Conversation with Mutuals: What does it mean to be a Tacha Titan?
Mide, a business analyst based in London, shares why she stans Big Brother star Tacha.
I was a fan of Tacha during her season of Big Brother Naija, the pepper dem season. She was a bit popular before the show but maligned by public opinion. She was “that Instagram twerker”. It was supposed to be derogatory, they were implying that Tacha was morally debased and did not deserve a spot on international TV. I thought it was misogynistic bullshit, but this doesn’t mean that I became sympathetic towards her. I just didn’t care that she was called an Instagram twerker. And really, nothing about Tacha’s entire personality evokes pity.
Through watching the show, I learnt that Tacha had flown to Enugu for auditions after being turned down at the auditions in Port Harcourt. I was inspired. Here was a woman who wouldn’t take no for an answer. A woman who would go lengths for her dreams. And through her interactions with other housemates, I thought she was confident and smart. I did think, though, that she was condescending to other housemates sometimes. But hey, I wasn’t watching Big Brother to see righteous individuals. I was okay to stan Tacha and all that made her complex and human. However, I was also a fan of other housemates so my loyalty was divided. And while the season was still running, I made a trip that meant I couldn’t watch Big brother for weeks. When I returned, my enthusiasm for the show had abated and I just kept up with the events of that season online till Tacha’s disqualification, till the season ended.
Even though I am an ardent BBN consumer, my loyalty to my most liked housemate only survives two months after the show. I move on and wish them well. They join the very long list of celebrities I like. The passion dies and that’s why I’m fascinated by the Tacha Titans. They’ve kept their loyalty, their unconditional love, their passion burning for three years now. Make an unkind remark about Tacha on Twitter and see. Even more interesting, after these years, the birthday gifts have kept coming. And so I followed a Tacha Titan on Twitter in January, DMed them, and told them I wanted to know what it means to be a Tacha Titan. She followed back and was gracious enough to answer my questions. Her name is Mide and she’s a business analyst based in London. This is how our conversation went:
What about Tacha attracted her to you? Of all the pepper dem housemates, why did you choose to become a fan of hers?
Pepper Dem was my first time watching BBN and I was mostly drawn to her confidence. Right from the stage. She said a phrase that struck me and I think a lot of other people. It was the “look at me, look at them” phrase when Ebuka asked her why she thinks the other housemates escorted her to the house. To me, that was just grand. I am used to Celebrity Big brother here in the UK but pepper dem was my first and last time watching BBN. And yeah, from the stage there I was struck by her confidence and I just tried to follow her journey through BBN. I wasn’t able to watch every single day because DSTV and Showmax were not available here at the time. But I tried to watch via Instagram live or live stream sometimes. And yes, that’s how I got into Tacha literally.
The Tacha Titan is not just a fanbase now. To me, an outsider, it seems like some sort of social club. How instrumental are you to what Tacha Titan has become?
I am the official hashtag handler for the fan base. This means in terms of trending on Twitter, I am the one in charge of that. I’ve been doing that since October 2020 but prior to me doing that, there have been a couple more other people doing that since 2019. I announce the hashtag for the day and try to also encourage everyone to trend and work to make sure we stay on top of the trend table because that's pretty much what Titans are known for. That’s how we have been able to cement ourselves as a fanbase. Not just to get people talking but also to check on ourselves. For instance, if someone has a birthday, they can use the hashtag to announce it. If someone’s had a sudden death in their family, they can use the hashtag to announce it and we will send our condolences. And if we can help in any way, we help. Just you know, something to keep the fanbase together to let everyone know you are not alone in this. You need someone to talk to or if you need help in any way, you can always use the hashtag. You need a job, you never know who's watching and who will reach out. That’s mainly my role as a Tacha Titan.
Do you get paid?
I don’t get paid. Many people assume that but I don’t get paid. And if I’m ever off for a week and unavailable, somebody else would take on until I am back.
I’d like to hear your thoughts on the perception of BBN fans as jobless, poor people.
I think the perception is quite bizarre because a lot of the process with big brother is you need to vote and you need money to vote. If people don’t have jobs, how will they make money? And considering how the audience is predominantly from the African continent, it’s quite an aloof perception because you need to make money to be able to spend money. And also, speaking from the Tacha Titan perspective, we have a lot of money makers here. We are not jobless. I am a business analyst for example. I live in the UK. I know a lot of UK Titans who are in very well-to-do jobs. We have a lot of Nigerian Titans in very well-to-do jobs as well. And yes, some Titans don’t have jobs. But that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve the right to express themselves or don't have the right to stan Tacha. It’s a very wild and very crazy thing to generalise everyone into one perspective. Also, fans spend money on data, if they don’t have money, how are they supposed to buy data to come online and trend hashtags or defend who they stan. I think it’s the way people have chosen to view them. And personally, I don’t see the difference between BBN stanship and people who stan footballers because it’s pretty much the same thing. You watch someone on TV, you love them and you follow them through their football journey. It might be a different profession but technically we are all in the same box.
True. I agree. What about birthdays and gifts? How is it organised?
Birthdays. Tacha’s birthday was in December, but we started the donations from April to about the middle of December. Her birthday was on the 23rd of December. We had people donating every single day. Our main donation day was Wednesdays. And I remember we would trend hashtags for N100, and I kid you not, the same people calling us jobless will berate us for donating N100. If people didn’t have jobs or earnings, how would they have been able to donate N100? We had people who did a million. We had people who did 2 million. We had people who did 3 million. But it doesn't mean people who did N100 are less of a human being than those who did a million. The majority of the people criticising do so out of jealousy. They don’t have that experience of someone loving them to an extent where they want them to be happy. And one thing with Titans, with what Tacha has been through, the reason why we go so hard is that she had no one. The whole country turned their back on her. She had only us to stick up for her but now time’s gone past and everyone's sort of realised that she is successful. She is not this or that. Or whatever perception they had of her. We have been through hell with her. Last year, valentine, we got her a puppy and she still has the puppy till now. So it is just that we want to see her happy and whatever way we can choose to do that, it is going to be done. Titans are very resilient. We don’t give up. And yeah, we are not jobless.
Interesting. Final question: how did you feel about Tacha’s disqualification and your approach to BBN since then. You mentioned pepper dem was the first and last season you watched.
My opinion on Tacha’s disqualification was that it was an unfair judgment. In a situation where two people had an altercation and only one person was punished, it reaffirmed the notion that the show was heavily biased. And that action they took made them lose some viewers. I don’t watch BBN as a whole and haven’t watched it since Tacha left. Looking back now, the disqualification did her and the fanbase a bigger favour. No one can say she has the Titans because she won the show.
Thank you Dika 🙏🙏🙏
Wow ❤️❤️❤️🙏