The final intrigue

The top five: From the left Doreen, Steve, Jackson, Ruth and Joe. [Picture: courtesy

In the beginning there were 15 contestants from six countries. Now there are five finalists from three countries. One of them will walk home with Sh5M and a recording contract worth 10M. All these make for a potent mix, defying what seemed like a sluggish take-off, observes SHEILA KIMANI.

Ruth’s performance of Halleluiah was the first firing shot of the weekend, coming after Joe’s rendition of Bill Wither’s Ain’t No Sunshine, which received ecstatic cheers from the audience. It was hard to believe that these two were on probation.

Come Sunday, Jackson stole the thunder with a Lingala performance that thrust many onto their feet.

That has been the nature of what may end up as one of the most competitive finals; you never know who will sing you a religious rendition that well up your eyes with emotion, or a banger of a performance that will get you dancing.

Who would have imagined the Doreen, the Purple Diva hitherto known as the ‘Miss Probation’, thanks to numerous consecutive nominations for probation, would make it to this level? Who imagined, for example, that Samantha wouldn’t?

Steve, who initially seemed to stutter now has his vocal engines in a melodic purr.

Simply put, that will be the scenario when curtains come down on Tusker Project Fame Season Five (TPF5) this weekend with the five finalists pitching for victory.

Not that they have lacked in their own intrigues, even behind-the –scenes. Of the 15 contestants who made it into the academy, Ruth seems to have enjoyed her stay in the house the most especially due to her fun, social and loud nature. On the other hand, Joe admits that the house has made him an indoor person. Doreen has been the calm and reserved lady who was once ‘Miss Probation’, but broke free to finally be in the final five. Steve is the fun and funny lad, quite apart from Jackson who is a calm guy who goes about his business, but once it’s time to entertain, trust him to give an awesome performance.

Love in the house

Entertainment session was the time to unwind and during this time, the contestants would do gymnastics, watch movies or just chill and get to know each other better.

Doreen must have loved this moment the most since she confesses that if she could change anything about the house, she would add the movie time hours.

Ruth says that she loved hanging out with Samantha since their characters were almost alike but since she left, Jackson has been her new best friend.

Steve has grown to be good friends with Joe and also admits that he has been his favourite contestant in the house. Though he and Sharon had grown close he claims there is nothing beyond it even as word goes round that they had an intimate affair.

Having come to Kenya for the first time, Joe’s best friend was, easily, fellow countryman Samantha for quite a while. He admits that he liked her personality and the fact that they had common backgrounds. However, after her eviction,  he moved on to Nancy, the beautiful Sudanese to whom he shared his heart.

Being the outgoing guy he is, Joe admits that he would have loved to know Nancy more but what he liked most about her was her was her aggressive nature and how stubborn she would be at times.

Training and rehearsal time

Doreen confesses that this was her worst time during her stay in the academy. Off late it’s been much better since she has been out of probation for a while.

House duties

This is definitely that time when the laziest and most hardworking contestants get noticed. Most of the contestants admitted that Sharon was the most hard-working contestant in the house.