I Learnt This From Project Fame

Project Fame…what a feeling!

I really wish I could sing, but twisting my voice and making bird-like sounds through my nose (or mouth, or both) is way beyond me. Music is just not my thing and so like most people, I watch MTN project fame for fun-to get rid of boredom-and most importantly to stay abreast of the events of the entertainment world. Beyond the glamour however, I think there are subtle lessons to learn from the daily episodes of the show. I have learnt some things from the show and in few lines I’d like to just share what I learnt in the last two evictions. Yeah; I mean the last two Saturday nights 17th and 24th August, 2013!

Those nights reinforced this truth in my mind; ‘not all stories have happy endings’. My hope for an happy ending was deflated as I watched my favourite contestants in persons of Gbemisola and Ayoka leave the academy. Honestly, there were tears in my eyes but I did well not to make them drop; Gbemisola was evicted the Saturday before Ayoka was evicted but there was something peculiar about their eviction…
You see, they both lost their housemates’ votes to the same person and maybe its just me, but I think that should mean something. The same guy was saved in the place of my dream girls twice; both lost their lifelines to JOHNNY!

The night Gbemisola was evicted, I went on twitter some minutes after the show and there was this tweet by one of my followers that read “this Johnny get padis for house o”. Those words didn’t mean much until Ayoka was also evicted. Even though Gbemisola was more of a dancer and a runway model than a singer, Ayoka’s performance made much more sense than that of Johnny but she was still shown the exit door. If you’re a ‘Johnny fan’, you may be tempted to argue that my evaluation may not be professional but even one of the judges affirmed that Ayoka’s performance that day was a great improvement on her previous performance while another said Johnny put up a boring performance and that he couldn’t wait for him to just finish his song. The question then is: “why did most of the housemates save Johnny anyway?” My answer; “they saved him because they’re friends with him!” And from that I was able to pick these things:

1. It’s seldom ever about ‘talent alone’; it’s also about the people you meet in the journey of life. No one makes it alone, someone or some people contributed in one way or the other to their success. If Johnny eventually wins the MTN project fame season 6, a big “thank you” is in order to the other housemates for saving his ass-twice!

2. Where your talent can’t take you, people can. Johnny’s housemates kept him in the academy for two weeks (and who knows; maybe they’ll save him yet again) even though his talent alone wouldn’t have. People are great assets and you can’t afford to lose them, you never know when their support would come in as a life-saver.

3. People can either make or destroy you, make you win or make you lose, take you forward, backward or keep you stagnant, they can ensure you don’t get past where you are! They made Johnny stay in the academy twice; at the expense of Gbemisola and Ayoka. God help you if you are bad with dealing with people, we all need to develop good ‘people skills’. 

4. Friendship is not sentimental. Ladies voted for Johnny when they could easily have voted for a fellow female contestant.

5. There are people who will love and care for you no matter how you much you’ve fumbled or failed. Even if you have been bitterly criticized, there are some who’ll always be there to save your face, they catch you when you fall and stay loyal to you no matter what happens. Johnny probably had enough of these guys in the academy. He was on probation twice, consecutively, and they saved him those two times.

6. It doesn’t matter what people have said to you, or how badly you have done in life, there’s always hope. There’s still going to be someone somewhere who’s always got your back, someone who is always ready to give you another chance. Though one of the judges said Johnny’s performance was boring, his friends still believed in him and gave him another chance.

7. The higher you go in life, the more dependent you will become on others. As MTN project fame continues, each contestant needs the judges’ favour more than ever before, they need the votes of the housemates and the viewers (especially when they are on probation) even more. They’re slowly but surely coming to the point where they’ll all depend on the viewers to stay in the race, please don’t forget to vote for them o!

One last thought before I conclude. There’s this nagging thought that’s refused to be banished from my head; “what if the other contestants had saved Johnny because he’s weaker opposition?” Hmmm… Are you pondering what I’m pondering?

In any case, we all need people; the contestants may need Johnny around so they can surpass what he brings to the stage. If you don’t agree, let’s all wait and see, there’s no hurry now is there; I might just be right or again, what if I’m not…?
Fingers crossed.

The conclusion of the whole matter is this; “take your time to treat people well, create networks of good people”. You just don’t know when and or where you might need them; one of my brothers once told me “when you work with people, make them feel important but not indispensable”. I don’t know where he got that from but I’m telling you the same.
In a bid to make friends, do not lose your values or self-worth for anything or anyone. Make them feel appreciated but don’t stop there, add value to their life too!

Thanks for your time.

MOHYOUR
@am_oropo