Is this really the Gen Z edition of Big Brother Naija?

When Big Brother Naija Season 7 opened this past weekend, it was the talk of the Internet. No surprises there, of course. Since its bigger and better return in 2017, the reality TV show has only grown in size and has continued to capture the attention of fans. BB Naija's influence grows as the bag offered to winners grows yearly.

What we were quick to notice on the opening weekend of this season, apart from the striking colours of the interior design, is the age of the housemates, many of them falling squarely within the Gen Z range. Zoomers [that’s another name for Gen Z boys and girls] are people between the ages of 7 and 25; that is, they were born anytime between 1997-2012.

And check this out: 13 out of this year’s housemates are in this category.

Why are there suddenly so many Gen Zers on the show?

Of course, we at Pulse asked for more Zoomers before the show began. But the fact remains that this is the first time we are seeing this happen on the show and it is explainable.

As the years pass, generations and their rank within the system change. There was a time when millennials were the youngest age grade alive, but with the passage of time, the Gen Zers came along. As Gen Zers are starting to grow and take centre stage on a lot of things now, a new generation called Gen Alpha [people born in 2013 and later] is already growing slowly and in about 10-15 years, we’ll be seeing them and hearing their voices loudly and clearly.

Back to BB Naija, the oldest Zoomer in 2006 was only 9 years old. While that age had shot up to 20 in 2017, it was still unlikely that they’d be interested in being Big Brother housemates at the time. But the same can’t be said of this year, 2022, when the age of Gen Zs has now grown to 25. So it makes sense that we are seeing so many of them on the show. Also, expect this to be a trend for a few years going forward.

Does this mean more drama on the show?

Well, we will have to wait and see, although Gen Zers have got a reputation for not holding back when expressing their views and for being less accepting of things that impact their mental health. What does this mean in the grand scheme of things on Big Brother Level Up season? Again, we will just have to hold our breath for what could happen next. Things seem to already be hotting up though.

Will we finally see a Gen Z winner this year?

Winners of past seasons have been millennials except for Katung Aduwa [Gen X] and again, there is a logic to that. There was no Gen Zer in 2017, there was only one in 2018 [Nina] and 2019 [Esther]. By the Lockdown season of 2020, the number rose to three [Nengi, Vee, and Lilo] and as of last season, there were four of them [Angel, Emmanuel, Saskay and JMK]

Though the numbers have marginally grown over the years, the probability of a Zoomer winning still stayed low. The math wasn’t mathing at all, until now. Of course, voters are not going to vote based on age or on whether a contestant is a millennial or Zoomer or whatever, but there is a big chance of a Zoomer emerging winner this year.

13 out of 24 is an easy mathematical projection to make in favour of a Zoomer winner. It is much more probable than 2, 3 or 4 out of 24.

But then again, the winner will have to earn it. And the viewers have already started judging, taking sides, seeking out potential faves to ship and, of course, vote as winners.

Tick tock…