While we watch the daily drama and fun as they unfold in the Big Brother Naija Lockdown house, there are a few lessons we can also learn from the reality show.
Yesterday, Big Brother turned the table around for the housemates after the conclusion of their Indomie task. He brought to mind the universal principle that one should treat other people in the manner in which one would want to be treated by them.
For the task which took place in the arena, the housemates were grouped in twos and were asked to pick ingredients to prepare Indomie noodles for their partners within a specified time. After each group made their picks and prepared the noodles for their partners, Big Brother called on them for their presentation. As part of the presentation, they were required to taste the noodles as prepared by their partners and score them on a scale of one to ten.
Some housemates gave their partners high scores only to be given something lower by their partner. They were probably being sincere with their scores but Big Brother had something else in mind —a twist that ended up favouring those whose partners scored them low.
Once the housemates finished rating the noodles their partners prepared, Biggie announced to the house that they all had won N4 million to be shared equally amongst the groups. That is, each group had N570, 000 each. However, amid the jubilation, Big Brother went further to let them know that whatever score they gave their partner was their score and it determined their share of the money.
Those who gave their partners the same scores their partner gave them received equal shares of the money. While those who gave their partners a lower score were in fact the ones with the low score and as such got the lower share of the money. For instance, Kiddwaya scored his partner, Wathoni, 7 points while she scored Kiddwaya 10 points. Wathoni got the higher share, thanks to Biggie’s twist.
This may have been an ordinary game but there’s an inherent lesson in it. While watching it, I was forced to remember the Golden Rule, “Do unto others what you want others to do to you.”
The rule of the task was to rate each partner’s cooking sincerely without bias or sentiments. This is true and necessary, but if probably some of the housemates had scored their partners as they would score themselves, they would have had no cause to rue their “sincerity”.
It’s amusing how a show many people regard as irrelevant has subtle life lessons in it. And while Big Brother merely added that twist for the sake of fun, he sure wanted to pass a message to the housemates and viewers at large. That sometimes in life, you get what you give others.
