Tanzanian comedian and actor Idris Sultan barely enjoyed the $300,000 prize money he won from Big Brother Africa-Hotshots in 2014.
The 27-year-old radio host said he doesn’t understand how he squandered the cash. He said even his own family never got to benefit from the life-changing windfall.
Sultan, however, blamed one of his former friends, identified as Mike, for draining his millions.
“The first time ambayo nimepata ile hela, a lot of friends walikuwa behind me. Plan yangu ilikuwa kukaa pale one month I wasn’t sure I would even last the month but all I needed was that platform to push my brand at the time. Sikujua nitashinda so there was no plan for that money,” Sultan said.
After winning the money, Sultan asked BBA organisers to keep the money for the time being as he needed time to figure out he would spend the money.
He took the cash after three months and shared some of the money with a few close friends to start their individual business projects.
Sultan and his close friend Mike started a number of business ventures, with the actor placing his friend of five years in charge.
“Mike was very close tukaamua kwa nini tusifanye vitu vingi. Kulikuwa na masuala ya gold na vitu vingine, vyote hivi nimemweka close. Sasa kitu kilifanya so much money ikapotea and I don’t understand zimepotea vipi ni kwamba I used to authorise release of funds for several projects upon Mike’s approval without asking questions because we were close and before I knew it, not much was left and there was no yield in the businesses,” recounted Sultan.
According to Sultan, a substantial amount of his winnings was lost in the gold business. By the time he was cutting ties with Mike, Sultan was left with roughly Sh2million in his bank account.
The comedian revealed that out his total Sh32million prize money (at the current exchange rates), he only spent Sh1.2million on his BMW car and Sh1million on a one-week vacation with friends in South Africa.
