With soccer fever sweeping the continent, DStv has scored its own blockbuster goal, revealing that M-Net will kick-off a sensational new season of Africa’s biggest reality show in just under a month.

The 5TH edition of M-Net’s BIG BROTHER AFRICA will launch just days after the newest World Cup Champions are crowned, and with the golden prize of USD 200 000 once again up for grabs, a breathtaking new game will be well and truly on!

And this time, Big Brother fans in over 40 countries across the continent are going to get a show that’s more edgy, more tactically challenging and more intensely strategic than ever before.

So says M-Net Africa Managing Director Biola Alabi who was delighted to make the news official.

“What a great moment this is – to bring back a show that our audience loves for an incredible 5th time. We wanted season 4 (Big Brother Revolution) to be special but it exceeded our hopes. With the volume of interaction the show received from fans, it was clear that season 5 was definitely on the cards. So we’ve been developing what we believe will be thrilling new format changes.”

Now, with the news out in the open, M-Net has confirmed that the latest BIG BROTHER AFRICA will begin on July 18, and will be screened live 24/7 for 91 days. And breaking with tradition, M-Net has announced it won’t be calling for entries for the new show.

The company has revealed that having run the series 4 times previously, they’re now head-hunting contestants from a database of previous entries submitted for the show.

“We want to invest more broadly in season 5 and having already been introduced to a world of interesting characters from previous searches, there’s limited value in spending extensively in another search for contestants,” says Alabi.

She goes on to say, “We’ll still be looking for entertaining persons with a sense of humor, a love of adventure and the ability to enjoy the very exciting Big Brother experience. In the past we’ve spent widely to find contestants in 14 countries. This year, we’re using these funds to develop a gutsy new series, recreating the house in a very different way and focusing on putting new technology into place.”

One technological change already in place is that this year DStv channel 198 will feature two television feeds so audiences can choose to move from one BIG BROTHER feed to another. At any one time there will be two streams of video and audio coming out of the house and audiences can simply pick the one that they wish to watch.

And with the rules governing conspiracy and alliance about to be given a radical new perspective, audiences will definitely want to follow the action closely!

More good news from BIG BROTHER AFRICA is that charming Nigerian television and radio star I.K. Osakioduwa, whose easy humor and professional style are well known, will return to the BIG BROTHER stage for a second time. The star, whose credits include Comedy Club and Studio 53, is a familiar face to DStv viewers and a longtime fan of the Big Brother series.

Asked why he thinks audiences relate so well to BIG BROTHER AFRICA, I.K. says, “It’s all reality. That’s what makes it so interesting. People like to see the way that other people handle real life situations. And Big Brother always does his part to keep the activities and surprises in the house fresh.”

Meanwhile this year contestants will once again be drawn from 14 countries – Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. BIG BROTHER AFRICA season five will be produced by Endemol and filmed on location in Johannesburg. This year, the house will feature 53 cameras and 100 microphones ensuring that, as always, Big Brother is always watching!

And season five will maintain some of the key characteristics that makes BIG BROTHER AFRICA so popular – the ability for audiences to send their text and web messages direct to DStv channel 198 and see their thoughts and opinions on air. PLUS there’s the fact that ultimate power of who is evicted from the house and who remains is firmly in the hands of the voting public!

And as Alabi says, “You don’t want to miss any of the action this season because at the heart of it all is a change beyond revolution, a secret so explosive…it is set to be the most dramatic Big Brother Africa ever seen!”