After being the 11th housemate to be evicted for the big brother Naija house, Gedoni has started granting interviews. To clarify issues that went on in the house and let known his plans for the near future.
Interviewer: you’ve been out of the house a while now, what has the public reception been like for you?
Gedoni: It’s been an array of mixed feelings. I’ve been received a lot of love. A lot of love has been shown to me and of course, the hate too on the other side. Truthfully, I don’t think I was really prepared for what I was coming out to get. But then again, I need to brace off and roll with it. And correct necessary impressions and stick with certain truths.
Interviewer: The process of going into the big brother house, what was that like? You know, the auditions. How did it all go? And when you eventually got into the house, what was the feeling like?
Gedoni: When I eventually got into the house, it was like mehn mama I made it. That was what came in my head like I really did this.
Interviewer: Where did you audition?
Gedoni: I auditioned in two places. The first audition was in Port Harcourt. And I didn’t get in. Then the next day I went to Calabar because the day before the Port Harcourt audition, I was robbed. And I had a delivery to make the next day which was Saturday. But I couldn’t make it because I didn’t have any means of communicating with the client. So I just used one stone to kill two birds. I went in there with my bag and the only that was inside my bag was the client’s outfit. I was taking my chances. I carried my bag, went into the hall and did the audition in Calabar. That was where the magic happened. Grace found me.
Interviewer: Did you have a strategy going in?
Gedoni: Yeah, I had a strategy going in. The kind of person I am, I like to plan everything. So I went into the big brother Naija house believing and hoping. I was just going to lay low for a while and then boom! Show certain strengths, artistry or crafts. But then I got in the house and then mehn, Biggie turned everything around.
Interviewer: Is it Biggie now or your fellow housemates?
Gedoni: It was Biggie. And then again, I think I underrated how much space I was going to be giving up. Yeah, how much of personal space I was giving up. So that also really affected me in the house. The fact that I had to share personal space with a lot of people for a very long time.
Interviewer: What was the difference, like what shook you? Because you said Biggie and personal space. But was a serious adjustment for you in the house that you didn’t see coming or expect?
Gedoni: Erm, one thing I didn’t expect is erm. I’ll like to say this and I know a lot of people want to hear this, is Khafi (Says it blushing). Yeah, I didn’t see that coming. It was like a jolt of energy for me. And that was I think erm that was one person that understood my person. And that’s where I think I started coming up. I started trying to pick up. She kept encouraging, kept trying to keep my head there. “Like yeah, you can do this, you can stay, just forget about the encroachment and just stay in the game. Be strong because you do the same for me so I’ll do the same.”
Interviewer: I was not going to bring it up Khafi o. I was going to ask something else but since you brought it up. There’s no Gedoni without Khafi (laughs). Gedoni, i’m sure you’ve been reading online. You’ve seen the headlines from the past few weeks. You guys have been in it quite a bit. People have been saying that you guys went all the way physically. Because of broadcasting issues, I can’t really say what I want to say. But I believe you understand what I mean. People believe that you guys went all the way in your relationship physically. What was the situation, what was going on under the duvet?
Gedoni: It was Khafi and me under the duvet. And like I’ve said in other interviews. I’ll like to answer this out of respect for Khafi. So that question will have to pause as i’m not saying a yes neither am I saying a no. So I’m going to hold on. Some interviews have come out already and I’ve stated my stance. I found it rather disrespectful that I would talk about some of the situations that happened in the house between us without her consent or presence.
Interviewer: I understand what you mean. I mean whether or not she’s present, what happened is what happened.
Gedoni: Yeah, true. But it will then be a case of what the viewers saw VS what we know.
Interviewer: Okay, Okay (laughs). There was a lot going on under the cover and it wasn’t sleeping. That’s all we know. But erm, the whole Khafi situation especially at the beginning a lot of people felt like you were being pressured or rushed into it. Going into the house, you had a girlfriend outside the house.
Gedoni: I had a girl I was really interested in. But wasn’t interested in me at that time. She just wanted my friendship at that time. Because she had somebody else and she believed the person was going to take things further. So at that time, I’m sure at that time she didn’t want to start anything new with me and all that. She expressed that liked my kind of person and all that stuff. I should just go into the house and see what happens. And I said to her as I could go into the house and things could change. She said yeah okay no wahala.
