These impressions just in from the Diepe Waters set following last week's reveal that Johan isn't Rossouw and Sanet's biological son...
Turns out he was adopted by them after Rossouw’s brother Jacques impregnated a 16-year-old girl.
Gys, the patriarch of the Swarts family, proposed the idea, because, as everyone knows, Gys’s reputation is more important to him than the well-being of his children and grandchildren.
Liam Bosman, who plays the role of Johan, has a good laugh before sharing his reaction:
“On one occasion, Altus, Nadia, Danielle (Karla) and I were in a scene, and I randomly noticed that I was the only one in the family with dark eyes. Justin (Gys) has blue eyes.
"Shortly after that, I bumped into Werner and realised that he also has dark eyes. From that day on, it was always a joke among us on the set that Johan might be Jacques’ son.”
However, Liam says, none of them thought it could actually be the case.
Werner, who plays Jacques, confirms the conversation and remarks:
“If you look at the family photos, only Liam and I have dark eyes. When we got this storyline, we couldn’t believe that it was there in black and white. My first thought was: How is this possible? But when you look at the storyline, you realise it’s beautifully done. Once again, Gys took control and made the whole thing about the Swarts family.”
Werner says that when you look back at past episodes with this new knowledge, you can see that Jacques never wanted to be too close to Johan.
“Whenever Johan did something wrong, he always looked first to his grandfather, and after Gys scolded him, Jacques was the one who subtly encouraged him. There was always a connection between them, but you could never really make sense of it. It was a big shock for us. So well done to the writers.”
Nadia Valvekens (Sanet) was also stunned when Johan’s biological parentage came to light and had many questions.
“My first reaction was: How!? When we found out, we didn’t know anything about the further storyline. I wondered if Sanet had a relationship with Jacques, or if Rossouw maybe couldn’t have children. I also thought it might be an adoption,” Nadia says.
Altus (Rossouw) points out that things are not going well for Rossouw:
"He believed he had four children - Johan, Karla and the two miscarriages. Now he has only one biological child left."
The question: When will Johan find out?