Capetonian DJ Carissa Cupido won a turbo boost of TLC on Tuesday (15 November) when she was named the winner of the channel's 2016 Presenter Search.
She was up against Zimbabwe's Karen Paida Mukwedya and Kenya’s Charlie Karumi who were selected as the Top 3 after surviving a presenting Boot Camp.
The search began in July with
an open casting call and 13 semi-finalists were chosen for the Boot Camp where the final three were decided.
Carissa's win will take her to London to film TLC Extreme, a four part series featuring some of the channel's most extreme clips. She's also won herself a holiday to the Palace of the Lost City - a perfect prize because she needs a good snooze.
Carissa presents the graveyard slot on Good Hope FM - from 01h00 to 03h00 - so a rest will do her good. She has an honours degree in Social Anthropology from UCT where she presented a lunch time show on the university's radio station.
This is what she has to say about her win:
"For me, TLC’s Next Great Presenter represents the peak of my career and the start of a new era in my life. You can look forward to watching me having fun while bringing the best of TLC into your homes. I’m ready to start this incredible journey - look out Africa!”
TLC will be covering her journey in a once-off special called Next Great Presenter: The Winners Story - lookout for it on Thursday, 22 December at 20h55.
Here's a link to the audition that first got her noticed:
Carissa's audition vid.