by Thinus Ferreira
After MultiChoice and Red Pepper Productions plied Big Brother Mzansi housemates with liquor on Thursday night, MultiChoice, M-Net's Mzansi Magic channel and Red Pepper Productions on Friday afternoon evicted a LottoStar-clad housemate who talked with another male contestant about which of the drunk women they should "fuck first".
It now appears that MultiChoice and M-Net's liquor-soaked and gambling-filled reality show on DStv is once again skirting their own responsibility in helping to cause derogatory and dangerous social situations on television, and then distancing themselves afterwards by saying it is solely the fault of contestants.
The latest scandal in the scandal-prone production which is done by Red Pepper Productions according to the Banijay-owned format, started after the LottoStar-clad housemates Lindokuhle Nsele known as Bravo B and Tshepo Tau known as Makhekhe talked about which women they plan to have sex with first, between Liema and Zee, since the women were apparently intoxicated.
"Liema - let's fuck her first, she's drunk," Bravo B said to Makhekhe as they discussed which of the women they were basically planning to rape.
At 18:45 on Friday evening, MultiChoice confirmed that the pay-TV operator and M-Net have decided to evict Bravo B who had been
disqualified from the season. Makhekhe is getting reprimanded and forced to
undergo a "social lesson on behaviour etiquette".
Shirley Adonisi, M-Net director of local entertainment channels, who was quoted in previous press releases about the upcoming Big Brother Mzansi season, was suddenly nowhere to be found in MultiChoice and M-Net's press statement.
MultiChoice said that it investigated the serious incident and "do not condone any acts that
threaten the safety of the housemates on the show and we take gender-based
violence (GBV) seriously".
MultiChoice says "Mzansi Magic will ensure that
Makhekhe is coached to call out anyone who speaks or behaves in a
derogatory manner".
On Friday the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) told TVwithThinus that it had not received any complaints about the broadcast running on MultiChoice's Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) channel on DStv as well as a 24-hour Big Brother Mzansi pop-up channel.
For the 10th season overall of the South African Big Brother version and the 4th season carrying the Big Brother Mzansi moniker, Shirley Adonisi, M-Net director of local entertainment channels, promised before the start of the season that Big Brother S'ya Mosha would be "a disruption of the norm" and would be "the most memorable season for disrupting and breaking away from what is expected".
"Viewers are familiar with what Big Brother is all about and they know what to expect every season, or so they think. With this season, we are messing with those perceptions and blowing their expectations out of the water," she said.
Big Brother Mzansi sponsor LottoStar didn't respond to media queries made on Friday on what the gambling company makes of people on DStv wearing clothes embossed with its logo, saying on television "let's fuck her first, she's drunk".
MultiChoice and M-Net's Big Brother Mzansi, as well as the Nigerian version, Big Brother Naija, have been a cesspit of incidents of physical violence including gender-based violence GBV), threats of violence and drunken brawls over the years.
In 2015 a drunk housemate in Big Brother Mzansi was allegedly raped although no police charge was filed with the man who was evicted from the house and with the woman also removed.
The latest disgusting Big Brother Mzansi incident is just the latest in a string of deplorable behaviour coming from a TV situation within an artificial environment that MultiChoice, M-Net and Red Pepper Productions create for DStv subscribers.
