On Thursday night (16 November) 26-year-old Kayise Ngqula was named the new host of DStv's No. 1 show Our Perfect Wedding.
Viewers chose her in the OPW Presenter Search which came down to six finalists after a two month selection process.
I caught up with her after her win to find out what we need to know about TV's newest hot property:
Aaaaaaand the new host of Our Perfect Wedding is...? KAYISE!
Tashi: It's the No. 1 presenting job on DStv, what a bonus!
Kayise: Definitely, definitely. It's still very surreal for me. I still find myself pinching myself to reminisce about the finale to figure out, was it really real?? *
laughs*.
Tashi: Your whole being must have gone into it.
Kayise: I put everything into it, my heart and soul and all my capabilities as a performer and all I really hoped for was that they would outshine and I would be the best.
Tashi: Why do you think you won?
Kayise: I'm a performer, I'm an artist man and I think for me it was my authenticity. I took everything that I learnt on the journey and I was literally a sponge. I took it in and I always aimed to bring out the best in me and my authenticity across each time I had to perform and present.
I gave meticulous attention to the things that viewers look at such as your image and things such as your expansion on language and how you include almost the whole country and not just focusing on one language and one tribe.
Everybody loves this programme and I intended to make everybody feel I would be able to hold the fort for all of them and I think that's what viewers saw in me and therefore chose to vote for me.
Hey, is that Portia from Mina Nawe?
It is. Kayise appeared in her first starring role on TV in May this year as the charming but vulnerable Portia on SABC1's Sunday night drama series Mina Nawe. Before that she had a one episode guest role on the Mzansi Magic drama series It's Complicated.
Overall she's been in the TV industry for almost two years. She finished high school in 2008, at The Glen High School in Pretoria, and studied at City Varsity afterwards.
She wasn't able to finish her degree there but went on to study at the University of Johannesburg where she's currently doing a degree in International Relations and Politics.
Tashi: So you didn't study drama or an entertainment related degree? Why?
Kayise: This (presenting and the entertainment industry) is something I've always known I wanted to do but I come from a family who come from the pre-era time who didn't believe that a career in entertainment would be stable.
I've always believed... you know, when my mom told me that she wanted to protect me from all the not-so-great things she's heard about the industry and as a mother, single-handedly raising three children, she just felt that education-education was the best route so I left high school and I went on and studied.
This passion on the side of my studies kept me going and I was like, "You know what, if I give my family what they want with a formal education, then perhaps one day I will get the chance to follow my dreams and passions."
I continued studying and I even went into the corporate world but I just felt that it wasn't enough, there was still more for me and then I decided to pursue, formally and professionally, a career in entertainment and media last year.
So what you see is a combination of a long-time coming - in the last two years so much has happened for me so that's got a lot to do with the fact that I consciously decided to just focus and build on my career and learn and give myself to the universe and I suppose it's answering back.
Her family
Kayise was born in East London and moved to Gauteng when she was 10. She was raised by her mother, who's an HR consultant, and has two younger brothers. She spends a lot of time with them.
Her days
Before auditioning for OPW, her days were spent going to auditions, studying to finish her degree and going to gym.
The secret life of Kayise
Tashi: What didn't we see on the Presenter Search?
Kayise: Oh my goodness, the search was so much about
you, you had to be you. I think there's very little that they didn't see but I am a bit louder - I did hold back on that because sometimes you don't want to give too much of yourself before people kind of get to know you.
I love travelling - I hope that being in this job will allow me to do that and obviously it does because you go to the outer breadths of the country. And to cook - I love to cook. I love to sing and hope one day I'll be able to showcase that.
Tashi: What is your life motto?
Kayise: Definitely something along the lines of persistence. Patience, resilience and opportunity and preparedness come together and culminate in your hard work and that will take you to even greater lengths.
Persistently remember that you're 1 out of 1-million and you've got to always remember that this time for you is all that you've got and you've always got to be your ultimate best and be grateful.
Never forget that people are always watching and people love a person that gives love. You've got to give love and people will give it back.
When the moment arrives
Kayise films her first wedding next week and will be on our screens in January 2018.