This has to be my most memorable interviews with a Big Brother housemate. Yeah, I know that after interviewing over 50 housemates this has to be a big statement. He was honest, genuine and truly eager to get to share his experience without applying filters.
I cringed at the questions I had to ask him, and was surprised that he eagerly answered what he could and showed his emotions. From previous experience, most notorious housemates shut you out when you try to explore their emotions when they leave the house. The only thing that I can say worried me was when he tried to steal time from my interview by asking me questions…
When he was on the show, I could never shake the feeling that he was in character, actually acting. His approach to things and some situations in the house always got me jumping from my chair with an “aha! This guy is acting” reaction.
I could never shake that feeling off so it was important to me to interview him with an interrogative approach to suss out if he will act his way through the interview.
He insists that he was not acting at all and is actually horrible at it. He has tried his hand at it once or twice, going to auditions and failed. He insists that the only character he is in is Kgosi.
He swore that even if we met him in any environment, the person we saw is who he would be. He was uncomfortable and unhappy in the chambers. He felt the chambermates would gang up on him and he felt judged.
His “change” when he went into the main house was because he was more at ease. He doesn’t feel like he was 2 different characters, the situation brought out different sides of the same person.
Segololo: How did you prepare for the show?
Kgosi: I feel like that was my downfall, I feel like I should have prepared for the show. I should have at least watched one episode of the show. I had only watched season 1, the first big brother. I feel like in-between them, things have changed a lot. Back then, it was natural. People came in and they got frustrated. I feel like that ever since then, people have had games, tactics and strategies. Had I known that, I would have been more prepared, interesting and “played the game” (
with a drawn bored accent) a little more. So if anyone asked me, I would have had an answer. I was just really being myself.
Segololo: Really? Yourself.
Kgosi: I was trying my hardest to be me. (
grins)
Segololo: What was so hard or difficult about you being you?
Kgosi: I don’t know. People were accusing me like Vanessa and Lexi would come up straight to me and say “I don’t trust you!” I couldn’t get it. I feel that I stuck to being me till the end.
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When he was accepted into the show in December, he was told that he was going into the chambers. It was depressing and was not what he expected. “I expected to look more chamber-like but it felt quite chamber-like because of the lack of fresh air and sunlight. The fact that it could have been any time and we had no idea what time it was.” he explains.
His annoyance that they could have been falling asleep at 4am or 4pm with no clue was evident when he spoke about the experience in the chambers.
When I pointed out to him that I witnessed them eating at 2 in the morning and they were saying they are having lunch, he was mortified. Poor man… He reckons having 3 or 4 more people from the main house would have made the experience bearable.
He was closest to Paris in the chambers. He had the realest and best conversations with Sol but felt closest to Mandla and Jase in the main house. He felt more comfortable in the main house because of some of the people. Also he would have survived the chambers a bit better if he had been allowed to smoke, he says.
In one of his late evening chats with Mandla and Sol, he had mentioned that he had been successful previously when he auditioned for Big Brother Africa. He had been chosen and confirmed as a housemate however due to his dependency on weed, he was told he would have to clean up before being allowed on the show.
My assumption was Thami, the hyena, had been his replacement as rumours that he was second choice had been rife during that season.
Kgosi had not been expecting anyone to be listening or watching at that ungodly hour (between 3am and 4 am) when he made these revelations to his fellow housemates. Unfortunately for him, I was watching and needed answers.
Segololo: You mentioned that being on Big Brother was rehab for you, for smoking weed.
Kgoli: (
eyes bulging as he peeks at me from under his glasses) Who did I say that to?
Segololo: You said it to Mandla
Kgosi: Geez! You people watched everything!! (
shocked) Yho!
Segololo: Yep, we do. So how much weed do you smoke for you to consider big brother rehab?
Kgosi: Yho! Yho! This is embarrassing! That is really embarrassing. I really did not think anyone was listening or watching. It was in the early hours of the morning. Really?? I can’t believe this, this will be incriminating. Yho! Am I allowed to not answer? (
looking at the Endamol rep in the room)
Segololo: You did say it, we saw the conversation. Was the weed for recreational or medicinal purposes?
Kgosi: Medicinal
Segololo: So how much and dosage is required for the medicinal reasons for smoking weed?
Kgosi: Then the other one… recreational. (
hides face behind hands) Segololo: So from that conversation with Mandla this is what we know; you smoke it at least 3 times a day and can’t go without it so it was hard to come into the house but you considered the experience rehab.
Kgosi: (
mortified) You really watched. This is bad. I really didn’t think anyone heard that. I am so embarrassed. Geeez! Then it means there is absolutely nothing that got away, is it? This isn’t the rough stuff?
Segololo: (
giggles) Nope. There’s more.
Kgosi: That’s my story and I am sticking to it. (
laughs)
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His secret was not something he considered bad because he had discovered magic and got to hang out with witches and wizards. His biggest worry was that people, especially his parents, would think he was part of a weird cult when he was raised a Christian boy.
He knows it wasn’t for him and he is glad he got that experience. Mandla was the one person he was comfortable discussing his experience with because it was late night, he thought no-one was watching and he was comfortable.
The last weekend Kgosi was in the house, he was engaged or rather the center of one of the biggest Saturday night fights where his guy code beliefs were questioned. He had witnessed Sol and Kat activities whilst everyone in the house were partying in the garden. He told Jase and all hell broke loose:
Segololo: I noticed you respect Guy Code, but there were times that you stepped out and went against it. When Sol was making moves on Kat, you spoke out but you were busy making moves on Loko who was also attached to Poolie. How are the two incidents different from each other?
Kgosi: The first 2 days I was in the main house, it wasn’t obvious that Poolie was with Loko. We had a conversation while sitting under the hammock.
Segololo: Mhhhmmm
Kgosi: I had only known her for 48 hours and I am not sure how much you guys saw of that conversation under the hammock. It was hypocritical, I know but seriously I had only known her for 48 hours. If I had known she was with Poolie, I would not have made moves on her.
Segololo: In the main house, you and Iris had a fight about the “girlfriend” talk you had in the chambers. Please set the record straight, are you in love with a woman who is not your girlfriend or is this unrequited love?
Kgosi: (
surprised) You were really watching. Yho!! I have never said I have a girlfriend. We are in love but not in the same space. We are not together. We have some issues we need to resolve.
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In closure, I was happy I had done the interview. “The future looks bright. I will continue writing stories and you will be hearing from me again. Someday you might see a movie by me on the big screen”, Kgosi says.