Bebi Dol in Elita 10: I Don't Need Special Conditions
Ahead of her entrance into the White House, the singer explained why she stepped away from public life for years and why she says she asked producers for no special favors.
Bebi Dol walked into Elita 10 on September 5, one of 55 contestants who passed through the doors of the White House that night, and for the first time in a long while spoke to reporters gathered outside the estate about the contract she signed and the years she spent away from the spotlight. Her arrival, her first real return to media attention after a long break, drew immediate interest from both fans and journalists on site.
Asked whether she had requested special conditions for her entrance, she answered plainly, without hedging.
I absolutely don’t need that. My whole life is special, I don’t need special conditions.
The terms of her contract with the production have not been made public, and the singer did not spell them out on camera either. Instead, she spoke about the place she believes she holds on Serbia’s music scene. Asked directly whether she considers herself the biggest star in the house, she declined to measure herself against anyone else. She has songs behind her that audiences have listened to and remembered for more than two decades, and that, she says, is the only yardstick she has ever needed.
I haven’t counted anything, I don’t see myself that way. I have those songs, and that’s the biggest compliment there is, people know me. I’m grateful, I’m not an actress or a model, but we’ll see.
She also made clear she will not let anyone diminish what she has built, no matter who crosses her path in a house full of cameras over the coming months. She was equally direct that she will not let herself be provoked, however long the season runs.
Who she already knows in the house
Out of the entire new cast, Bebi Dol singled out only one name before going in: Filip Djukic.
I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting my housemates yet, I only know Filip Djukic from before.
The two know each other, she said, through mutual friends, outside any reality show context, and she spoke about him only in superlatives. With the rest of her housemates, she says, she is going in with no prior knowledge at all, which she claims doesn’t bother her.
Why she stepped out of public life
The singer also addressed her long absence, which for years fueled speculation. The reason, she insists, was neither a secret nor a crisis, but family.
I wasn’t able to join a reality show before, I had my hands full looking after my parents.
Telegraf reports that Bebi Dol also mentioned being the only daughter in her family, with no brothers or sisters, and that she had promised herself she would see certain obligations to her parents through before returning to the center of attention. She recalled shared moments with her parents, revealing an emotional side the public had rarely seen from her before. When it came to her career, though, she stayed firm.
I don’t see myself as a star.
Elita 10 began on Friday evening, when host Ognjen Mitrovic lit the flame at 9:18 PM, as we reported that day in “Elita 10 begins: Mitrovic lights the flame at 9:18 PM.” Bebi Dol was among the 55 names who crossed the threshold of the White House that night, and the production has not yet said how long the season will run, nor who, besides Filip Djukic, will be among her housemates in the weeks ahead.
