I have a crush on Genevieve Nnaji —Melvin Oduah

Melvin Oduah

One of the housemates of the last edition of Big Brother Africa, Melvin Oduah lost out at the last count to fellow housemate and close friend, Delish. He recounts the experience and its effect on his style

Q: What was the experience of being in one house for 91 days like?

A: It was   not easy at all being there for 91 days. But it was a wonderful experience. It had positive impact on all of us.  We learned to live with people of different temperament from different countries and backgrounds. We got to tolerate and endure each other because of the rule that said one was never to allow oneself to be provoked.   It was a very wonderful experience and I don’t regret going for it.

Q: When you were asked the first thing you would buy with your prize money, you said clothes. Are you that obsessed with clothes?

A: I love fashion. I said I would buy clothes because I always love to look good. As an entertainer, I always love to appear elegant.

Q: How has being in the Big Brother House affected your style?

A: The difference is not much.  I was able to appreciate some styles more when I met a fashion designer like Elikem.  He shared his clothes to everybody and we all came to appreciate his designs a lot. If you are a casual dresser who finds yourself in that situation, you will be forced to try out one of the designs. It gave me a diversification of all styles. I wanted to try on everything.  There were things I saw on style and dressing that I would love to explore some more.  It really made a huge difference in my style.

Q: What style personality are you?

A: I love to diversify; I love to wear different kinds of things. But if you ask me what my style is most times, I would tell you that it is casual.

Q: You seem to have fondness for a particular hairstyle

A: This is the first time I am wearing a Mohawk hairstyle with slit beside it. It is not my regular hairstyle.  I usually wear a punk look. But in the house, people try to experiment. I just decided that it was an opportunity for me to try something different and that was how I came up with my current hairstyle. I did the Mohawk alone first then added the two lines the following week. A lot of people say it looks nice on me so I think I will just consider doing this more often.

Q: Are you adventurous?

A: Yes, I am very adventurous. I am so adventurous that having been out of the house now, I cannot wait to actually visit and spend time with all the housemates in their home countries. I want to see all the things they have been telling me.

Q: What is your favourite fashion accessory?

A: I love silver.

Q: What can you not be caught wearing?

A: Skirt.

Q: Which celebrity do you have a crush on?

A: My crush in Nollywood is Genevieve Nnaji. She inspires me a lot. I always want to look at her facial expression anytime I am watching her movies and the way she acts inspires me a lot. Outside, I have Jennifer Lopez, Kim Kardashian, Nicki Minaj and many others.

Q: What first impression do people have about you that is wrong?

A: Some people think I am a snob.

Q: You were just one of a very few who did not kiss anybody in the house. How could you spend 91 days like that?

A: I did kiss in the house. We played some games in the house where we had to chase women. However, I did not fall in love. People that fell in love were not many. You are making it sound as if I was the only one who did not fall in love. We had just about five couples in the entire season and it does not mean that because they were couples, everybody must be couples. It is different strokes for different people and I am just one of those people that did not just fall in love in the house.

Q: Is it because you are in love with somebody outside the house?

A: No. I am single, I don’t have a relationship.  It is not that the girls were not hot. A lot of the girls in the house were decent.  I loved the personality of many of them but you know these things. I am not one of those people who would just jump into a relationship. I take my time to observe first.

Q: Who did you have a crush on, Delish?

A: Delish had this thing about her.  As soon as she entered the house, she let everybody know that she had a very strong relationship outside the house. She was not interested in dating anybody in the house. She always told us about all the good things the guy did for her and how he had assisted her for years.  She created an aura around herself that warned people to keep off. Even at that, Delish and I were very close. She was the housemate I was closest to apart from Beverly. We did things together, we played a lot, as a result, people started having the impression that I was in love with her.

Q: This is about the third show you have done and gone up to the final, are you looking at taking part in more shows?

A: It was the third reality TV show that I had been in and I did not win. I cannot tell you that I will be looking for the next reality show to take part in or that I will not be looking for it. But I will definitely try to take my career to greater heights.  I will always try to aim for the very high things that make my career blossom.

Q: What one thing did you see in the Big Brother house that you felt like taking with you when you left?

A: It was the fridge. The fridge was awesome, if it were possible, I would have carried it home.

Q: Tell us about your childhood

A: My childhood was awesome. I have always appreciated the way my parents brought us up but   being in that house made me appreciate them more.  Very few of the housemates had near-perfect childhood. We had most of the things we wanted but we were not spoiled. My family is nuclear, consisting of just mom and dad and the kids. No outside marriages or children.  This fact made me appreciate my family more. When I was talking to the other housemates, most of them had problems with their family background. It was either death occurred somewhere or father got married to somebody else.  There were tales of divorces or kids being brought in from outside.