After a nail-biting two month nationwide search, 23 year old Olayinka
Oladiran from Abeokuta was finally revealed as the winner of the
2016 MTV Base VJ Search – Nigeria on MTV Base (DStv channel 322) on Friday 23 September.
Four finalists from all over the country slugged it out for the top slot
during the televised grand final in front of Viacom executives
Alex Okosi and
Katung Aduwak,
as well as famous faces from the entertainment industry including Olisa
Adibua, Vector Tha Viper, Ikechukwu, Niniola, among many others
Olayinka Oladiran beat fellow finalists
Tomiwa Olorunfemi (23),
Tochukwu Onwubiko (21) and 19 year-old twins,
Grace and Glory Danbaki
after competing with thousands of hopefuls in Lagos, Enugu and Abuja
plus online and social media applicants. While all the competitors
brought their “A-Games” to the finale, K’Ola outstripped the competition
thanks to her bubbly personality, relaxed stage presence, and the
ability to relate to the audience.
The other finalists also went home with contracts and will be representing MTV Base as VJs on new shows coming to the channel.
Speaking about the victory,
Alex Okosi,
Senior Vice President &
Managing Director, Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Africa, commented, “Congratulations to K’Ola, who really has shown the rare combination of qualities we look for in an
MTV Base VJ. We are so excited to welcome K’Ola to our
MTV Base and
VIMN Africa
family and look forward to seeing her on screen on MTV Base in the
coming weeks. The finalists were so strong and amazing this year that
we plan on contracting all of them to represent the brand as VJs”
K’Ola who could not contain her excitement after being named as the latest
MTV Base VJ commented, “I feel very blessed by this experience and I’ve learnt that any dream that is worth having is worth pursuing.”
Olayinka Oladiran will now join
Ehiz Okoeguale, popularly known as “Dadaboy Ehiz” on
MTV Base’s in-house talent roster, where she will start off presenting ‘Word on the Street” and “Newsish” on
MTV Base. K'Ola,
who also walked away with a contract worth 20million Naira, will also
get the opportunity to travel around the world with the MTV Base team on
a wide range of glittering entertainment events such as the
MTV Africa Music Awards Johannesburg 2016, the MTV EMAs, BET Awards, BET Experience Africa, and many other events in the
Viacom portfolio.
More photos...