The largest pay TV company in Nigeria , MultiChoice will be airing a new reality TV show called Ultimate Love this February.
This show will be featuring 16 strangers, male and female, in an undisclosed location, nicknamed the love pad, as they embark on a journey to find love.
Don’t lose sleep yet, as the structured campaigns so far about the show have made it clear that this show is going to be different from that other show, BBNaija, which has been sentenced to controversies and outbursts of attacks against the sexual immoralities on the show.
In Ultimate Love, the organisers have promised to give viewers a breath of fresh air. The show promises viewers a peek into the lives of eight males and females who are serious about finding the right partners and settling down.
While unveiling the show last November, the Chief Executive Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria reminded the public that reality shows are loved by audiences because they show real people experiencing real life happenings and situations, thereby connecting viewers and fans on a personal and relatable level. More so, a show that explores love will have more resonance with the audience.
Known as Nigeria’s first dating reality TV show, Ultimate Love promises to guide these participants to their better halves, as well as to smoothen the transition of the winning couple into husband and wife by providing a lavish traditional wedding, a dream home and cash prizes.
The show plans to pull this off by engaging the services of a counsellor that will be fondly called “ Auntie “. For those who are familiar with BBNaija, this counsellor will be playing the role of Biggie but in a cleverly disguised form.
She will be visible to the participants and will be acting as a guide in their quest to find the right partner, while the couples, who will be under the keen watch of cameras and microphones, will interact with her daily. This calls to mind the unique process that leads to marriage these days in our society where intending couples are subjected to marriage counselling for months to keep them abreast of issues such as compatibility, conflict resolution and the likes that will ensure a stable union.
But just like BBNaija, the show will be audience driven. In this sense, the viewers will be rooting for their favourite couples- people who will generally, I hope, be more decent, culturally compliant and more attuned to the values of marriage and society than those that starred in BBNaija.
This has to be so, especially since the organisers have been selling the show on the familiar and popular steroids of being a fully made in Nigeria show that will be driven by locally inspired activities and mores.
For the show to live up to its name, viewers will want to see a radical shift in the makeup of these participants that will be taking our time for about three months. We want to see people who hold the institution of marriage in high regard and will be on the lookout for decency.
Though it’s a reality show, where the lives of these participants will be unscripted, I hope that I will be able to watch it with my teenage daughters unlike BBNaija that was a no-go-area in my home because of its propensity to shift towards adult contents without warning.
With Ultimate love, MultiChoice Nigeria has to guide against voyeurism which unfortunately has been the standing criticism against BBNaija. Despite the show’s huge following and ratings, the criticisms kept on amplifying to the point that the Director General of the National Council of Arts and Culture, Mr. Olusegun Runsewe hinted that the Federal Government was planning its own version of the show which will promote Nigerian culture and ideals. How far about that show now, Mr Runsewe?
Also, the various religious leaders didn’t spare the show for its adult contents. They warned that the kissing, hugging and skimpy dresses were capable of leading young minds to the wide gates of damnation.
When Ultimate love premieres in the coming days, I want to be able to breathe a sigh of relief for the reality TV show. I will like to say to my children, that “finally, MultiChoice Nigeria has listened “.