By Ahmad Muto
First things first. Ilebaye’s level of support was akin to a shrill voice in a huge hall. Inaudible, insignificant and without any impact whatsoever compared to the support the other housemates had.
Her win is still a shocker given she was not one of the contenders for the grand prize at the start of the reality show 10 weeks ago. Her first shot was in season seven, Level Up edition, a season that challenged her so much that she hardly made one month in the house. Her impact was zero.
This season also looked the same for her – pale and hopeless at the start. However, game players started falling like dominoes – Whitemoney who won the Shine Ya Eye 2021 season got evicted, so did the other more serious and entertaining housemates like Angel, Ike, Lucy, Neo, more like she hid under furniture whenever the invisible hand of eviction came to sort them out.
However, she had a few highlights – winning head of house beating eight of her colleagues to the coveted title was one of them.
Mercy, however, who won the grand prize in season four, Pepper Dem in 2019 had the hopes of many from the start. A strong and vibrant fanbase. The only other former winner there was Whitemoney, possibly her only worry at the time. She emerged second this time, just moments after her fans held their breath, thinking Ilebaye’s role was to give her company to go pick the sh570m grand prize.
Ilebaye herself must be shocked. CeeC, Cross, Pere, and Adekunle were the other finalists, out of 20 housemates, plus four more guest housemates introduced weeks into the show.