Interviewer: So what’s the situation with you and the other girl?
Gedoni: erm, I’m in touch with her. I try to call her. We’re just talking.
Interviewer: Are you still interested in her the same way you were before the show?
Gedoni: No.
Interviewer: Things have changed now?
Gedoni: There’s Khafi.
Interviewer: There’s Khafi. Okay. When Khafi comes out, I mean clearly she’s smitten and she’s really interested in you. Are you interested in taking things further once she’s out of the house whether she wins or not?
Gedoni: 100%
Interviewer: Did you feel pressured into that relationship? Because Khafi really and I can say this personally, she really seemed like she was going after you. You know when you and her survived the first eviction when Avala and Isilomo left. That was when a bond started.
Gedoni: There was a bond before that.
Interviewer: Well, after that incident, the bond just grew. You guys were everywhere together. She was following you around quite a bit. My question to you right now is that did you feel pressured into that relationship?
Gedoni: Erm, let me start by saying this; I don’t think she was following me or pursuing me to have a relationship with me. She was being her expressive self. And she’s very very expressive as you all already know. So, erm and me on the other hand, I’m not really as expressive as she is. So it will come off as if she’s doing more of the work. And I’m very certain that not everything we say and do is being seen by the audience or viewers. Yeah, I wasn’t pressured.
In fact, I was surprised. Like “guy wetin dey do your heart?” I was surprised when I started investing in emotions. I was really surprised. And Khafi already is a sweet person. She’s a lovely person. If you just spend a little time with her, you’ll know. And she lights up the room. She has a vibrant energy. She has positive energy. She’s very true. I don’t need to say all of these. But mehn, anybody will love Khafi.
Interviewer: There are different questions. People just felt like you weren’t bringing the same energy as she was bringing to the relationship. I mean the kind of person you are. You’re more reserved and she’s more expressive. But asides from that, a lot of people did feel like you weren’t really in it as much. If it was that the doors to that house were opened, some people felt like you would have run out of the house for fear of pressure. I’ll leave that for now. I won’t leave the fact that there were somethings you said. For instance, people well I didn’t hear it personally but people said that you said to some other housemates that Khafi is addicted to certain things. Like physical affection and what not. I won’t touch that, I’ll let it go.
Gedoni: But I’ll like to touch on that. I didn’t say that and I know that it is the kiwi incident. I hadn’t had kiwi before I got into the house and even now I still have not had kiwi till now. And I know Khafi just doesn’t like the taste or smell, she’s allergic to it. So why would I put her in harm’s way by even attempting to want to have kiwi? When a certain housemate, one of the new housemates came into the house, he had his hands on a lot of things. Blending stuff, even when I was having a drink from one of those stuff coz I asked “is kiwi in it?” yeah, that’s how much I wanted to have Khafi around me.
Interviewer: Okay, alright. Erm, let’s move on now. Venita, a love triangle seemed to form when she came in. In the beginning, when she got in, it was as if she was making advances at you. Later on, you were the one going to meet her. It caused a bit of confusion within the house. Ebuka even asked you on Sunday. What was going on with Venita?
Gedoni: Venita and I erm, I had gone through Venita’s page before getting into the house. So I already knew her but I don’t think she knew me. And she got into the house and we got talking then we realized we had a mutual friend we both respect very much. So, there was that bond. I don’t think Venita came after me. I really did not think so. But no, there was a misconception and misunderstanding even in the house with Khafi too that she was coming for me. Because she said certain things to Khafi “your man is cool and I’d like to share.” and I didn’t know. I just noticed the whole defensive thing with Khafi. And Khafi trying to come on. I was just like this girl hasn’t been this way before, WhatsUp.
So, I asked to talk to her and she was like yeah she was even coming to talk to me already sef. She was like she’s not comfortable with me and the whole Venita relationship. I was like yeah she’s my friend and we did the whole talk bla bla. And then that very night, Venita, Khafi and I had a conversation together in the wardrobe. So all through the conversation, Khafi was very excited. She was like that’s nice. So, later on, we went into the room and she said she still believes Venita is on a mission from Biggie. And so I was like wow if you think so coz I wasn’t seeing it that way and she started telling me things.
