Three things are promised in life, Death, Taxes, and unrequited love in Big Brother Naija’s house.

Romance is a major draw for the viewers of Africa’s biggest reality show. Big Brother Naija’s audience religiously fawn over and anticipate the initial attraction between housemates, followed by the companionship and eventually the co-dependency that typically defines romantic relationships in the house.

In a bid to gain immediate and mass acceptance from the viewers, the majority of the reality show’s contestants play into the expectations of the audience by strategically entering romantic entanglements popularly referred to as “ships”.


For other housemates, these feelings are developed organically due to the hyper proximity with other contestants as opposed to strategic intentions.

When these feelings are mutual and reciprocated, the ensuing relationships that form could lead to satisfying outcomes for the housemates both in and outside the house.

Housemates like Bambam and Teddy A, as well as Khafi and Gedoni found marital success off their ships on the show; while in a less dramatic fashion, Miracle and Nina, Neo and Vee exploited their relationship to earn their spots in the finals of their respective seasons.

On the flip side, when these feelings are one-sided and unrequited, it leads to unnecessary tensions and loss of focus.

Ozo and Nengi’s “Ozone” ship is perhaps the most painful example of unrequited feelings on the show. For the majority of that season, Ozo persistently expressed romantic feelings for Nengi while she preferred to remain platonic.

For many viewers, Ozo’s constant but unrequited advances played a part in his failure to make the finals. It is popular opinion that if Ozo an early favorite of that season had moved on early from his romantic quagmire, the same way Laycon seemed to put his Erica episode behind him, and not let failed romance define his stay in the house then he would have gone farther than he did or even gone on to challenge for the grand prize.


Fast forward to two seasons after, there seems to be a ship sailing a similar route.

At the infant stages of the season, Sheggz currently stands as one of the overwhelming favorites, attracting the respect of men and the desire of women.

In fact, at his unveiling, many viewers predicted him to be the playboy of the house but the footballer’s goal seemed to shift from winning the game to winning the affections of fellow housemate, Bella.

Bella like Nengi has made her intentions plain on remaining platonic with Sheggz, at least for the time being, however, this has not deterred Sheggz from pressing, sometimes to the mild irritation of his love interest.

The trap for Sheggz currently lies in the audience’s response to unrequited attachments.

Female contestants stuck in one-sided entanglements are met with empathy while male housemates attract criticism.

When Alex of season 3 and Liquorose of season 7 were engaged in seemingly unrequited entanglements (or at least the energy was widely perceived to be unmatched) with Leo and Emmanuel respectively, the audience viewed them as victims of circumstance and expressed pity, while in the case of Tobi, Saga, and Ozo, the audience was not so empathetic.


The problem with unrequited relationships is their unsustainability with the viewers who are going to naturally gravitate to other exciting ships. Once the CeeC and Tobi ship seemed too laborious, viewers focused their attention on the more organic Miracle/Nina and Teddy/BamBam Ship.

Currently, the brewing ships of Beauty/Groovy and Daniella/Khalid are beginning to garner more headlines and attention than the Bella and Sheggz ship. This is bad news for Sheggz and if he decides to base his entire house persona around this unfulfilling ship, as interest in the relationship dies, so will his approval rating with the audience.

If Sheggz aims to go all the way in the competition, he needs to find himself and build an identity outside of his ship with Bella. Otherwise, just like in the case of Ozo, when the audience can do without the ship or when he is up for eviction against similarly strong housemates, he would be cut off earlier than anticipated.

Catch Up on more in-depth review of the Big Brother Naija Show here: https://burbles.ng/2022/08/03/why-bella-and-sheggz-remind-us-of-ozo-and-nengi/