Going for the ‘Benjamins’

Vimbai Mutinhiri and Wendall Parson each stand a good chance of landing the US$200 000 grand prize.

With two winners billed to walk out tops this season, the Zimbabwean duo could easily have made a sensational one-two, but unfortunately they are in same Heads house of the reality show implying that one should inevitably fall by the wayside.

The million-dollar question now is could it be Vimbai or Wendall?
In the recent past, the spotlight has been on the delectable Vimbai, who besides being an intelligent schemer coupled with great personality, is a great public speaker.

Already, she has indicated to her fellow housemates that she is determined to win and will stop at nothing on her way to success.
Every time she talks to Big Brother in the Chat Room Vimbai oozes with confidence and makes other contenders look dumb, as she is able to articulate her issues in a convincing manner.

But you cannot avoid comparing ex-Big Brother All Stars housemate Munyaradzi Chidzonga with Vimbai.
Munyaradzi represented Zimbabwe well during his 91-day stay in the house and virtually became the housemate who was not only hated the most but also the one who survived a record nine times in the history of the show.

So far, Vimbai has shown signs of being a survivor.
She survived her first eviction when she was up against Weza from Angola, Confidence from Ghana, Jossy from Namibia and Ethiopia’s Danny..

Vimbai got three country votes from Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Kenya.
Weza got the most votes – six in all – from Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa, Malawi, Botswana and her country.

Confidence got one patriotic vote, the same as the other two (Jossy and Danny) but beat the other two guys on a percentage basis.
In what appeared as strategic move by Zeus, who happened to be the Head of House on that particular week, had replaced himself with Vimbai.

Interestingly, his reason for the swap was that “he had targeted a solid person who would readily take on her shortlived success and use it to her advantage”.
During the eviction show, Vimbai was asked by IK, the show’s presenter, how she felt after the nomination and said it was just a game and did not harbour any ill feelings.
Now, that was the first admission by a fellow Headsmate that Vimbai is indeed a strong contender.

But on Sunday, Vimbai again survived her second nomination, as she was a hot favourite from the six other housemates after winning five country votes.
Seven housemates were up for eviction, and Ghana’s Confidence Haugen took the chop with the least number of votes.

Confidence later revealed to IK that she was happy that Vimbai had put her up for eviction as she could no longer continue with the show.
However, what was more striking was that Confidence also predicted Weza and Vimbai as frontrunners for the grand prize.

Could there be something more to Vimbai than what Zimbabweans already know?
Maybe, maybe not but Vimbai is no pushover and the housemates who feel she’s weak need to check with what’s happening outside the house.

Vimbai might seem weak in the house but Africa’s got her back and that is how Munyaradzi managed to survive against all odds.
Although Vimbai’s strategy is different from that of the “Diamond Boy”, who had no alliances in the house but great appeal to viewers, she seems to be using her brains more than anything else and in the process outsmarting her competitors.

After all, Big Brother Amplified is about mind games.
She seems to be playing the game well and especially after stirring debate on her crush on Wendall and the herpes scare.

The news about Vimbai crushing on Wendall could be nothing more than pure comradeship.
Picture this, when the previous Zimbabwean housemates Krystal Culverwell and Itai Makumbe failed to unite, they both lost out.
It was difficult for any Zimbabwean fan to believe the two were from the same country. Krystal would call Itai names like “serpent” and all that while, in turn, Itai felt betrayed by his compatriot which brought him closer to other housemates than Krystal.

But in the case of Vimbai and Wendall, we are seeing two great minds working together for one common goal and that’s staying until the end of the game and possibly grab the US$200 000 at stake.
The fact that Vimbai likes Wendall means that she saw something in him that brought them closer than that which divided them and love is the answer.

This is a perfect strategy since the two will not grow out of each other. Secondly, and perhaps the important strategy is to keep viewers in suspense.
When Vimbai broke the news of herpes scare, we knew she was not going to let the cat out of the bag but because it would have killed all the suspense.

And when she didn’t say who the owner of the herpes cream was that alone excited the viewers who anticipated that she would one day reveal the details.
There is really great potential in Vimbai for as long as she keeps her game tight and be real to herself.