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Press Release: Correction to Big Brother Hotshots voting process

October 14, 2014




M-Net and Endemol South Africa have taken immediate steps to address an error that occurred during the Nomination Announcement on Big Brother Hotshots on Monday evening, 13 October 2014. The name of Permithias was erroneously omitted from the list of this week’s nominated housemates and was not made available as a voting option for viewers on the relevant platforms.
Housemates made their nominations on Sunday evening. Frankie received 8 nominations, Tayo and JJ received 7 each Permithias received 6, Esther received 5, Sabina received 4, and Lilian and Laveda received 3 nominations each.
M-Net and Endemol South Africa have taken the following steps to correct this error and to ensure that the voting process is fair to all nominated housemates:
  1. All voting platforms, except SMS, will be closed as of 11:00 CAT on Tuesday 14 October.
  2. Big Brother’s nominee read will happen on Tuesday 14 October after the broadcast of the Daily Highlights show at 20:30 CAT on all relevant channels, so that the housemates and viewers are aware of the full list of nominees.
  3. All votes, including SMS votes, for the period Monday 13 October 20:30 CAT to Tuesday 14 October 20:30 CAT will be verified by auditors SizweNtsalubaGobodo on Tuesday 14 October 20:30 and will be excluded from the accumulated vote count for Sunday 19 October.
  4. Charges for all SMS votes received between Monday 13 October 20:30 CAT and Tuesday 14 October 20:30 CAT will be reversed (users will be refunded).
  5. Voting will reopen on all platforms directly after the housemates have been informed of the relevant nominees on Tuesday 14 October after the Daily Highlights Show, 20:30 CAT.
The nine housemates nominated for eviction on Sunday 19 October are therefore: Esther; Ellah (both Uganda); Frankie (Rwanda); JJ (Zimbabwe); Laveda (Tanzania); Lilian; Tayo (both Nigeria); Sabina (Kenya) and Permithias (Namibia). Eight of the housemates are up for eviction based on nominations received from their fellow housemates, while Ellah is up for eviction after Head of House Samantha used her powers to add her to the list. Ellah will not be informed of her nomination until Sunday evening when Samantha reveals her decision during the Live Eviction Show.
M-Net and Endemol South Africa apologise to viewers for the error and can confirm that the correction will have no bearing on the results of the eviction vote on Sunday 19 October, due to the independent auditing process verified by SizweNtsalubaGobodo.
There are four ways to vote for your favourite housemate each week:
  1. Via SMS
  2. Via WeChat
  3. Via www.bigbrotherafrica.com
  4. Via the mobisite on your mobile phone
    SMS Voting
To vote via SMS: Text the keyword ‘Vote’, followed by the name of the housemate to the short code number for your country. For example SMS “Vote Uti” to 22626. SMS's are charged as applicable per specific network tariff. VAS rates apply. Free minutes do not apply. Please note that you can vote 100 times by SMS per mobile number during each voting period.
The SMS numbers for each country are:
Botswana
Operator             Tariff                     Short Code
Mascom             P 2.50                    16626
Orange               P 2.50                    16626
BE MOBILE        P 2.50                    16626
Ghana
Operator             Tariff                     Short Code
MTN                    GHS 0.60              1474
Vodafone            GHS 0.60              1474
GLO                    GHS 0.60              1474
Tigo                     GHS 0.60              1474
Airtel                    GHS 0.60              1474
Kenya
Operator             Tariff                     Short Code
Safaricom            KES 20                   22626
Orange                KES 20                   22626
Airtel                    KES 20                   22626
Malawi
Operator             Tariff                     Short Code
TNM                      MK 60.00             15626
Airtel                     MK 60.00             15626
Mozambique
Operator             Tariff                     Short Code
mcel                    20MT                     99026
Vodacom            20MT                     99026
Namibia
Operator             Tariff                     Short Code
MTC                    N$ 2.50                 15626
TN Mobile           N$ 2.50                 15626
Nigeria
Operator             Tariff                     Short Code
MTN                   N75                        34350
Airtel                  N 75                       34350
Globacom          N 75                       34350
Etisalat               N 75                       34350
Rest Of Africa
Tariff                     Short Code
Int’nl Rates         +2783142100414
Rwanda
Operator             Tariff                     Short Code
Tigo                     RWF 50                 1616
MTN                    RWF 50                 1616
Airtel                    RWF 50                 1616
South Africa
Operator             Tariff                     Short Code
Vodacom            R 1.50                    34624
MTN                   R 1.50                    34624
CellC                  R 1.50                    34624  
8TA                    R 1.50                    34624
Virgin                 R 1.50                    34624
Tanzania, United Republic of
Operator             Tariff                     Short Code
Vodacom             TSH 600                15426
Tigo                     TSH 600                15426
Zantel                  TSH 600                15426
Airtel                    TSH 600                15426
Uganda
Operator             Tariff                     Short Code
UTL                     500 UGX               8884
Warid                  500 UGX               8884
MTN                    500 UGX               8884
Airtel                   500 UGX               8884
Orange                500 UGX               8884
Zambia
Operator             Tariff                     Short Code
MTN                     Kwacha 2.50       3003
Zamtel                  Kwacha 2.50       3003
Airtel                     Kwacha 2.50       3003
Zimbabwe
Operator             Tariff                     Short Code
Econet                 US $0.50               15626
Netone                 US $0.50               15626
Telecel                 US $0.50               15626
WeChat Voting
Voting on WeChat is free. To vote via WeChat on your mobile phone, go to your app store and download the WeChat app. Create your profile, then search for BigBrotherAfrica and add the account. You can then start voting on WeChat, up to 100 times per mobile phone number during a valid voting period.
Website and mobile site voting
Voting on the website and on the mobile site is free and you are allowed to vote 100 times per cellphone number on the website and again 100 times per cellphone number on the mobile site during a valid voting period.