She was like coz she’s also after Ike and Mercy’s relationship. I was like if that is the case then Mercy is handling it better than you are. So she said no that erm she thinks Mercy warned Venita. I was like okay since you won’t warn Venita to stay off, let’s play the game. If you think and believe that’s the case then let’s find out for a fact that this is actually a secret mission from Biggie. So in the end, from my own finding, it wasn’t a secret mission and Venita till now I don’t think she was attracted to me.
Interviewer: Were you attracted to her?
Gedoni: No, she’s a beautiful girl. Very beautiful but I had eyes on Khafi.
Interviewer: Okay, fine. On Sunday, when Ebuka called your name and said you’ve been evicted from the big brother house, you rejoiced. That was probably a first for many people. What was that about, why were you rejoicing over your eviction?
Gedoni: It was about Mental space. As I said, I’ve never been in that kind of space for that long with so many people. I’m one person that will just do what I need to do in the crowd and then come back in the solace of my home and just be me, my music or my phone. So being out there with the lights always on you, the people, cameras, the noise.
It was in my head, it was really in my head. So at that point, I didn’t tell Khafi anymore that I was tired. But before now I had expressed it to her and she will just try to cheer me up. In fact, she was actually my breathe of fresh air. She was the one always telling me to calm down.
Interviewer: I’m curious, I mean that’s the nature of big brother. You know, all the attention, the stress, pressure. So I mean, you knew this going in and?
Gedoni: You underrate it. As much as you think you know now, multiply it by a whole lot. I won’t tell you the number of times you’ll multiply. But as much as you think you know, multiply it by a whole lot.
Interviewer: Right. There’re a lot of activities in the house, there’s the fashion activity, there were the coronation and a whole lot. Which activity or challenge or task was your favorite?
Gedoni: The Mcing for the coronation was my favorite coz it was something I had not done before. I’m your regular backstage guy. I like to make things happen behind the camera and stuff. But then again I was put in front and I was like okay, I’m going to take up this challenge. It made me realize I could do certain things and take on different terrains asides fashion. Because you know, when fashion came on I just thought about it. What is going to happen there? In my head I was like I have creative members in my team, share the parts.
I’ll cut the pieces and get them together. I want all hands on deck. I know a lot of you are looking at me but whatever style or design you can come up with, I going to cut it to shape and show you how to piece them together. And God so kind we had Esther in our team she’s very good with the machine and her seams her really straight. I was doing the cutting, she was doing the piecing. Joe was in my team, wonderful artist. He just put colors on everything and in the end, we didn’t finish. In fact, we didn’t even do what we had on our paper.
We just went with certain things coz there was this piece we made for Diane, we tried it on and it was perfect. But the cutdown just put a certain rush in our heads. We couldn’t get to put things together. And even on the runway, we didn’t time to show our work as much as possible. And Joe couldn’t take enough good pictures, so that’s what it was. It was a good task. But the MCing one is the one I really liked it.
Interviewer: It’s funny you mentioned the fashion thing because my next question was what’s next for you? Numbers have grown substantially on Instagram and social media generally. I don’t know what figure but do you have any idea what number you’re on right now.
Gedoni: 134K followers on ig
Interviewer: And before you went into the house how many did you have?
Gedoni: 1400
Interviewer: Wow! See growth. So what’s next for you? What should we expect from Gedoni?
Gedoni: I already started something before I went into the house. So I’m just going to keep on that lane for now. Which is my brand and I’m wearing one of my pieces. I’ll try and do a lot of things and put out a collection and see if there’s any show this year from Nigeria or South Africa or anywhere. And have a t-shirt collection too. I came up with that before I went into the house. And I just put out some for a test run and it was successful. So I’ll like to put out some more. And of course, try the whole entertainment thing and try voice-overs just anything.
Interviewer: So will you move to Lagos or will you remain in Port Harcourt?
Gedoni: I’ll be moving to Lagos by God’s grace. There’s so much heat here but then I will. I’ll fix it. Big brother was one of my biggest fears and being on camera. I think I’ve conquered it. And then the funny thing is that the game isn’t even in the house but outside the house.
Interviewer: Well, yes I see what you mean. It’s another game.
Gedoni: Exactly, another ball game altogether. Like you just pop out with so much light.
Interviewer: really quickly, because we’re running out of time. If you could do it all over, what will you do differently?
