IMISIOLUWA Eniola Ayanwale, otherwise known as Imisi, has emerged winner of the Big Brother Naija Season 10, walking away with N150 million prize money.
She was announced the winner by Ebuka, the host of the show, at the grand finale.
In her speech, Imisi thanked God, her fans, and everyone who supported her throughout the journey.
“I am very happy, I am very excited… Thank you to everyone who voted for me. I am so shocked, I never expected it. May God bless you beyond your imagination,” she stated.
The ICIR reports that the show began with 29 housemates vying for the prize in the course of ten weeks.
In the ninth week, the top ten contenders for the prize were announced: Isabella, Sultana, Kaybobo, Imisi, Mensan, Faith, Koyin, Dede, Jason Jae, and Kola.
However, during the tenth week, on Thursday, October 2, Faith, a top contender for the prize, was disqualified from the show after a physical altercation with Sultana over a basket, bringing the number of housemates to nine.
The disqualification marked the first time a housemate would be dismissed three days before the show’s end.
Viewers and netizens had mixed reactions to the decision, while some believed it was well-deserved due to his previous altercations with other housemates, others deemed it unfair as he had received no prior warning or strike before the disqualification.
The finale saw Ebuka evicting Kaybobo, Isabella, Mensan and Jason Jae, narrowing the competition to the top five.
Following another round of evictions, with Kola, Sultana and Koyin leaving, Dede and Imisi emerged as the top two finalists, after which Imisi was declared the winner.
The duo had captured viewers’ hearts in distinctive ways, Imisi, with her funny looks and makeup, jovial charm, and street slang; and Dede, with her soft-girl aura and premium demeanour.
Imisi had surpassed the other finalists with 42.8 per cent of the votes from viewers.
The season came with many twists and turns introduced by its organisers, including a Head of House challenger, the Red Telephone twist that stirred up drama in the house with fake evictions, and various offers and different weekly themes.
A theme that particularly intrigued viewers was the Face Your Fears and Bare Minimum week, during which Big Brother introduced frightening elements to scare the housemates. In the following week, they were deprived of certain privileges such as using the washing machine, cooking gas, and even had to sleep on bare mats instead of mattresses.
The ICIR had earlier reported that as the show reached its tenth season, many viewers were uncertain about what to expect, following widespread complaints about the previous Season 9 concerning the quality of housemates and the game they brought.
But most viewers had applauded the performance of this season while noting that this has been one of the best seasons in recent years.
Fatimah Quadri is a Journalist and a Fact-checker at The ICIR. She has written news articles, fact-checks, explainers, and media literacy in an effort to combat information disorder.
She can be reached at sunmibola_q on X or fquadri@icirnigeria.org