With Valentine's Day four days away it's time to talk romantic ideas/once-off dates/how to dump someone quickly - whatever blows your hair back.
To fire up for it I caught up with actress Maggie Benedict for us because she's been working on a new SABC2 series called The Mating Game so I knew she'd have views to spill.
Also, today - 10 February - happens to be her 29th birthday.
Maggie, who was most recently seen on our boxes in
Hard Copy 3 and
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, plays single mom Grace Molele - an outspoken radio jock who says what she feels honestly, while struggling with issues of deep rejection.
Maggie on The Mating Game set, watching a filmed scene.
7de Laan's
Elma Postma and
Renate Stuurman co-star as her BFF's - all of whom are trying to find the ideal man:
Tashi: What's the relationship like between the three of you in the real world? (the show finished filming at the end of last year).
Maggie: We’ve become very close - it’s not something that always happens. Sometimes you’ll do a show and be very friendly but it was only of that time and afterwards you go your separate ways, but with us we’ve become very good real world friends, going over for each other’s birthdays and so on.
Tashi: What do you do for fun?
Maggie: I’m one of those geeks who hangs out at the library.
Tashi: *laughs* Really??
Maggie: I do or I hang out with my family. The couch and I are tight Tashi, we are so tight. Also I’m always at the DVD store.
Tashi: Are you a TV fan?
Maggie: Yes a huge fan of TV series but I go out and get the whole series on DVD because I have no patience - I’ve been trying to grow some for my 30th birthday. I’ll go and get the entire series and watch them in a sitting.
Tashi: What’s your all-time fave show?
Maggie: Oh -
all time favourite show?...
there was that show years ago, Reasonable Doubts with Mark Harmon and Marlee Matlin - that’s SO up there for me, and the cartoon Spiderman - I used to love that.
Tashi: If you could choose your all time leading man to snog, who’d you choose?
Maggie: Gael García Bernal - give that boy to me in spades.
Please.
Tashi: Who is he?
Maggie: He’s a Spanish-speaking Mexican actor - he’s done the movies *Spanish accent*
Y tu mamá también and
Sin noticias de Dios.
He’s a beautiful actor as well and gorgeous to look at aesthetically. He does prodominently Spanish films but he’s breaking into Hollywood stuff - he’s been in Babel with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett and Motorcycle Diaries. He’s yummy.
... actually you know ... he’d be second on my list. Paul Newman’s top of my list - I’ve got a thing for him like you wouldn’t believe, I mean in the film Cool Hand Luke - take me away! Those blue eyes, that physique, that “I got you babe look,” ....
Tashi: Do you think he’s better than Brad Pitt?
Maggie: Yeah,
Tashi: I’ve gone off Brad since the whole Angelina thing.
Maggie: *laughs* Brad’s alright but nobody holds a candle to Paul - only maybe Gael.
Tashi: Do you think girls ideally want more than one guy at a time?
Maggie: Ooh, I don’t know, I think it’s an individual girl thing and also if you have the time to juggle them all - I mean that’s the hard thing, getting all those schedules together.
Tashi: It’s come up in Desperate Housewives with Gabi but it’s a very under-explored theme.
Maggie: Well I had a friend who did speed dating and she dated five guys in a week - not dating-dating but she went out with them.
Tashi: Was she happy?
Maggie: Not happy, she was searching - wading through the weak.
Tashi: Have you ever had a date from hell?
Maggie: Yes - very nearly. I walked into the place and judged that book by it’s cover and it was so wrong.
It was a blind date - I saw him, did a "U’ey" and left. It was difficult afterwards because it was set-up by one of my close friends so it was awkward.
Tashi: What's been your most romantic date?
Maggie: Thank you for reminding me ... I stayed in New York for a while and a boyfriend of mine took me on a tour of Brooklyn. I hadn’t been out of Manhattan for a while and Brooklyn was beautiful - at night, with the lights and everything.
Brooklyn Bridge by night
Tashi: Was he American?
Maggie: He was American yes.
Tashi: So did you leave him behind when you came back?
Maggie: I did.
Tashi: Fun to have an American boyfriend - the sort of thing you can cross off your list of things To Do.
Maggie: Yes, American boyfriend: Check.
Tashi: What’s your ideal guy?
Maggie: Shucks ... charming, caring, great sense of humour - that’s top of the list - if you can’t make me laugh, take the next bus home. Take me as I come, accept me as I am - all 15 personalities in my head.
Tashi: And Grace's ideal man on the show? Are they similar?
Maggie: Oh no - Grace is looking for someone who’s financially secure because security’s very important to her. She’s also looking for a father figure because her father went away when she was young so she’s looking for someone to fill that void.
I’m not looking for someone like that - I had a fantastic father - she’s also just too desperate. She’s too eager for it to happen, she’s not waiting for the universe or God to present it to her. She’s also very headstrong - sometimes it works in her favour and other times she just pushes too hard.
Other show news:
Also in the cast -
Khabonina Qubeka, who plays Kefilwe, a fiesty businesswoman, who seduces men for kicks.
The series premieres on 11 March and runs for 13 episodes.