Gedoni: I’ll show Khafi more affection and more attention. And erm, stay strong. Try as much as possible to ignore those people that were in my space. Win more games even though that was due to certain things I cannot really discuss.
Because I had to slow down on certain things for the games. But try as much as possible to always be top 5 on the numbers. Anytime it was the arena games, even if I was not winning, I always came top 5. I could have done better but I had certain restrictions.
Interviewer: that’s fine. Final question Gedoni. Who do you think will win and who do you want to win? They’re two different questions.
Gedoni: I want Khafi to win. And in thinking, I have 3 people on my list. Khafi, Mike, and Mercy.
Interviewer: An interesting combination. Cool. Alright, so Gedoni we’re going to ask you about your fellow housemates, past and present. I want you to describe each of them using just one word, maximum 2.
Gedoni: Okay. Maximum a phrase? Coz some of them are enigmas (both laugh)
Interviewer: It’s up to you. Seyi
Gedoni: intelligent
Isilomo: resilient
Mercy: goal-getter
Ike: goal-getter
Esther: interesting
Nelson. You know I’m really trying to the moments you and Nelson had together in the house and there’s none.
Gedoni: Yeah, you’re right. We should have because we met at the auditions.
Interviewer: And you’re both in the fashion industry
Gedoni: yeah, he’s a model. We met a couple of times. We’re supposed to be friends actually so but we didn’t have that time in the house.
Interviewer: One word for Nelson
Gedoni: erm, caring. He’s very caring
Omashola: No dull moments
Kim Oprah: An enigma
Interviewer: Time won’t permit but she mentioned you guys were once an item way back. But like I said, time won’t permit. (both laugh) I’m sure you’re happy about that
Gedoni: No i’m not. I can answer anything.
Interviewer: Okay. People did say both inside and outside the house that you cried when she left the house. Why?
Gedoni: I was going to be the only housemate to be evicted. And coz of the 10 coins she gave to me, I was able to have a fair chance to fight and stay back. Just because of that coin. So that act of kindness touched me.
Interviewer: Okay. So do you still have feelings, is there any future for you and Kim Oprah? Seems like a redundant question
Gedoni: that ship has sailed long ago so…
Interviewer:
Jeff: politician (diplomatic)
Avala: I wish I had a better word for shy
Tuoyo: a very interesting character. I’d like to say that he’s a good guy. I was only getting to know him when he got evicted.
Thelma: Dancer
Frodd: Na my guy. I think he’s a control freak. He’s always very defensive. He has a certain way he’ll like to be perceived. So whenever that does not go through, he’s on the defensive.
Khafi: graciously beautiful. (blushes)
Tacha: feisty
Interviewer: Both of you are from port Harcourt so she felt some type of way when you left. I mean she walked you to the door and whatnot. But I was surprised to see that. I mean I didn’t really see you guys bonding
Gedoni: We didn’t need to. We had our connect.
Jackye: Intelligent
Diane: Slow poison for lack of words to put it. She’s not what you’ll easily find out. Because she’s under the radar and will hit you when she needs to. Not in a bad way. She’s another personality to look out for.
Mike: Life of the party
Sir Dee: smart
Ella: Did I really get to know her? I’ll say misunderstood.
Joe: creative
Elzonam: No word for him. He’s also one of those ones that I don’t think are true. But then again maybe wrong.
Venita: A friend
Nkay: pass
Cindy: The unassuming one. The one that doesn’t come across as a threat but is a threat. She just comes on and boom you’ll be wondering where she came from. That’s Cindy for you.
Interviewer: Alright Gedoni thank you so much for being here and for being on the big brother show. It’s been interesting. You made both Khafi’s time and your time very interesting. And incidentally, your time and hers were largely characterized by each other if you get what I mean.
Gedoni: yeah, I understand
Interviewer: it’s just been very interesting and its been a talking point for everyone. Thank you very much Gedoni, we wish you all the very best for the future. And what are your social media handles so we keep up with it?
Gedoni: on ig @Gedoni and twitter @Gedoniofficial and FB: Gedoni Ekpata
That was one hell of an interview. After all the long speech Gedoni gave, I don’t think I agree with everything he said. Concerning him and Khafi. Except if he’s really bad at showing his emotions. But well, we wait for Khafi’s version of the story.