She specifically told Ilebaye that she will win in the public glare, almost stopping short of swearing in the name of God. For her, it is all about influence and social media following
Emmanuel Ukudolo I Friday, Oct.06, 2023
LAGOS – Last Sunday, October 1, 2023, Ilebaye Odiniya emerged the deserved winner of the Big Brother Naija Season 8 All Stars. She won, pocketing the cash prize of N120 million even when she was the least popular in terms of social media engagement and following in the last four.
By way of ranking, Mercy Eke was number one, followed by Ceec, Ilebaye and Adekunle, though six housemates made it into the final stage.
Specifically, Mercy Eke had 3.9 million followers, Ceec has 3.2 million followers, Cross 1 million, Pere 810,000 followers, Ilebaye 497,000 followers, while Adekunle had the least followers with 487,000 on instagram prior to the final show.
This was where Mercy Eke got her confidence during her encounter with Ilebaye after the lascivious pool party in the house. She specifically told Ilebaye that she will win in the public glare, almost stopping short of swearing in the name of God. For her, it is all about influence and social media following and that she will win for the second time but how wrong she was.
Mercy Eke must be really oblivious of the fact that beyond her 3.9 million followers, millions of Nigerians were also watching the show and would rather pitch their tenth with a more humble, calculated, almost perfect and brand friendly face, which Ilebaye represents.
“Pride goes before a crash”, is the popular saying and Mercy Eke is aware of this even though she may not believe in it being a frenzy social media person, with so much ego and who has refused to settle down with her crush in the Pepper Dem edition, Ike. She did reveal during the All Stars Season 8 that she is now ready to settle down but nobody knows the lucky guy that would have swept her off her feet.
Besides the N120 million cash prize, Ilebaye also walked away with a weekend getaway for two by Travel Beta, an Innoson car, a Techno phone, Nexus appliances and one year supply of Pepsi, Dano, Munch It, WAW, Hawaii Soap, Titus, Lush and Sardine products.
“I’m so surprised, I’m so so surprised,” she told Ebuka about making top 2, before being announced the winner of the season.
The BBNaija Season 8 All Stars was made up of 20 former housemates later reduced to top 3 all females, Ceec, Mercy Eke and Ilebaye.
