On TV, Temptations and Triumphs
yourself speak over their screaming. You can’t also hear the director so you are panicking. Nothing prepares you for that moment when all things hit you at the same time,” IK recounted.
Having regained his confidence, IK wormed his way into the hearts of many. He brought the wild and spontaneous radio personality and people loved him more. He would tease the contestants and often pull pranks on them to enliven the show. His savvy looks also added to his growing fame.
Quite a few expected that he would be the host of the rebranded Big Brother Nigeria when it returned in 2017. However, lawyer and media personality who once wrote a column in THISDAY, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, was unveiled as the host.
“The danger is that people wanted presenters they are familiar with. I experienced such. But now I understand it. It is not that I’m better than Ebuka Obi-Uchendu but people just wanted to be familiar with the presenter,” IK added.
From being the host of Big Brother Africa, IK was once again chosen by MultiChoice to host its Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards. He has been a co-host since the inception of the awards.
In 2014, he veered into TV production, starting a talk show, Highlites with IK, on the Africa Magic channel. The show had a similar format to late night talk shows with commentary made on social issues and a good dosage of comedy.
“Highlites with IK was a yearly contract. It was a season programme that was renewed every year so it ran for three years and the channel who authorised the show, that is Africa Magic said they wanted to go a different direction for the year it stopped, 2017; which I totally understand because they are the market leader. They are creative and constantly adjusting and rejigging, re-evaluating the market.
“So they told me they wanted to pause the show, perhaps it may be revived eventually because they needed to rejig and they needed to berth some new shows. I don’t have a problem with that because it helped me to recalculate and look at the best way to do what I’m doing. Again, it gave us time to reassess the show: what were the pros, cons, what do people like most about the show,” he explained.
For that three year, the show ran, IK said he got positive feedback.
The OAP said: “The feedback was good. I think people loved it because there was a spontaneous thing about the show. Humour was good. I think if there was any area I will say Africa Magic wanted to bring change was to make it a little more grassroots in its orientation, to reach out to more of the demographics that watch TV and consume the media.
“So we decided to think about it a lot more and comedy sells in Nigeria and humour was one of the greatest selling points of Highlites with IK. So we decided to extract all the humour and make it grassroots, fun, friendly, simple and no packaging to it. It’s user friendly, so we decided to give them a combination and over time we have been able to bring out content that we are giving the channel to make sure that we haven’t lost out on the talk show.”
For his new show which will start airing this February, IK is tilting towards comedy. He calls this one ‘Comedy Nites with IK’ which he described as a comedy club that will feature three comedians each episode. About 13 episodes will be recorded for the first season.
Known for his great sense of humour, one wonders if comedian is one of the hats the presenter will like to wear someday.
“I am happy to be a funny presenter. I doff my hat to all the comedians who could do great comedy. I think it’s a hat I could wear. I think I have some measure of the gift of a sense of humour. I’m not one for many labels. I’m quite content with being a funny presenter,” IK said.
Being popular also comes with its loads of troubles, particularly in a social media era. IK admitted that he has been a victim of fake news and is not quite surprised how people get infamous on social media, just to be famous.
He stated: “They take your views, smear it and rubbish it because it will get them views and likes. So they are willing to do it. I remembered sitting in my house, watching a show on TV – this was before I got married – and they showed a picture of me walking into a venue with a girl and they said it was IK’s fiancée. I don’t remember who the girl was. But I was holding her hand. She might have been a friendly person who said ‘hi’ and we shook hands for a second. But she was called my fiancée. Meanwhile, I was sitting at home with my real fiancée. They spread all sorts of rumours about me. After a while you get thick-skinned. You don’t get affected by it.”