Simba in Mauritius, in a Top 2 photoshoot.
He recently won
Top Billing's Presenter Search and has now officially joined the show. 22-year-old Simbarashe Mhere won the gig after a three-month showdown between hopefuls from across the country.
The search offered entrants the prize of a three-month contract with the show, with a full-time contract in the pipeline should the winner be a hit.
The show narrowed hopefuls down to a Top 14, then a Top 8 and played out with a Top 2:
Simba versus Kalysha Naidoo. They battled it out and the judges cast their vote for Simba:
Tashi: Now that you've won, are you going to stay in Jozi? How is your lifestyle going to change?
Simba: It's going to get very, very busy - you know, I think there are so many Cape Town presenters, I think they'd like keep me in Jo'burg to do more of the Jo'burg stuff and obviously going overseas if they need to me.
But Jo'burg would be good because there's so much stuff that's been untouched here in Jo'burg. Obviously for the show to fly someone up to Jo'burg each time, it just makes better logistic sense for me to stay up here.
Tashi: What's going to happen to your accounting studies now?
Simba: I get my degree ... well, hopefully when my marks come out, I should get my degree this year so it's actually like perfect timing 'cos it'll open up a new chapter in the coming year.
Tashi: Did you really want to be an accountant?
Simba: I don't see myself as a practicing accountant. I see myself as getting practical business skills rather than crunching numbers. I don't see myself as a 9-to-5 guy, I see myself as a creative entrepeneur/entertainer kind of guy.
Tashi: Which did you want to do first? Accounting or entertainment?
Simba: When I was younger I never really thought to myself: "Listen, I want to be on TV and be a presenter and all that." It only came through later, with friends telling me: "Listen dude, you should be a stand-up comedian or be doing this and that. I realised, "Actually, I should really push for this and my dream," and now it's a reality.
It is out of the norm, you don't expect an accountant to be a TV presenter, but it's the same as Michael Mol, the doctor, you don't expect a doctor to be a presenter.
Tashi: When did your friends start telling you this?
Simba: I was a bit of an introvert in my earlier years but later on I just came out of my shell. I thought: "You know what, if I care about what everyone's gonna think I won't get anywhere in life," so I just came out my shell and said things and did things, without caring.
This happened about four years ago and people said: "You know what, you have such a great personality, that should be your trade, you should go into entertainment."
Tashi: Has it scored you girls?
Simba: You know what the problem is, to suss out girls that are genuine: there are girls who want to be with you because you're Simba from Top Billing or girls who want to be with you because you're Simba from up the road.
Tashi: You've found that all that's changed since you've been on the show?
Simba: It
has changed. I've got girls confessing their love for me left, right and centre.
Tashi: How do they do it? Via e-mail, phone, when they see you?
Simba: On
Facebook.
Tashi: Oh, ha!
Simba: I don't even remember them and they're like: "Don't you remember me? I met you at this place and so on," and I'm like: "Excuse me, I'm sorry, I actually don't."
Tashi: So what are you gonna do now? How are you going to meet somebody that you
know wants you for the right reasons?
Simba: I don't know. I'm going to have to pull up my gold Tazz and take them to my house on a plot and see and say: "If she's still with me after she's seen all this, then maybe she should have a go." I don't want them to think that because I'm on Top Billing I have this and this car and dress like this.
Tashi: How tall are you?
Simba: I'm 6 feet 3. 1. 93 metres.
Tashi: Do you enjoy that height?
Simba: I actually do. I have a lot of presence, I can see when I walk in a room, I get a lot of attention. I was a short guy in primary school - I hit my growth spurt later and really enjoy being the tall guy in the room.
Tashi: You're in one of Die Antwoord's video? Which video is it?
Simba: It was Evil Boy. I'd been going for castings for a while for different adverts and that kind of thing and always got dissappointed, you know, they wouldn't call you back so I got a callback for the video and thought: "You know what, lemme just go for the opportunity because I just want that one break in the industry. I just need that
one break.
I even thought of, you know how Vodacom has their Daddy Cool, their face of their brand, Cell C has got Trevor Noah, MTN's got the Ayoba guy, I just thought maybe I could be the guy for Virgin Mobile.
Tashi: Yes, the CEO of Virgin Mobile.
