It’s often interesting to see someone who studied a serious science course like Applied Biochemistry from a tertiary institution, Akwa, easily glide into entertainment like a second skin. Gideon Okeke is one of the few who have nailed such transitions, and he’s been at it for quite a while now.

After coming to fame on the first-ever edition of the Big Brother Nigeria show, Gideon transitioned from being a reality TV star to an actor within a year, but it didn’t come on a platter. The actor has been acting since primary school and directing since secondary school, so he describes his time at the university as a wasted effort.

It’s why Ogidigada, his nickname, never returned to finish his final year after Big Brother. Instead, he auditioned and got the part of Phillip Ade-Williams on Tinsel. That role changed his trajectory and opened him to new opportunities.

Contrary to what many may have thought, being on Big Brother wasn’t the sole reason he got the role as he had to audition with thousands of others. In a 2012 interview with Netng, he shared, “One night, I went to the club with my friends; the day before, we’d all gotten the text message for an audition.

I got back home. I was squatting with my friend, Chinedu, in Surulere, and the next morning I was like, ‘o boy, I wan go that audition o.’ We were all drunk from the club, and he said, ‘dey go jo I no dey go’. I went and came back, and I was like, ‘I get am o’. He was shocked”.