Sweet Guluva won the previous season of Big Brother Mzansi in 2025.
Reality TV show Big Brother Mzansi has opened its doors for another season, as it searches for Sweet Guluva’s successor.
Entries for the sixth season opened on Thursday, where hopeful contestants have to submit, among other things, information about their parents’ origins.
ALSO READ: How Big Brother Mzansi’s season five racked up more than 200 million votes in its final week
Big Brother Mzansi’s record-breaking season
Sweet Guluva, whose real name is Akhonamathemba Mbele, won the previous season, which saw the controversial show break records in its voting numbers.
Season four recorded the most votes in the final week, with an estimated 293 million votes cast. This represents a 330% increase from the vote tally at the season 4 finale.
“The success of Big Brother Mzansi Season 5 is a testament to the power of reality TV in Mzansi,” Director of Local Entertainment Channels at M-Net, Shirley Adonisi, said at the time.
“More than just entertainment, the show ignites national conversations around identity, relationships, and social dynamics, while celebrating the vibrancy and diversity of Mzansi youth,” said Adonisi.
“With its immersive format and real-time audience engagement, Big Brother Mzansi remains a powerful platform for self-expression, discovery and the emergence of new talent.”
Current champion Sweet Guluva bagged R2 million for lasting until the final day on the show.
The two winners before him, season four’s Mjuneiro, popularly known as Inkabi yase Atlanta McJunior, and Dimpho Mvundla, fondly known as Mpho Wa Badimo, from season three, also received a R2 million cash prize.
The channel was not able to confirm season six’s prize money at the time of publishing.
ALSO READ: Support for Yolanda after removal from Big Brother ‘reveals society’s double standards on GBV’
Big Brother Mzansi’s controversies
In its pursuit of eyebrow-raising entertainment, the show has also found itself in hot water in recent times.
In 2024, season four’s Eulanda ‘Yolanda’ Monyai was booted from the reality TV show after spewing comments relating to sexual violence, targeted at fellow housemate, Sabelo “Papa Ghost” Ncube.
“I’m going to go rape Ghost. I’m going to force myself into his bed,” she told her housemates during the 24-hour live broadcast.
Yolanda did apologise to Papa Ghost, who is also the younger brother of broadcaster Andile Ncube.
“We do not condone any acts that threaten the safety of the housemates on the show and we take gender-based violence seriously. Therefore, the housemate who made the threatening remarks [Yolanda] has been disqualified from the game,” read the statement from MultiChoice confirming Yolanda’s exit from the show.
This was a show of consistency from the channel after male contestant, Lindokuhle ‘Bravo B’ Nsele, was kicked off the same season after he and fellow participant Tshepo ‘Makhekhe’ Tau plotted to sexually take advantage of inebriated female contestants, live on television.
The female targets were Zinhle Mofokeng, also known as Zee, and Liyema Phantsi, whose nickname is Liema.
Viewers of the show also demanded that the channel remove Makhekhe – some even threatened to report BBM to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA).
NOW READ: ‘I am still in love with him’: Ashley Ogle confirms breakup with Sweet Guluva
