Big Soso (Sonia Amako): BBNaija Season 10 Lawyer and Chef
Big Soso is the on-air name of Sonia Amako, a lawyer and chef from Kaduna who entered Big Brother Naija Season 10 in July 2025. Her time in the house was shorter than she hoped, but her profile combines a law degree, a cooking business and a stated mission to represent women from northern Nigeria. This article sticks to what her official show profile, news outlets and her own interviews say, and it points out where reports disagree.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Information and source |
|---|---|
| Real name | Sonia Amako (DStv / Africa Magic) |
| Date of birth | 30 September 1996 (DStv / Africa Magic). She turned 30 on 30 September 2026. |
| Home state | Kaduna State; Southern Kaduna per Legit.ng |
| Occupation | Chef and lawyer (DStv / Africa Magic) |
| Education | Law degree, University of Bedfordshire, UK (Legit.ng) |
| Reality show | Big Brother Naija Season 10 (“10/10”), premiered 26 July 2025 |
| Exit | Evicted 7 September 2025 (Channels TV) |
Who Sonia Amako is
The official Africa Magic housemate profile lists Sonia Amako, born 30 September 1996, with Kaduna as her hometown and “chef and lawyer” as her passion or side hustle. Reporters at Channels TV and the Guardian described her as a lawyer and chef from Kaduna, and Legit.ng adds that she grew up in Southern Kaduna and is now UK-based.
Because she was born in September 1996, many early articles gave her age as 28 or 29. As of this article’s update in October 2026, she is 30.
Education and professional background
Legit.ng reports that she holds a law degree from the University of Bedfordshire in England, and her public LinkedIn profile, as summarised in search results, lists a foundation degree in international business followed by an LLB between 2015 and 2018. Legit.ng also says she attended Christ Ambassadors College. Earlier versions of this page said a scholarship funded her studies and that cooking paid her tuition. We found no source for either claim, so we removed them.
What the sources do support is that she worked across two worlds. Legit.ng says she launched a restaurant in the UK and a line of spices after completing her education. In her own show profile she says she cooks large pots of food simultaneously and describes herself as someone who “can survive anywhere.”
Foundation and community work
Legit.ng reports that she started a charity called the Syhce Foundation to help girls, widows and people in need in northern Nigeria. We found this in that one outlet only, so we present it as reported rather than confirmed. Her stated motivation on the show lines up with this theme, as she said she wants young girls to see “you can be a boss and still hold it down at home.”
Joining Big Brother Naija Season 10
Season 10, branded “10/10,” premiered on 26 July 2025 with Ebuka Obi-Uchendu hosting for a ninth straight year, according to Legit.ng. The show began with 29 housemates, and Big Soso was introduced as the fifth. The show’s prize was reported as 150 million naira in cash and sponsor rewards.
In her introduction she said she wanted to be “a bridge between the North and the rest of Nigeria by representing our strength, resilience, and beauty.” In remarks reported by the Guardian on 27 July 2025, she added that she was inspired by two fellow Kaduna women, Wani and Andy, who reached the finals of the previous season without winning. “I’m here to take the crown for them,” she said.
Her profile also gave a view of her personality. She listed cooking, travelling, reading and counselling as hobbies, joked that housemates might be annoyed by “the smell of five different spices,” and said she was single because she did not believe in a relationship before finding herself. The relationship status was accurate when recorded and says nothing about her life today.
In the house: a motherly presence
At her exit, host Ebuka asked about the motherly role she played. According to Punch, she said it came from having six brothers, and that many of the male housemates did not have their mothers or sisters with them, so she stepped in. She said she did not force the role and that they were simply drawn to her. Later she told Leadership that her “big sister” persona was not a strategy but how she naturally behaves with younger siblings at home.
Reports of her sibling count differ. Punch quotes her on six brothers, Leadership says six younger siblings, and Legit.ng says ten siblings including a twin. Because we cannot reconcile these, we do not give a number.
Eviction on 7 September 2025
On 7 September 2025, Big Soso, Ivatar and Doris were evicted in the same live show. Channels TV described it as the first time that season that three contestants left at once, bringing the number of housemates remaining to 19. Punch reported that Big Soso was first of the three to leave and that she joked on stage about gaining weight from food. Doris said she was shocked by her own eviction.
Big Soso also told Leadership that she was surprised to go but grateful for the experience. She said being herself was the key to staying as long as she did and that she is confident in who she is.
Plans after the show
In the same Leadership interview she said her priorities were her food business, a brand of her own food ingredients, and a cooking show in Lagos that would feature fans and anyone who wants to learn or share knowledge. We could not confirm whether the show or the ingredient line has launched, so readers should check her official social media for current updates.
What we could not verify
- Net worth. No reliable source reports her income. Any figure online is an estimate without a method.
- Scholarship and cooking-funded tuition. These claims appeared in older write-ups without sources, and we have left them out.
- Syhce Foundation. Reported by one outlet only.
- Tribe and religion. Sources conflict or rely on unsourced listings, so we omit them.
- Siblings. Reports differ, as explained above.
- The nickname “5-Spice Queen.” We found no reputable source and removed it.
Why her profile resonated
Reality-show profiles tend to be written quickly during the first week of a season, and details are copied between sites without checking. That is why this article leans on the official profile and named news reports.
Big Soso’s pitch was clear from her first day: a professional woman from the north who cooks, runs a business and wants to show others what is possible. Her eviction ended the competition early, but the plans she described afterwards suggest that her brand is built more on food than on television. Whatever comes next, her biography is a reminder to check ages and credentials against official profiles, because reality-show write-ups often repeat each other’s mistakes.
Sources
- DStv / Africa Magic
- Channels Television
- Punch
- The Guardian Nigeria
- Legit.ng
- Leadership
