Competition rules

1. Who can enter

• You must be 18 or over on the day you enter. This applies to all four shows — Kolo Country Cook uses live coal pots and Kolo Hustle Challenge puts real money in your hands.
• You must live in Liberia and be reachable on a Liberian phone number.
• You do not need a Kolo account, a smartphone, or any previous experience.
• Entry is free, and it always will be.
• Kolo staff, production crew, judges and their immediate families cannot compete.
• You may enter more than one competition, but send a separate entry for each. One entry per person per competition per season.

2. How contestants are chosen

• A person reads every entry. Selection is not first come, first served, and it is not automatic.
• We choose for a mix of skill, story and location, because each episode is filmed in one place with four contestants.
• Kolo also selects people in person when the team travels to a community, market, school or event. Online entry is one of two ways in, not the only one.
• We contact you either way — selected or not — on the number you gave us, by WhatsApp, call or SMS, or by email if you provided one.
• Being selected for one episode does not guarantee a place in any later one.
• Kolo's selection decisions are final, and we cannot enter into correspondence about why a particular entry was not chosen.

3. What happens if you are selected

• We agree a date and a location with you before anything is filmed.
• You will be asked to sign a short appearance and filming consent form on the day. You may read it before you agree to attend.
• Bring a valid ID if you have one. If you do not have any ID, tell us — it will not automatically disqualify you.
• Kolo covers what the show provides on the day: ingredients and budgets in KCC, starting capital in KHC, and the equipment each show needs.
• Arriving late, not arriving, or being unreachable in the days before filming means your place goes to a reserve. Tell us as early as you can if something changes.

4. Conduct, safety and disqualification

• No violence, threats, harassment, or abuse of contestants, crew, judges or the public.
• No alcohol or drugs before or during filming.
• Follow the safety instructions of the crew, particularly around fire, coal pots, knives, water and vehicles.
• Cheating, giving false information on your entry, or getting help that the rules of that round do not allow means disqualification.
• Kolo may stop filming or remove a contestant at any time if somebody is at risk.
• Treat the communities we film in with respect. The shows are meant to be fun, never humiliating.

5. Prizes

• The winner of each episode receives US$50 from Kolo, in every one of the four competitions.
• Sponsors may add to that — cash, products, equipment or an opportunity. Anything a sponsor adds for a particular season or episode is announced before filming and confirmed to the selected contestants in writing. The US$50 from Kolo is the part that does not depend on a sponsor, so it is the amount you can count on when you enter.
• Prizes are paid to the winner in person or to a mobile money account in the winner's own name. We do not pay a prize to a third party.
• Prizes cannot be exchanged for something else unless Kolo agrees in writing.
• If a winner is later found to have broken these rules, Kolo may withdraw the prize.
• Any tax on a prize is the winner's responsibility.

6. Filming, photos and your information

• These are television and online shows. If you take part, you will be filmed and photographed, and Kolo may broadcast, stream and promote that footage, including on Kolo, social media and with sponsors.
• Your entry details — name, phone, WhatsApp, county, age, your answers — are used to review your entry and to contact you. They are not published, sold, or given to sponsors.
• Ask us to delete your entry at any time on WhatsApp or at support@kolo1847.com, and we will, unless you have already appeared on a filmed show.
• See the Kolo privacy policy for how Kolo handles personal information generally.

Kolo Country Cook (KCC)

“4 cooks. One market. One kitchen. One champion.”

• Four cooks per episode. Each draws a Liberian dish and a fixed budget at random and cannot swap.
• All four shop the same market against a countdown, usually 20–30 minutes.
• You may bargain, substitute ingredients and save money. You may not go over your budget, borrow money, accept free ingredients from friends or family, swap ingredients with another contestant, or return to the market after time is up.
• Cooking is on a coal pot with traditional or semi-traditional equipment, in a fixed cooking period of roughly 60–90 minutes.
• Scored out of 100: taste and flavour 40, the oil rising and consistency 20, authenticity 20, plating and presentation 20.

Kolo Street Talent (KST)

“From the street to the spotlight.”

• Open to singing, rap, dance, comedy, spoken word, acting, traditional performance and instruments.
• Round 1 is a street audition in the community, from which four contestants go through. Online entrants may be invited straight to this round.
• Round 2 gives each of the four a task set by the judges — a Liberian classic in your own style, a verse using three given words, a traditional dance over a modern beat, or a comedy piece about everyday life.
• The final two perform whatever best represents them.
• Scored: talent 40%, creativity 20%, stage presence 20%, originality 20%.
• Perform your own material, or material you are allowed to perform. Kolo may not be able to broadcast a performance that uses music you have no right to use.

Kolo Hustle Challenge (KHC)

“Small money. Big idea.”

• Every contestant receives the same starting capital and the same amount of time, usually 4–6 hours.
• You may trade in food, a service, retail, something creative, or anything legal you can think of.
• You may not add your own money, use stock you already owned, take money or goods from friends and family, or sell to people arranged in advance.
• Everything must be legal and safe. Nothing that needs a licence you do not have.
• Each contestant then pitches to the judges: the idea, what worked, what failed, the profit, and how they would grow it.
• Scored: profit 30%, creativity 25%, business strategy 20%, customer experience 15%, future potential 10%.
• Profit is counted from receipts and what the crew records, not from what a contestant says.

Kolo Country Challenge (KCCX)

“Know the land. Know the people. Know Liberia.”

• Four contestants travel a community or county through four stages.
• Round 1 — Know Your Country: questions on counties, Kolokwa expressions, traditional items and Liberian dishes. Wrong answers may cost time.
• Round 2 — Community Challenge: a real task such as pounding cassava, preparing palm nuts, finding an ingredient in a market, learning a phrase or a dance. Tasks are meant to be fun and never humiliating; tell the crew if you cannot safely do one.
• Round 3 — The Liberia Hunt: solve a clue, reach the place, complete the challenge there.
• Final — 60 Seconds of Liberia: rapid-fire questions on history, music, food, counties, sports, culture, famous Liberians and languages. Highest score wins.
• No phones, internet or outside help during any round.

Changes to these rules

Kolo may update these rules, and will post the updated version here. If a change affects a competition that is already taking entries, we will tell the people who have entered. Kolo may also postpone or cancel a competition, and if we do, we will say so on this page.

Last updated: February 2026. Questions: WhatsApp +231 88 946 1810 or support@kolo1847.com.