Mercy Eke, recently crowned winner of the Big Brother Naija ‘Pepper Dem’ edition, was presented with her brand new Innoson SUV prize, on Tuesday, 8th October, 2019.

The presentation, which took place at the Winner’s Press Conference at the MultiChoice office, Ilupeju, was attended by the reality show’s organisers, sponsors, and some ex-housemates.

As if winning the brand new SUV was not enough, Mercy was also announced as the new brand ambassador for Innoson Motors. The announcement was made by the Managing Director of Innoson Motors, Mr Donatus Okeke, while handing over the keys of the vehicle to her. According to Okeke, “Our partnership with Big Brother Nigeria had a direct impact on our weekly sales volume, so much that our sales increased to over one hundred weekly. We initially did not attribute the influx to our supporting the show, but over time we came to realise that the show had a direct correlation with it.”

Innoson Motors is not the only corporate sponsor to have benefitted from the 2019 Big Brother Naija show. Mr Olusegun Osobajo, Senior Marketing Manager for Bet9ja, the official sponsor of this year’s show, also said their partnership with Big Brother has paved way for them to launch a new campaign, influence people’s views about sports betting, and also increase female participation in sports betting.

Asides the brand new SUV, Mercy also walked away with N30million cash prize, one year supply of Pepsi drink, one year supply of Munch It and Indomie noodles, a home make-over from Scanfrost, a trip to Dubai for two, and lots more. When asked how she will spend her cash prize, Mercy said “I intend to focus more on my fashion line, and invest in real estate.”

Despite stiff opposition from some quarters, the Big Brother Naija reality show has grown so much since the first edition aired in 2006. This year’s edition of the show had twenty six housemates in total, and ran for 99 days, the longest so far in the history of the show.

Reacting to a question about what can be done to reduce the negative idea people have about the reality show, Mr John Ugbe, CEO of MultiChoice, said if people looked at the show from the angle of the positive impact it makes, they would appreciate it. Speaking further, he said, “Apart from creating jobs for over hundreds of people, this year’s edition of the show was designed to pass positive messages on health, culture, history, being Nigerian, and teaching housemates life skills like patience, control and so on. In essence, the show is beginning to have a subtle influence on the Nigerian society.”

Key representatives of the organisers and sponsors at the event included the CEO of MultiChoice, Mr John Ugbe, Channels Director of Africa Magic, Ms Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu, Senior Marketing Manager Bet9ja, Mr Olusegun Osobajo, Managing Director of Innoson Motors, Mr Donatus Okeke, and the Head of Corporate Communications for Heritage Bank, Mr Fela Ibidapo-Obe.

The ex-Pepper Dem housemates in attendance included the five finalists – Mercy Eke, the star of the show, Mike Edwards, first runner-up, Chemeka Okoye (Frodd), Seyi Awolowo, Omashola Oburoh, and three other housemates – Ikechukwu Onyema, Joseph Abdallah, and Nelson Allison.