As you can see Lesego Motsepe was looking gorge - and was zipping around the party like a light. She stopped for some quiet time and reflected back on the show:
Lesego: My most memorable moment is the first scene I ever did. It was nerve-wracking. There were so many different ideas about what was gonna happen and I'd never done it before.
Tashi: What exactly did you have to do in the scene?
Lesego: We were coming from Thaba Nchu and we were looking for the house where Zeb lives. We all looked dusty, like we were from the bundus - which the characters were from.
We had to play the vulnerability when someone rural comes into Jo'burg - the lights, the fast pace, the confusion, the anxiety and the excitement - all of that together. I had to capture all that.
Also looking super was Kim Engelbrecht who was there with her bo Garnett Kruger cricket player). He was sweet and shy and clearly not into being in the spotlight - espesh when I asked about when they'll be getting married considering they've been dating for three years. Both of them went verry quiet, hee.
Tshepo Maseko was there with his wife Lolo who has
the best eyelashes in the world. I scrutinised them very closely (without her knowing of course) to see if they were fake but they're totally not.
Tshepo: My most memorable moment was when I said to Nandipha: "I want you to be my wife."
Marraige is a big step and with her HIV status it's even bigger. It has to be real and you know that every single second counts 'cos tomorrow she might not be there so you make it work.
I think that should be the recipe for South African - let's love each other as if there's no tomorrow.
This was a scoopy snap 'cos I've always wondered if Michelle Botes has got a man in her life and it seems she does. His name's Panos Lazanas and I cunningly used the fact that I'm half-Greek to get on his good side to get the goss.
Apparently the two have been "good family friends" for forever and are connected by four kids. He explained how the four kids being interconnected was very complicated to go into - which immediately made me assume that the two've been through thick and thin together and just don't have the ring.
Through the evening I also spotted that Panos smokes loads of massive cigars.
Michelle: My most memorable moment was with Chan Marti - who played my daughter. Tthe first time I looked into her eyes I saw we had such a connection.
I realised there was such a connection acting-wise that however deep I could go, I could go there with her. That was such a feeling 'cos it was the first time that Cherel loved someone absolutely unselfishly. I looked her in eyes and just knew we could go anywhere.
Another moment was the very first time Cherel killed someone. I couldn't keep my eyes open when I was shooting when I was supposed to. I kept closing my eyes.
Jack Devarain defs gets the prize for looking the Most Suave out of everyone through the evening. He spent his time standing looking zen, sipping from a bottomless brandy glass. He also spent copious amounts of time laughing while talking about his Most Memorable.
Jack: I was doing a love scene with Hermali - who's Krijay - and the whole set was decked out with these beautiful drapes and candles and pillows and in the heat of the scene the curtains caught fire. One of drapes blew and caught a pillow.
It was a long scene and we in the last two or three lines of dialogue - we'd really been worried about the scene and it was the perfect scene and then it ended in smoke and flames. We had to start from the beginning, which was heartbreaking. It was very typical - a love scene ending in flames of passion.
Tashi: So you'd say it was the sexiest love scene you've done?
Jack: Ja, and the most scary as well!
Also fully into sultry scenes was Karin van der Laag who I had a juicy catch-up with 'cos we've known each other for ages. Karin and I were at university together and enjoyed hanging out and doing stuff - like sewing our own fashion creations.
Karin: I have two most memorable moments. One was my first on-screen kiss which was quite intense to do - with Grant Swanby who played Ryno. I'd never had to kiss on screen before and it was quite hard - there were literally like four cameras so it was very weird but very nice and sweet.
Tashi: I was gonna say - what was it like?
Karin: It was very gentle. You submerge yourself - like time stops a little bit.
Tashi: Would you like to do it again?
Karin: Oh
yes. My second one was waking up next to Chris Beasley naked as has just happened.
Tashi: Were you totally starkers?
Karin: Underwear but the rest was starkers. It was
so hot in the studio so it was a little bit challenging, but it was fun.
Tashi: But Chris was starkers.
Karin: No he had he underwear on that you couldn't see behind the cushion.
Keketso Semoko was a VIP at the party. She delivered one of the main speeches, read a cool poem during it and then once the party started in earnest she was in the thick of the jiving action, hanging out next to the dancefloor.
Keketso: My most memorable moment was a very small moment. It was when Ma Agnes was having a heart problem and Zebedee brought her a wedding band.
He said: "Before you die, if you die, I have to put a ring on your finger."
Mlangeni Nawa was in the thick of the action with Keketso and got lots of requests for pics with peeps. He gave a thumping answer to my Most Memorable question which, as you can see from my expression in the pic (I was pretending to be his third wife) freaked me out a
lot:
Mlangeni: When I took a second wife was my most memorable moment. It's part of what I believe in. Polygamy, in our culture, helps us not to have children who don't have a sense of belonging. The more you have more wives, the more children will have a sense of belonging.
I actually orginated the idea about the storyline. I spoke to the producers and said: How about we come up with a story where ther's polygamy involved?
I believe every child has a right to have a home. As you know there are more women than men so we have to have more wives so that every child has a father and a sense of belonging.
The person to dance like a crazy thing more than any other cast member was Kevin Smith. He was so into both his fierce jiving and the three or four chicks who were razzmatazzing around him he was in a world of his own completely.
If there were ever a couple who are thick as thieves it's Meshack Mavuso and his wife Neo. As they chatted away it was clear why they're together - they're like two sides of the same sincere coin.
Meshack: My most memorable moment was when Zeb stood up. It was one of the best scenes we've ever done. We took an hour preparing that scene. It wasn't just rush-rush.
Neo: We talk about his scenes and I was there when they were filming it.
Meshack: Yes, Neo comes to support and she helps me with my script.
Neo: Yes, we do the script together.
Tashi: What was it about that scene that blew you away? Was it the acting of it or the subject matter?
Meshack: For the first fifteen minutes we were acting but after that it was us doing the scene. We understood what we doing and all of us were in a trance.
Neo: Yes, after that scene everyone was crying.
Meshack: Even the crew.
Aha - the biggest troublemaker of the evening. Trust me when I tell you that all the mischief Barker gets up to in the show isn't simply good acting on Robert Whitehead's part but rather it's part of who he is.
He was sooo smashed you have no idea and was with a toyboy who was so concerned about him he wouldn't let him out of his sight for even a milli-second.
I didn't even ask him to be in the pic with Robert 'cos he was suspiciously watching me like a hawk. In a moment of him looking away Terence Bridget grabbed Robert and started wildly dancing with him - which is when I snapped my pic and asked him about his most memorables.
Robert: I have absolutely no idea at all. I couldn't possibly answer the question - I can't even remember what my name is! I would have said when I said: "Oh Cherel - is that you??"
I remember
you - you do this *bleep!* to me. You ask me questions like:
"What's the most fabulous thing Cherel ever said to you?" Tashi: When's your birthday?
Robert: 23 September. 1984. I'm a lying swine.
I'm fifty. I'm the result of baby boomering.
And so it was my evening came to an end at about 23h30 and as I left I had a good chuckle at seeing Robert walking to the car with both his toyboy and someone else holding him up while he went along looking happy.
In between all this chittery action, at 22h00 to precise, everyone at the party made a toast to the show. We all got champers, stood up, SABC3 said a special something and lots of stuff happened including fireworks that went off all along the sides of the building.
I couldn't help the tears that sprung in those moments and still don't know if it was the fireworks (they always finish me up) or my feelings for those who've achieved such success with the show. I think it may have been a combo of both.
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