Dishes got dirty, so the boys got down

Dirty dishes created the first major blow-up of Big Brother Africa this week. A stack of grimy plates and yucky cutlery caused Nigeria's Bayo, Uganda's Gaetano and Ghana's Sammi B to get verbally stuck into one another.

Botswana's Warona inadvertently started World War 3 - and some riveting viewing - in the house by bringing up the sensitive topic of housekeeping: who's doing it and who is not.

Bayo blundered in, in his usual blunt fashion, to suggest that after each one eats, they wash their own dishes - and this seemed to ignite a flame of wild indignation in Gaetano. It's worth mentioning, however, that he appears to be one of the laziest in the house, ironically along with Warona.

Immediately, the usually jolly "funny man" of the house, Sammi B, put the boot in ... in favour of Gaetano. He has clashed big time with Bayo from the beginning, so this wasn't surprising. What was surprising was that the generally-easygoing (if cheeky) Gaetano showed an aggressive side to his nature. It was not as frightening a display as that by Brad in the first Big Brother, but watch this space.

The women generally flapped around, trying in vain to calm the three down, but with little success. South Africa's Abby showed some interesting peacemaking skills later when she approached them individually, trying to get them to kiss and make up. Gaetano chilled out, but refused to apologise in any fashion.

So, as the dozen enter their second weekend in the BBA house, the honeymoon appears to be all but over, and the chatty repartee almost a thing of the past. A reality show it is after all ... and boy, has reality set in as housemates are rapidly discovering one another's quirks, dislikes, bad habits and mood swings.

Some players, especially Abby and Zambian Cherise, have managed to more or less maintain the status quo, sharing affection, laughter, confidence, stories, hugs and good humour with the majority of the housemates.

However, the seemingly good intentions of many who started by being intent on impressing the others in the beginning have fallen by the wayside. Read: Warona, Bayo, Gaetano and even Angola's Bruna (who really needs a good bath).

Housemates who seem to be sitting on the fence are Mwisho from Tanzania, Alex from Kenya, Tapuwa from Zimbabwe, Stefan from Namibia and Zein from Malawi.

So what's going wrong - or right? Aside from the aforementioned mood swings, the players with dominant personalities are simply not able to contain themselves, and generally appear to have no patience or self-control when it comes to dealing with the softer-natured housemates.

Tonight may reveal a different picture as they are likely to have completed their task successfully and could be rewarded with alcohol. And, if the past two seasons of BB are anything to go by, we all know what this can lead to ...