Ijeoma Otabor, popularly known as Phyna, the winner of season 7 of Big Brother Naija (BBNaija) reality show, recently shared her story of how she had to borrow approximately US$87, equivalent to 40,000 Naira, in order to participate in the reality show.
Speaking to Naa Ashorkor, Phyna revealed that, before BBNaija, she was poor, with no house and just 7,000 Naira in her account. She relied on borrowing money from her friends to buy clothes and other necessities before she could enter the Big Brother house.
“I didn’t have a house before, but now I have a house. I actually borrowed money before entering the house. I borrowed money from my friends; I borrowed 40,000 Naira. I used it to buy clothes. I think entering the house I had about 7,000 Naira in my account but coming out, I made about 4.2 million Naira,” Phyna told Naa Ashorkor.
Her story changed when she won the show and took home a staggering US$216,048 (N100m) grand prize – a cash prize of N50m and N50m worth of prizes from the sponsors. According to her, she was extremely excited because she had never seen a million naira before.
Phyna recounted, “I was shouting, I have never seen millions before, when they gave me my phone, they said that this is the remaining money after voting and all.”
Big Brother Nigeria later known as Big Brother Naija is the Nigerian version of the popular television series Big Brother. In this reality show, team mates are camped in a building for a period. They engage in competitions, face eviction till a winner is determined.