Simba: Exactly, something as simple as that gets you into the industry, gets you a foot in a door.
Tashi: In Die Antwoord video, who do you play?
Simba: You know the boys who go for initiation with the clay on their faces and blankets? I play one of them. I don't think you even see my face.
Tashi: Oh, it's
that video - the controversial one. (The video caused all sorts of controversy and was
banned from YouTube).
Simba: I haven't seen it, when I did it they just put you on set and say: "You do this, you do that," you don't even know what the song's about. You don't know what the final video's going to look like.
Tashi: So you met Ninja and the girl with the fringe, Yolandi? Are they as zef in real life as they are on their videos?
Simba: Oh ja, they're crazy. You know, they're just enjoying what they do. The definition of success is waking up in the morning and you're excited about the work that you do. They're obviously excited about making music. They're successful in their own right.
Tashi: There have been various talent searches this year: the Isidingo Acting Search, the LIVE Presenter Search - why did you enter the Top Billing one specifically?
Simba: The thing is, Top Billing allows people to dream and I've always dreamt of having this job and I've wanted to entertein so I wanted the job and I wanted to entertain South Africa.
I've always wanted to be on the show, I also just got those judges - I could have gotten other judges who hated me so I think this was part of God's plan for me.
Tashi: What was the toughest part of it for you?
Simba: The whole competition was tough but I think the toughest was ... the two toughest things for me were being partnered up with other people because being with a partner can either make or break you.
They can make you look really, really bad or they can try too hard and make themselves look really bad so it's about being equal partners when you're presenting together.
Another tough part was doing scuba diving, I mean, I'm a very good swimmer, I used to do swimming at school, I was in the swimming team but I've never been scuba diving before and that was tough.
Tashi: Ja, you have to trust that thing's going to work to breath.
Simba: Yes and you're like 12 metres underwater and you have make good TV.
Tashi: When you were in the Top 14 phase, who did you think your biggest competition was?
Simba: For me the biggest competiton was Kalysha and Bailey. I mean they're so used to ... one of our first tasks was doing an interview and they work on radio. They're so good at doing interviews on radio and doing things off the cuff.
You can't say they had an advantage though because we were also on the same zero level - we all started from scratch had and nothing to go with because no-one knew what the judges wanted from us. Ja, those two were my toughest competitors.
Tashi: Do you think it's fair that people who have professional experience were in the search?
Simba: You can't really say they had an advantage because we all wanted the job and just because they have jobs on radio they can't be discriminated against. You can't say: "No, you can't enter because you work on radio," you can't do that.
It's just like you can't say "no" to other Africans entering the competition. I mean I'm not originally from South Africa, I was born in Zimbabwe, I've got a Zimbabwean passport so they can't discriminate against me because of that.
Tashi: How old were you when you moved here?
Simba: I was 1-years old so my blood is just as green as everyone else.
Tashi: Where do you see yourself in a year's time?
Simba: I think I'd like to see myself hosting Miss South Africa next year. Other than that I'd like to see myself as a wanted man in the industry, appearing at different gigs, magazine covers, just become as well-known as possible, make a brand of my name.
Tashi: Could you tell us three things about yourself that no-one else got to see or know about while you were in the search?
Simba: I'm a die-hard romantic, that's one thing. I'm the type of guy who'll cook dinner for you - for my last girlfriend, I made lasagne and a cheese cake.
Tashi: You do realise that that's going to make them go more mad on Facebook now?
Simba: *laughs* I'm a great cook, I'm also a sucker for Cadbury's Pepperment Crisp chocolate and I love singing random, old school songs at the weirdest times - I'll just pipe up and sing Boyz II Men or Backstreet Boys and I don't care what people think.
Tashi: So you like boybands.
Simba: No, no, no - I love singing.
Tashi: Are you a good singer?
Simba: I don't know, some people say I'm a good singer and say people say I'm not so I'm not going to sing for you now.
Tashi: Would you enter Idols? I was gonna say: do you think you're good enough but I should actually say: do you think you're bad enough to enter?
Simba: No, I'd never enter hey. Me and my best friend were thinking about it, we sang with an acapella group at UJ. Now my friend's saying: "You won the Top Billing Search so I'm going to enter Idols now and when I win you can interview me as an exclusive on Top Billing." So now he has to go and win Idols.
Ends