I never peeped or looked at Maria’s nudity – Yerins
Yerins Abraham broke the internet the first time he entered into the BBNaija Shine Ya Eye house on July 24 because he was referred to as a polymath.
He was one of the favourite housemates until Maria labelled him a pervert who looked at her nudity. In this interview with ASSISTANT ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR, GBENGA BADA, Yerins cleared the air on the allegations, his eviction, and experiences in the house:
How does it feel being considered boring in the house?
Actually, no, I don’t consider myself as being boring. There’s this misconception and the main issue was that I was unfortunate to leave the house the time I did because during my stay in the house, there were people who were not as social as I was in the house like Saskay, Yousef, even Jaypaul wasn’t as social as I was but you know it was my eviction that made people highlight my run in the house.
It’s the first week and everybody has their way of adapting and getting used to the whole idea of being in the BBNaija house and some people can adjust immediately while others might take a while. When you find yourself in a new surrounding, it might take a while before you adapt but because we came out first, it’s easier to say we are boring or have such misconceptions about us. For me, what happened was that I was going through some emotional challenges but I brought myself back.
Unfortunately because of the wildcard thing, I was nominated by those two people who actually feel some certain way about me or have issues with me without confronting me about these issues. It was a case of luck not being on my side but me being boring is people who don’t know me enough because I left early.
So, Maria accused you of looking at her nude, what happened there?
What exactly happened was this: according to what I heard she said, she said there was a time she was trying to have her bath when I was also trying to have my bath in that one bathroom, then she came to me and told me she wanted to have her bath and I allowed her into the bathroom, at that time, and I was singing Maria Maria, which was something I said all through the week anytime I see her, even before the bath and there’s a certain way the bathroom is designed such that someone bathing might think other person is looking at you without the person necessarily seeing you.
Personally, I didn’t look at her and if she felt that way, she would have come to me to discuss it but she never mentioned it to me. I was always wondering why she changed all of a sudden and I wondered why she felt that way and she never spoke about it. She personally called me while in the house and spoke to me saying she liked my kind of personality, you are a talented person multiple times without mentioning this thing to me. I never peeped or looked at her as she said but let’s assume I did, maybe I will understand that was the reason for her change in behaviour towards me. I had zero idea of what was happening and she should have come to me and I would have cleared the air, so that whole thing led to my nomination and eventual eviction.
Even she talking about it made people perceive me as a pervert and refused to vote for me and that really had a negative effect on my image , it’s something I’m really not happy that she did. She should have confronted me. Big Brother even said something to her I mean she had no right to call me a particular name when we all signed up for the show even if that happened. Maria didn’t handle the matter in a good way but definitely, I did not look at her.
Being the first to be evicted, does it have any mental effect on you?
No, definitely not. I am someone that always sees the positive side in everything. The only thing I missed is the love I shared with the housemates, the experiences in the house. Being the first to be evicted or last to be evicted isn’t an issue for me. Now that I am out of the house, I will look at the brighter side. I will work on myself and do good for myself. It’s a game, unfortunately, I was the first to be evicted. It could have been anyone. What matters most is what you do outside the house. I have gotten a very good platform and I am ready to make use of it and go for the best.
How long did you think you would stay in the house?
I have no exact time. My aim for going into the house is to play the game, if I am out, I am out, but if I remain there, I am going for the money. But believe me if I had escaped the eviction in the second week with this whole wildcard thing, I promise you I wouldn’t have been nominated for another two weeks because my relationship with every single housemate was really good. I knew I won’t be nominated for another two weeks but starting off, people had misconceptions about me and everything fell off. By the time I started getting things right, it was too late
Were you attracted to anyone?
I was attracted to Liquorose. I was the first person she spoke to and we really bonded, we spoke about several and different things. You only have to know some for long to have such conversations and someone I had an eye for so few days into the show, I approached her and told her I liked her and we were like let’s get to know ourselves better, I wanted to apply pressure for me and her to be a thing but I noticed she and Emmanuel had something during that period too, the next day after telling her that I like her, I just stepped back and let them do their thing.
What would you have done differently?
So, in the first week, I was a little bit withdrawn and that was because I was going through some emotional stage because people tried to stereotype me putting me in one box that he’s just a smart guy, he’s not jovial or he can’t talk about other things aside from smart things and really deep subjects and when I was talking about those things it really made me feel bad because it took me back to what I went through back in secondary school, so I was really withdrawn, if I was to do it again, I won’t have allowed that to affect me, I would have played my game and show myself but at the same time, I am human and someone who doesn’t hide my feelings.
How was Saturday night’s party experience like?
Saturday night’s party was something we didn’t expect to happen. We drank a lot, Cross was someone that was giving us shots of Gordon without knowing the repercussion and we all got drunk. After the party, we were all drunk but some people like Emmanuel and Nini tried not to show their drunken state. The house was really wild and that was the dirtiest night in the house, everything was scattered, people were either shouting or laughing or crying and everything was really wild but in all, it was an interesting party. We had lots of fun, we danced, showed love and the DJ was cool.
I honestly feel they are both playing the game but one person isn’t playing it in a genuine way and I can say that for Pere. Outside the house, a lot of people perceive him in a bad way and he’s my brother because we are from the same place and I don’t want to say bad things about him and see him as fake but he was one of the people that nominated me and on the last day before I left, he said he didn’t nominate me and that’s something that is not good for him and he keeps proving to people that he can’t be trusted and that’s not good for him. I hope he’s just trying to play the game and that’s not his character in real life. I’m wishing him best and I hope he doesn’t portray too much of that fake persona in the house longer.
For Whitemoney, since I got into the house, I have seen him as an amazing person. We talk a lot, he shares his story and his food is sweet. He’s amazing, cooks very well and I am actually rooting for him. He’s playing the game in a way people will enjoy the show.