In the midst of our daily routines, there exists a story that stands out, a story of dream coming true.
Meet Ilebaye Precious Odiniya, an individual whose life transformed in an instant. She went from being unknown to becoming a shining star on the hit show, BBNaija All Stars. A resilient competitor who consistently dominated the house tasks, earning admiration for her unyielding spirit.
Ilebaye’s journey began with a quiet determination that caught the attention of both her housemates and viewers.
Ilebaye Precious Odiniya, born in 2001 in Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria, and hailing from the igala tribe, is a talented and charismatic actress who participated in BBNaija Season 7 (Level Up). Her stat in BBNaija Season 7 house was short-lived, taking an unexpected turn when she became the third housemate to be evicted in the second live eviction show because of what ensued between her close friend, Groovy, and another housemate, Beauty, an ex-Miss Nigeria.
So, when she was ushered into the BBNaija All Stars edition by the show host, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, not many people remembered Ilebaye. Indeed, not a few people wondered what such a little known character was doing in an all-stars house.
But time would change all that. Ilebaye started topping from the second voting week when all the housemate were up.
During that week, a heated argument ensued between her and Ceec, another housemate whom many viewers refer to as “Bitter leaf” because of what they consider as toxicity in her character. But in this case, it appeared it was Ilebaye’s fault. Ilebaye, also known as Baye, clearly started running amok after shots of alcohol and started attacking Ceec who, of course, has a sharper mouth. Ceec saw it was getting messy and turned away, only to have her wig pulled and her neck choked by Baye who still went on to do same to Doyin and openly implied that she was trying to pull a Tacha script (Tacha is a former BBNaija housemate who was known to be very quarrelsome in her season).
By week 2, Ilebaye had become a big enough irritant that almost everyone wanted her to leave. Like previous season, Princess complained that Baye’s behaviour didn’t add up because she was simply rude and provocative to everyone for no reason. It was Kiddwaya and Angel that first clocked her.
The next day, Baye started feigning ignorance of what she did, according to her fellow housemates. Everyone expected her to be disqualified and as with most anticipated disqualifications, defenders started to gather. Instead, she was given strikes, and suddenly became the victim.
Ilebaye achieved a series of remarkable milestones, consistently surpassing expectations and won different tasks along with her team members, such as 3x Arena Games, Guinness Task (first one), HFM Task (Group), HFN (Individual), Minimi Task, Moniepoint Task, Munch it Task, Oraimo Task, Oriflame Task, Pepsi Task (2nd), Smirnoff Task, Supakomando Task, Tizeti Task, WAW and lastly, Close-up Task.
Egged on by Doyin, Baye simply kept up with insulting housemates until she badly insulted Pere who was trying to hear Kidd’s side of the Moniepoint task disaster. It snowballed into Ike’s extremely stupid and cruel act of damaging her belongings (triggered by her nasty insult of Seyi). Biggie highlighted the event as somehow being a plot between 4-5 grown men – and boom, the arisers army was born and Baye became an overnight cause. While others thought Ike deserved disqualification, another ariser army started gathering for Ike as well.
Once Baye was identified as a victim, an underdog, the youngest in the room, a 22-year-old in the midst of people in their late 20s and early-to-mid 30s, she won the sympathy of many. So, even when she was nominated every week for eviction, she survived till the end. But not only did she survive, she went on to become the winner of the first-ever BBNaija All Stars.
