Big Brother Africa suspended as fire guts host house

Scene from last year’s edition of BBA
Millions of television viewers across Africa and beyond who had been eagerly awaiting the commencement of this year’s edition of Big Brother Africa (BBA) will no longer be treated to the launching show of the highly-watched show, no thanks to a fire incident at the venue.
The house which is located at the Sasani Studios in Highlands North, Johannesburg, South Africa, was meant house the aspiring housemates drawn from 12 African countries including Zimbabwe.
Fortunately, the housemates who are already camped at a hotel in South Africa had not yet entered the house as they were waiting for the Sunday launch.
Fortunately, one was injured in the inferno.
A statement issued by M-Net, organisers of the show, yesterday stated that the cause of the fire which erupted and plunged the production into further crisis was still unknown.
“M-Net and Endemol SA advise that due to a devastating fire at the Big Brother house on 2 September 2014, Big Brother Hotshots will not launch this Sunday (7 September) as scheduled.
“The cause of the fire at this stage is unknown and investigations will commence as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Sasani Studios which are mainly used for reality television shows, sitcoms and photo shoots had been responsible for delivering Big Brother Africa for the past four years with little or no glitches. The studios are also technical partners to Scandal and Rhythm City. The house which had already been furnished, ready for the launch had close to 200 cameras and microphones.
However, all hope is not lost as both M-Net and EndemolSA are urgently looking for an alternative Big Brother house in which to film the production.
“However, as this production has highly technical infrastructure, camera and edit requirements, an alternative house is not immediately available. “Every effort will be made to find a solution as quickly as possible to ensure that Africa’s biggest reality show will continue,” the statement added.