Pieter Toerien: The Unethical ProducerIt's no secret that reality TV producers the world over are highly unscrupulous when it comes to vote-rigging, outcomes, contestant-favouring and more, but it all strikes a little closer to home when a high-profile South African show is caught red-handed trying to dictate outcomes.
A sensational, scandalous email which was leaked to Die Burger's Thinus Ferreira last week contains direct proof that a show's producers have tampered with the format in order to achieve their own objectives, once again at the expense of the gullible public.
In the email - sent by M-Net's
High School Musical: Spotlight South Africa producer
Pieter Toerien to someone called "Victoria" at a well-known media agency - he urged her to assist in getting rid of contestant Lyle Volkwyn (21) by voting for his own favourite, David Schlachter (20).
Toerien claimed that Volkwyn has "a HUGE church following", that he "will KILL the show if he wins" and that he "just has to be voted off tonight!".
The full text of the email (which TVSA has in its possession) is as follows:
From: Pieter Toerien
Sent: 15 September 2008; 10:45am
To: ‘Victoria’
Subject: Victoria; This is a CRISIS!
We just cannot have a show (and ads for you) on a show with such talent. Lyle, shame the poor boy cannot act and will KILL the show if he wins. But he has a HUGE church following who are voting for him. He just has to be voted off tonight!
Currently he is 3,000 votes ahead of David and that is not good news. Please circulate this e-mail with for David to win. David's voting numbers 086 22 77 07 or sms David to 34685 and also vote on M-Xit.
Please guys!
P
The two subjects of the email - Lyle Volkwyn and David Schlacter - are both competing on the show for the leading role of Troy in the upcoming stage musical "HSM: Live on Stage", which is also being produced by Toerien.
The show is a test run for Disney, who are monitoring how the show goes in South Africa before deciding whether to produce it elsewhere on a larger stage.
Lyle Volkwyn: Mustn't Win At Any CostThe email was sent to Victoria on Monday morning (15 September) - when the Results Show was aired live on M-Net that night, viewers were informed that in a sudden format change all six finalists were being put through to the finale.
There was no explanation for the sudden change in format - and now it's clear why. It is never wise to announce that you're changing the format in order to rig the outcome.
According to Die Burger, the show's production company, EdenRage Media, were informed of Toerien's email during the live show and made a spot decision that Toerien would no longer "save" his favourite contestant as per the regular format, but that all six remaining competitors would be put through to the finale instead.
During the Results Show
Toerien explained that he and co-producer Hazel Feldman wanted to leave the choice up to the viewers.
"At the beginning of this series Hazel and I said that the final vote will be made by you, the M-Net viewers," he said. "We’re going to ask you to become producers. You will make the dreams of two of these lovely young people come true. Vote with care and with wisdom," he urged.
What's strange about it all is that it was Toerien himself who put Volkwyn through to the Top 18 in the first place. Why do that if - in the word's of the biggest theatre impresario in the country himself - "the poor boy cannot act"? Surely that's a thought that ought to have occurred to not only Toerien, but to acting director
Paul Warwick-Griffin as well?
Through their own poor judgment they created this mess in the first place.
David Schlacter: Toerien's Golden BoyOf course, the show's producers and M-Net stand to gain much more now that this scandal has broken, as viewers (including Lyle's rabid church following) will be more determined than ever to ensure their favourite wins.
We all know Toerien and his cronies and associates will be spending 12 hours a day on MXit voting for David, and at the end of it all there will be a breathless press release claiming all sorts of voting records.
Toerien's Big Moment will be dampened no matter what, however - if David wins he'll be under a cloud of suspicion as the public already know that he is The Chosen One, while if Lyle wins Toerien will be forced to work with someone he doesn't want - his show will be ruined, in his own words.
We say give Toerien what he deserves for treating faithful fans of the show with such contempt - here's Lyle's voting number (feel free to vote even if you don't watch the show - let's show reality TV producers what we think of their *bleep!* in general):
Text
LYLE to
086 227 7713