The Umlilo season launched with 20 housemates and just after the live launch show, the housemates were faced with their first twist and had to pick four more housemates to join them out of six hopefuls. Two males Melino and Sipha Lee and two ladies Nsuku and Philile made the cut to complete the total of 24 housemates. 

Here is how each round went for the nominated housemates: 

Week 1 

The first nominations round took place on the first Monday of the season and saw Sweet Guluva being crowned the first head of house. The housemates had a run at nominations, only to learn that it was a non-voting week so no one was evicted.

Week 2 - Round 1

A new game play was introduced this week, the head of house challenger, which gave four housemates the opportunity to dethrone the reigning Head of House. Uyanda became the first victim of the HoH Challenger as Sipha Lee snatched the title from him, just six hours into his reign. It was a double blow for Uyanda as HoH Sipha Lee chose to save his buddy and HoH suite roomie, Ezra and swapped him with Uyanda. However, Bonni Bee and Savage received the least votes resulting in them being the first housemates to be evicted from the game.

Round 1:

 

Week 3 - Round 2

Ezra clinched the HoH win earlier in the afternoon, but the real twist came later when he had to defend his throne against challengers chosen by the viewers. Ash-ley Ogle, Sweet Guluva, Uyanda, and Nate stepped up, but Ezra wasn’t about to back down. He managed to defend his title, choosing Melino as his HoH suite mate. This week, Abobo, Gugu, Kay B, Nsuku, Philile, Swiss, Siphesihle, and Uyanda were nominated by the house and Ezra used his power to save Swiss and replace him with Mata. Gugu received the least votes and she became the third housemate to be evicted but the fourth to leave the House following the disqualification of Kay B on the Wednesday.

Week 4 - Round 3

Jojo made history when she became the first female HoH of the season, tagging her then nemesis Siphesihle to share in the HoH suite spoils. She successfully dethroned Swiss who had won HoH earlier on the day. Ezra, Luzuko, Nate, Nsuku, Sipha Lee, Swiss, and Uyanda were up for possible eviction after HoH Jojo used her power to save Mandy Hagan. This week the HoH did not hold the power to replace. Evictions marked the end of the Bandana Boys cartel as Ezra, Luzuko and Sipha Lee were booted out of the game, which marked seven housemates out of the game. 

Week 5 

Swiss the roost this week as HoH but just after his coronation, it was time for nominations, but not as usual. It was nominations with a twist. The house had to evict one housemate via ballot. It was down to Ash-ley Ogle and Nsuku so HoH Swiss sacrificed Ash-ley Ogle and she had to leave the house immediately. The public did not vote this week.

Week 6 - Round 4

For the first time this season, housemates engaged in face-to-face nominations under HoH Tyrone’s rule. He selected Mshini to join him in the HoH condo. The plot twist was that Tyrone, as the new HoH, had to add an inferno nomination and that misfortune befell Siphesihle. Eleven out of the 16 remaining Housemates were up for eviction: Abobo, Beekay, Jojo, Mandy Hagan, Mata, Melino, Muzi-TheMbuzi, Nate, Nsuku, Siphesihle and Swiss. Flamboyant characters Mata and Muzi-TheMbuzi received the least votes and both bowed out of the game, making it 10 down.

 Jojo, Mandy Hagan, Mata, Melino, Muzi-TheMbuzi, Nate, Siphesihle and Swiss

Week 7 - Round 5

This week’s HoH, Mshini picked Nsuku to share the HoH bedroom's comforts with her. The week’s twist was Biggie putting up everyone up for eviction, save for HoH Mshini. Evictions were a massacre as Mandy Hagan, Melino, Philile and Tyrone bade the game goodbye, taking the number of evicted housemates to 14. This meant that we now had a Top 10.

Week 8 - Round 6

The ladies were on a roll as Nsuku took over the HoH reigns from her buddy, Mshini and whisked her back to the HoH condo for the third time. Beekay, Jojo, Mshini, Nate, Sweet Guluva (Nsuku used her inferno nomination to add him to the list), Swiss and Uyanda were up for eviction. Beekay and Swiss were evicted.

Week 9 – Round 7

Uyanda finally made Head of House on this week, a position that earned him a spot in the finale, making him the first confirmed finalist of the Umlilo season. He obviously took his buddy Abobo with him to the HoH condo. As for nominations, Biggie put everyone up for possible eviction and Abobo, Mshini and Siphesihle were evicted to make way for the Top 5: Jojo, Nate, Nsuku, Sweet Guluva and Uyanda. 

Week 10 - Round 8 (FINALE)

The pint-sized baby of the season, Jojo snatched the HoH title for the second time, making her the only HoH to make this feat. She gave Nate a taste of the HoH condo.  With a whopping 53.48% Sweet Guluva was crowned the winner of Big Brother Mzansi season 5, Umlilo while Uyanda became the runner up with 31.67%. 

(*) Refers to evicted housemates.

Umfana wase Nqutu, uLokhuzana, Sweet Guluva is the ultimate winner of Big Brother Mzansi Umlilo. Stay connected to the #BBMzansi world on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok! Big Brother Mzansi season 5 was sponsored by LottoStar.