Big Brother Naija: How have Gen Z housemates fared in the house before season 7?

Big Brother Season 7 is up and running! The ‘Level Up’ edition of Nigeria’s biggest reality show now has 24 confirmed housemates trying to entertain and play their way to a 100 million cash-out and (at least) one year of fame and nationwide renown.

One interesting fact about this newly-begun season: more than half of the housemates fall within the Gen Z category [Born between 1997-2012]. So, on opening night Ilebaye said she’d be cooking Gen Z drama on the show. We suspect she won’t be the only one doing that. There are 13 Gen Zers in total, as well as 11 millennials, in a house well-known for drama and annual gbas gbos. LOL. We know it’s only a matter of time, vawulence and drama will ensue. And we full ground dey wait.

While we keep our fingers crossed for that, let’s quickly go back in time to see how the Gen Zers of previous BB Naija editions have fared. [Season 1 excluded from this gist. Also this is not the place for age debates, thanks and God bless]

Big Brother Naija Season 2 [See Gobe, 2017]

Fans will remember the housemates of this season fondly and maybe not so fondly for their tricks and shenanigans, but none of them was Gen Z. The oldest Gen Zers alive in 2017 were not older than 20, whereas the BBN house was filled with older people. The youngest that season were Efe and Gifty who were 23. Soma was 24.

Of course, Efe won that season based on logistics.

Efe, Big Brother Naija winner 2017 ece-auto-gen

Big Brother Naija Season 3 [Double Wahala, 2018]

In the 2018 season, there was only one Gen Zer - Nina Ivy, who was 21 years of age. Nina’s time on the show was characterised by her free-spiritedness. Fans also remember her well for being the housemate who denied her boyfriend, Collins, on TV, and of course, her dalliance with the eventual winner, Miracle while in the house. Remember that time they had sex in the house? Ah, fun times!

Truth be told sha, Nina actually shocked a lot of people by being among the last 5 housemates in the house.

Alex, Khloe, K-Brule and Miracle were pretty young back then, too – all 23. But na millennials dem still be.

Miracle and Nina in the Big Brother Naija house ece-auto-gen

Big Brother Naija Season 4 [Pepper Them, 2019]

You can be forgiven for not remembering the only Gen Z representative of this season -- a certain baby girl called Esther Agunbiade who was 22 in the house. One big highlight was when Frodd washed some of her underwear and if you watched the show back then, you’d know why *wink*. That underwear laundry gist set Twitter on fire like crazy. Just google it and see for yourself.

Esther did spend 63 days in the house though. Solid stuff, really.

Esther Agunbiade [MultiChoice] Pulse Nigeria

Big Brother Naija Season 5 [Lockdown, 2020]

This season had 3 Gen Zers, and yeah, we can say this was the beginning of the rise of Gen Z boys and girls on the show. Nengi [22], Vee [23] and to a small extent, Lilo [23], made sure of that. While Lilo was quickly bundled out of the house after only 2 weeks, fans and other housemates kept Nengi and Vee on the show, up till the very last day [Day 70] and both of them are now considered amongst the biggest success stories out of the BB Naija show.

Lilo [Instagram/BigBrotherNaija] Pulse Nigeria

Big Brother Naija Season 6 [Shine Ya Eye, 2021]

You surely couldn’t have forgotten season 6 housemates; JMK [23], Angel [21] and Saskay [21]. For the first time, there was also a Gen Z baby boy: Emmanuel. He held it down till day 70 for 6th position.

As for the 3 ladies, JMK came into the house on day 14 and fans had some hopes of drama and entertainment from her end but those were quickly dashed. She was off on day 35. Saskay was level headed and well loved by the audience but it is Angel who takes the cake here. She was fierce, care-free, did things on her own terms and defended herself when her boundaries were being crossed.