Gulder Ultimate

Mary Ekah

The organisers of the Gulder Ultimate Search season 9 have not made a mistake in their choice of Usaka community, in Akwa Ibom State for this year’s edition of the Nigeria’s first 100 per cent local content reality TV Show. Usaka’s community leader, Tony Essien, said Alwa Ibom is the ideal place to host the event as he described the community as, “a serene location with trees that are so tall they form a beautiful arrangement of umbrellas over man and beast.”
Essien noted therefore that Usaka has wonderful vegetation that will truly suit Gulder Ultimate Search and “that is why I said that it is the ideal location to host the event.”

Winners of this year’s event, which has been tagged, ‘The Gate Keeper’s Fortune’, will walk home with the whooping sum of N9 million, the highest prize money since the inception of the event, along with a brand new SUV and N500, 000 ‘swagger’ allowance. Airing of Gulder Ultimate Search 9 in national terrestrial and satellite television stations across the country will commence from October 20 to November 16, 2012.

The unveiling of this year’s edition, the ninth in the series, took place during a special media parley organised by Nigerian Breweries Plc makers of premium lager beer, Gulder, held at the impressive Oriental Hotels, Lagos.
Organisers of the event also seized the opportunity to unveil the official Gulder Ultimate Search radio and television commercials that will run throughout the duration of the event.

Speaking on the event, Mr. Walter Drenth, Marketing Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc., described Gulder Ultimate Search as a creative concept conceived to drive and promote the brand’s values of confidence, discernment, focus, courage, determination and success.
The success of Gulder Ultimate Search, he said, had made most mass-market brands in the country adopt reality TV programmes as a marketing platform to communicate their brand essence and values.

Drenth added that this year’s edition would feature 12 participants selected from rigorous screening processes in four geographic zones across the federation. The cities where the screenings will hold are:  Makurdi, Owerri, Benin and Lagos.
The 12 lucky qualifiers will go head to head in a series of physical tests in Usaka, with the overall winner walking home with a cash prize of N9 million as well as a brand new SUV worth N10 million in addition to N500, 000 wardrobe allowance.

The other 11 participants will not go home empty handed, as they will get various cash prizes ranging from N3 million for the first-runner-up, to N1million for the 12th placed contestant. As usual, there would be a cash prize of N1million for the best performing female in the competition.

The Commissioner for Culture and Tourism in Akwa Ibom State, Dr. Clement Bassey,  who stood in for the Akwa Ibom State Governor, expressed delight that Gulder Ultimate Search will be coming to the state. “The government of Akwa Ibom State has, over the years, identified tourism as a key sector of the economy of the state and we are glad that Gulder is helping us drive the sector through the Gulder Ultimate Search,” he said.