Mampi became the first Upville housemate to be evicted from Big Brother StarGame on Sunday night (27 May, live on DStv Channel 197 & 198 at 20:00 CAT). The Zambian was sent home after receiving the fewest country votes from Africa this week. She was also the most-nominatedUpville housemate, with 6 nominations from her peers.

Having had a week off from the pressures of a looming eviction, normal service resumed in Downville as the random nomination process returned – leaving Ghana’s Mildred and Keitta and Botswana’s Edith and Eve up for eviction this week.

Tanzanian artist Diamond Platinumz set the tone for a cracking show by opening proceedings with Mawazo. DJ Umculo from Namibia’s Fresh FM was hard at work on the decks as well, keeping the studio audience jumping throughout the show.

After giving viewers a reminder of the week that was in Upville – with DKB throwing his weight around as Head of House, a surprise visit from DJ Euphonik and awager victory – and Downville, where romance blossomed, Keagan shouted his way through the week as Head of House and then won this week’s Head of House challenge too – IK gave viewers a chance to hear from last week’s evicted housemates Luke, Dalphin and Yadel.

Luke said that his time in the house had been “crazy” and quite unlike anything he’d ever experienced before. He said he would miss Jessica as their relationship had bloomed and he’d felt like he’d known her for years. Dalphin said her time on Big Brother StarGame had helped her learn how to live with other people with different characters, and backed her friend Zainab to do well in Upville. Yadel said she had loved everything about the StarGame experience – especially Big Brother’s commanding voice. She insisted that her relationship with Alex was purely platonic and that she still had a boyfriend at home.

After a chance to hear what viewers from around the continent had to say about the show, it was time to get down to eviction business. The Sizwe Ntsaluba Gobodo auditor delivered the results envelope to IK on stage and confirmed that its contents had been verified. IK then took viewers into the house and asked DKB to reveal his ‘save and replace’ decision to the rest of the Upville housemates. After going to great lengths to explain that his decision was nothing personal, DKB broke the news that he had replaced himself with LadyMay, prompting the Namibian to leap from the couch and shout “I knew it!”. As she considered her fate, IK asked her, Mampi and Maneta to stand. He put Lady May out of her misery first, telling her she was safe this week. “One of the other two housemates will be leaving this week,” said IK. “Sorry to say, Maneta, you’re not going anywhere – Mampi, you’ve been evicted, please leave the Big Brother house”.

When she emerged on stage, IK quizzed her about her beef with DKB and the most difficult part of life in the house. She revealed that she thought DKB had been interested in her and that she had really missed her family during her time in Upville – and that she was ready to leave. She told IK she would be voting for her “spidermate” Maneta but thought that Zainab would emerge from the show with the USD 300 000 prize.

After a brief rendition of her now-famous ‘thunder thighs’ dance, Mampi departed the Big Brother stage and it was time for a random nomination of the Downville housemates. Buhle and the auditor from Sizwe Ntsaluba Gobodo joined IK on stage and kick-started the random process. Thefirst ball out of the cube bore the country name “Ghana”, meaning that Mildred and Keitta were the first randomly-nominated pair. After letting the housematesstew through a dynamic dance performance on stage, IK broke the news that there would be a second random nomination. Buhle spun the cube and Botswana’s ball dropped into the container – meaning that Edith and Eve join their Ghanaian counterparts on the chopping block this week.

There was just enough time for Diamond Platinumz to close out the show with a pumping rendition of Moyo Wangu, before the credits rolled on another action-packed Big Brother StarGame eviction show and the voting lines opened.

Mampi’s eviction means that 18 housemates remain in the Downville house, while there are now 8 housemates in Upville – and they have 63 days to go in the game, in the battle for the USD 300 00 prize.

There are three ways to vote to keep your favourite housemate in Big Brother StarGame – via web, SMS or WAP – and you can win amazing prizes in the process! The voting winners this week were as follows: Ingrid Ngunovandu (Namibia) won a DStv HD PVR, Amutenya Shikingo (Namibia) picked up a DStv Walka and Olunide Akeju (Nigeria) won a Big Boy Scooter.

To vote via web or WAP, go to www.africamagic.tv/bigbrother, log in, click ‘Vote’ and then click the appropriate button for the housemate you’d like to keep in the house. You may vote once per hour.

To vote via SMS, send the word VOTE followed by the housemate’s name to the number for your country below. SMS’s are charged per specified network tariffs in the various countries. VAS rates apply. Free minutes do not apply. Please note that you can vote 100 times by SMS per telephone number during each voting period.

South Africa

Vodacom                  33729              R 1,50
MTN                           33729              R 1,50
CellC                            33729              R 1,50

Big Brother StarGame fans can catch all the latest news, video – and all-important voting information – at www.africamagic.tv/bigbrother. Tweet Big Brother @BigBroAfrica, send SMS messages to the on-screen strap and visit the Big Brother StarGame Facebook page to get the low-down on the continent’s favourite reality show. By simply pressing the OK button on their DStv remote (on Channel 198) viewers can get updated news and information from the Big Brother StarGame house. Viewers now also have the choice of two Big Brother StarGame channels on their TV’s – DStv Channel 197 and 198 now gives viewers the chance to focus exclusively on the house of their choice, 24/7!