburg. Idris will spend a few more days in South Africa before returning home.
The young man survived the challenge from 25 other housemates through nine weeks of extravaganzas, weekly tasks and even an epic prank in true Big Brother style.
After he’d picked himself up off the floor after the announcement, he said he was feeling exhausted after the “long ride”. “Big love to everyone in Africa, I’ve so much love out there, I’m going to give back every single day,” he said.
With that win, Idris became the second Tanzanian and East African to win the award that has in a recent past been dominated by Nigeria.
In fact, in the run in to the final minutes of the show, some of his fans feared the old pet-peeve had come to haunt Tanzania again when Idris was left in the house with Nigeria’s Tayo.
Things turned out differently this time around: East African countries—Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania, plus Namibia, rallied behind him in huge numbers.
Speaking to The Citizen from Johannesburg, Idris said he was very grateful for the support that Tanzania, East Africa and the rest of Africa had afforded him in the run to the final days.
“It is taking kind of long to absorb the fact that I’ve won; it’s like I’m dreaming and I don’t really know how to feel but all the same I’m very grateful to everyone,” he said.
He admitted that he is still isn’t sure of what he is going to do with the money, adding that hopefully, when he settles down, he will come up with a plan.
“I feel I’m indebted to Africa and I’ve to give back in some way because they carried me all the way… without that support nobody would have known me,” said Idris.
He aspires to be exemplary, a notch higher than the past winners.
“I don’t want to be just that ordinary winner; I’ve to be different since I’ve learnt a lot from what other past winners have done and I’m just not about to go in that direction,” he added.
On whether he regretted anything that he did in the house especially his romantic exploits that earned him the Mr Lover Man tag, Idris said there wasn’t much to look over his shoulders for.
Commenting on the role played by other housemates in his victory, Idris says the evicted housemates heavily campaigned for him and that makes him feel that the victory is for everyone.
“I think I’m just a representative because each of those guys deserved to the win,” he noted.
The 63 days, though filled with drama, were days of intensive learning of what Africa really is to Idris. “I learnt that there’s a lot of love out there…”
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