A Moment with Ramona: The Big Brother Mzansi Bazozwa Wildcard With Nothing More to Prove
A beacon of reason, an unassuming dark house, and a flare of maturity, ex-housemate of the Big Brother Mzansi S6 race Ramona Maloy may have not conquered, but indeed she came, she saw, and made her mark, nonetheless. The Montagu, Western Cape contestant was one of the two housemates who caught the axe the 22nd of February 2026 alongside Tumi the Barber, but the most remarkable aspect of Ramona’s time in the house was proving that she was not one to be underestimated.
The 37-year-old former BBMzansi housemate shared that stepping into Biggie’s far-from-humble abode was spurred by a variety of factors, which included but wasn’t necessarily limited to vying against the other housemates for the grand prize.
“A lot of things pushed me to go to Big Brother Mzansi in terms of where I was in my life and everything I’ve gone through. The show was an opportunity for me to have a break from mothering as well as a shot at winning the R2 million prize. It was also a means for me to grow my boxing gloves, my perfume line and a few other projects I’m busy with. So I could say that motivation-wise everything was tied to money, money, money,” she said.
Ramona | SUPPLIED
Maloy looked back at her journey in the Big Brother house and rued not converting possible connections into solid relationships, feeling that she could’ve opened herself up a little bit more than she did.
“I would say that I’m 20% happy with the gameplan I approached the show with. Sitting on the other side of the lens, I realise that I could’ve done more in that I could’ve thrown myself a little bit more into the relationships with the housemates. I think I could’ve been more open and more receptive of these connections turning into potential friendships since I was quite closed-off because of how I was perceived as being weird and old. So… those are some of the things I’d go back in time and fix, now that I’m reflecting on everything,” she said.
Ramona walked tall and with a sense of pride as the oldest of all the housemates in this season of BBM. Viewed as a wildcard entry by some while billed as an outlier by others, she talked about how being the eldest of the cohort worked in her favour.
“I feel like my age and wisdom helped me to understand my role in the Big Brother Mzansi house. My presence was felt most in moments where the younger housemates couldn’t exactly understand what they were going through. My age, I feel, brought wisdom into the house, and I feel like it also protected me. It did. It protected me in such a way that I wasn’t considered to be involved in gossip cliques or vicious kissing circles or planning malicious things aimed at other housemates. They knew I couldn’t be manipulated because of the experience I have that comes with age,” she said.
Ramona | SUPPLIED
The evicted housemate revealed that there wasn’t much a difference between Ramona Maloy and Ramona the Housemate, citing one key thing that set the two apart as being two sides existing on the same coin.
“I am real outside of the house as much as I was while inside. Inside I was seen, but outside I am felt. So that’s very much the difference for me,” she said.
Ramona reminisced on the times she shared with the housemates and recollected the good times she would miss from her time with the gang.
“I will most definitely miss the housemates. I will miss our chats, our jokes, and our mini-bickerings. How could I forget the singing we did together because what is the house without the housemates? I will also miss the moments we were able to spend together as a group in the arena because that’s where we were a unit, and it reflected on our wagers when we gave a 100% and there wasn’t any fighting. I will also miss the cup that couldn’t fill up,” she said, laughing.
She spoke about the importance of mindfulness and the critical skill of living in-the-moment, citing a lack of this as something that needed to be changed.
“I know that this may have already been said before, but can people listen and be present? It’s so important to be present. But then again, I wonder if we should train people on how to shape their mindset around being present. Being present fully and engaging fully with whatever, whether it’s a task or a conversation or a meeting or building something. Presence is definitely a gift to be chiseled, and it’s a quality we must also chisel and fine-tune at all times,” she said.
Ramona | SUPPLIED
From boxing to culturing her perfume hustle, Ramona made a checklist of the things she wanted to do now that she was out of the house, ventures she was optimistic would gain support from her new-found family: the fans.
“My fans should expect to stay updated and to watch out for more. I am quite in love with the concept of boxing as a discipline. Building a club and introducing boxing to schools, those are some of my missions. I’m also trying to focus on my perfume line as well as my brand. I have some concepts floating – I actually have quite a lot of work that’s sitting in files that I’ll only now be approaching since I know I have a family to support me,” she said.
Ramona had a few parting words for her followers.
“I would love to say thank you to everyone who supported me in this walk. I appreciate them so much for opening up a lens where people can receive me and notice that I’m not here to hurt anyone. That is power. With great power comes great responsibility and power could literally be anything, right? What we do with that power matters and how we treat another person matters. It doesn’t have to be something as big as being a billionaire. Power is power and it must be used properly,” she said.