Organiser of the Big Brother Nigeria (BBNaija) reality television show has disclosed that almost 3,000 persons were engaged to work on season 9 of the just concluded show that lasted 72 days.

Executive Head, Content and West Africa Channels of MultiChoice, Dr. Busola Tejumola, made this known at the prize presentation to the winner of this year’s edition, Kingsley Sule, known popularly as Kellyrae.

Kellyrae on Sunday beat other contestants to be crowned the winner and went home with a cash prize of N60 million and a brand new car worth N40 million bringing the total prize worth to N100 million.

Tejumola said: “The show met our expectations. We went into the season with some uncertainty in terms of it being the first time having pairs going into the house as contestants. It was interesting to see how that unfolded and how they played their games. Every pair came in with their different strategies and didn’t know we would break them at the middle of the season. It was exciting and intriguing season. We as a product and the viewers had a range of emotions throughout the season. We were happy, frustrated, angry; any show that can give you that range of emotion is a success.”

When asked if the production will consider pairing contestants again, she said: “Every season is different. When we go back and review, we will come up with a new creative so, every season is different.

Speaking further, she said: “The house changed significantly this year, we had almost 3,000 that worked on the show. We remodelled the house to accommodate 28 housemates, which was the highest number.”

The season recorded the most housemates(eight) at the end of the show as we usually do not have up to eight contestants in the final.

When asked about the challenges faced staging the show amidst the economic situation in Nigeria, Dr. Tejumola said: “BBNaija is one of our productions and we cannot exclude it. We have Dusts, Tinsel, Tenth Avenue and others still running and others so, we do not see things as challenging but a learning process. We had to be creative especially with the economic landscape, the show must go on.

“Globally, entertainment didn’t stop, entertainment didn’t stop in Nigeria so, why would we have stopped? We have to forge on, be creative and make sure that we deliver.

When asked about what Nigerians should expect ahead next season, she said: “Nigerians should expect beautiful contents. We have a lot in stock and Nigerians should watch out.