The world of TV and entertainment can be extremely cut-throat and the new season of Win a Home has exposed this in the strictest sense of the word.
Season 2 premiered on SABC3 on Friday night (21 August) with Presenter Search on 3 finalist Khanya Siyengo as host.
But he wasn't supposed to host alone. He was supposed to co-host with Mishka Patel, who was also a finalist on last year's Presenter Search.
A couple of weeks ago TVSA received these official pictures of the two of them which confirmed they'd be hosting together, complete with the SABC3 logo:
Mishka also Tweeted and Facebooked about it and followed some of the shoots through her social media accounts:
Expresso even featured them as guests! - and tweeted about it...
And then, two days before the show premiered, TVSA received new and different pictures.
Without Mishka.
She'd disappeared as co-host and there was no mention of her anywhere.
I spent days trying to find out what's going on and yesterday I discovered that she was dropped from co-hosting at the last minute. Win a Home is produced by Tswelopele Productions (who make Top Billing) so I asked them what's going on and received this statement from producer Patience Stevens:
A revision of the show’s format, aligned to the reality format, informs the programme’s current look and feel.
Apologies if you were sent a draft PR plan before final testing with the client.
Which strongly suggests that Private Property - who are the client and main sponsor of the show - didn't want two presenters anymore or they didn't want Mishka fronting the show. Whatever the reason, it sucks and reveals just how hectic and ruthless the TV industry can be.
Of course it isn't the first time it's happened - it's happened to others too. People share the news about their presenting or new role with friends, family and followers and next thing it's not happening anymore.
What's so especially shocking about this particular situation is how it was so publically confirmed by so many of those involved with the series. The Win a Home twitter account retweeted Expresso's tweet about the two of them hosting together!
The situation also highlights what a huge problem it is when shows are at the mercy of sponsors in advertiser funded shows. I'd bet my bottom dollar the production company didn't want to drop her because they produced the Presenter Search too.
The way events unfolded is extremely brutal. TV may be an "industry" but his kind of thing is unacceptable at a human level - there are people involved, with feelings and emotions and everything that goes with that.
NOT cool.