From Reuters correspondent Andrew Quinn in Johannesburg.....
''Think African reality television and what comes to mind: Ethnic warfare? Starving refugees? Drought, famine or disaster?
Well, pull up a couch and check out the hot-tub on "Big Brother Africa", as contestants from 12 African countries cavort for the cameras.
Forget chaos and conflict. So far it's been mostly booze and bikinis in the first all-African reality television show beamed across the continent.
It's the latest and most ambitious of the worldwide "Big Brother" series, which takes groups of "normal" people, locks them in a house for months and films the resulting drama for the enjoyment of TV viewers.
"Big Brother Africa" has already dished up its share of teasing, talking and titillation -- the "shower hour" shots of contestants soaping up have been particularly popular.
But producers have higher hopes for this particular reality show, calling it a ground-breaking chance for Africans to get a look at each other as people, independent of the doom-filled stories from their region which dominate the world media.
"It certainly is a world first in terms of Big Brother," said Carl Fisher, director of local production for South Africa's M-Net pay TV channel, which is producing the show in conjunction with the Dutch TV production firm Endemol.
"'Big Brother', in a very small way, provides a different image about Africans. We are educated, we can engage with one another. We don't always have wars........."
Full Article Here !!!
