The Press ConferenceAfter selling out his wife for 100 000 dollars and 15 minutes of fame BBAfrica2 winner Richard Bezuidenhout says it’s all been worth it. I *bleep!* you not.
At a press conference held yesterday morning (Monday after his Sunday win) he was asked whether it’ll be worth it if Ricki divorces him and he brutally said it will be. It’s too insane to believe it’s true but that’s how he sees things - from behind slimeball bloodshot eyes reigning over Tatiana and Ofunneka who were sitting on either side of him.
The excellent thing about the conference was that it helped as a soothing balm to his win because the dominant tone of the questions was fierce, uncompromising and didn’t give him any respect for how he won the show.
Instead of congratulating him for winning the press kicked in with questions that cut straight to the scum of the matter aka the way he’s mistreated his wife and disrespected women and the way he's hurt someone in the real world to make himself a quick buck.
This is what I grilled him on specifically and guffawed when he didn’t have an answer to my question - I asked how he could not have given even a moment’s thought to how he was publicly hurting and humiliating Ricki while he was in the house.
He answered some drivel about how he had and decided he’d deal with the consequences later but he didn’t have an answer when I shot back that it wasn’t him who had to deal with the consequences but her. He sat silent for a long time before admitting he had nothing to say - revealing that he heartlessly hadn't thought of her at all.
Other questions that came up involved the speculations that Ricki’s planning on divorcing him and taking half the cash and whether or not he’ll dispute it if it happens. He said he hadn’t spoken to her and that he wasn’t sure what he would do - of course he’ll dispute it and that bully sister of his will be right there with him - have you
seen her nasty and violent online posts?? I honestly don’t see how he could win a dispute - if Ricki doesn’t manage to get half in a settlement I’m convinced she could sue him for emotional distress.
After the conference I hotfooted it back to where I’m currently staying (opposite the M-Net studios) and guzzled back two Brutal Fruits in quick succession to try to get over the anger at his winning and succeeded in getting to a state of whateva-ness. I also thought about the fact that he didn’t win by a landslide - 7 countries to Ofunneka’s 5 means there were stacks of viewers communing in furious mourning as things unfolded on Sunday night.
I was in the live audience as is it happened and even though I suspected it could happen it still came as a slap when it did - when he emerged out of the house I just sort of stood there numbly. The pain of it was heightened when one of his fans lost her mind as he walked down that ramp thing - one chick went racing onto the stage and tried to grab him before getting chucked back into the audience by an overly aggro crowd control guy.
The FinaleBesides the helldog ending the rest of the finale was a rip - obviously I didn’t watch any of the yawny re-run footage they padded the show with but rather spent copious amounts of time oggling everyone around me to see who they were supporting.
There was one Ofunneka fan sitting directly opposite me in the front row who I SO wanted to show you but unfortunately none of his pics came out of ‘cos of the lighting being too dark where he was.
There was something so groovy about his fandom - like every time they mentioned her name he raised his banner for her with such dedication and lurve in his eyes I got the feeling he’d known her forever. Once everything was over I tried to catch up with him to find out who he was but unfortunately he’d already shuffled out in the crowds.
The whole live shebang started at about 5pm with everyone arriving and guzzling back cocktails while the production got itself sorted out with lighting and sound etc. I snapped away madly and gathered goss throughout the night up until I left the afterparty at 1am:
The first crucial pic to get was when all the gal pals on TVSA arrived and got together for a catch-up and goss. MemeJ, Brown Shuga and Segologo were all there in full funky force.
The bustle of everyone arriving for the show and getting into their seating positions.
I was tickled to see Survivor's Viwe in the thick of things - he was ready to rock long before the show started in a front row seat. He's a huge BB fan and was the only member of the Survivor cast there.
Going off to my seat I waved by Shuga and Segologo.
And MemeJ.
The view from my seat of the stage being set up and the lighting switching into gear closing into 7pm.
I took a pic of the housemates singing even though you saw it on TV to remind myself that I wanted to say I was pleasantly surprised - they managed to sound waay better than the Idols.
Here's the cameraguy who filmed the dancers and muso's as they flik-flacked and stutted down the centre stage thing. He was expertly working a steady-cam - a pricey, state of the art number that's specially for shots that need to move without bouncing all over the place. As you can see he needs to do something about his trousers.
I was sitting behind the housemates so I oggled their heads a lot.
Everytime I looked at Code and Juna who were directly down in front of me I got re-freaked all over again.
The stars of the show! Throughout the season I've thought the bodyguard dude's are super-cool and glanced over at them at least fifteen times during the show to see what they were up to and each time they were perfect. I took this pic of them before Richard came out of the house instead of taking a pic of him - while snapping I was imagining them chucking him off the side of the stage into oblivion with killer moves.
After the show I went speeding over to try to get a pic with them so I could be a bodyguard too but they literally disappeared in moments - in the same way the audience and house did.
Within five minutes of the show ending the audience was out of the arena and the techies started dismantling things. The lights, cameras and everything equipment-related both inside and outside the house got wrapped as soon as things finished. Word on the street is that the last time they left the equipment overnight the house got looted.
A techie smokingly putting months of work to sleep.
Segololo and Shuga getting steamy with KB before everyone left for the After Party.
The party was held at a club in I-don’t-know where called Latinova that was right up my street 'cos there were bodyguards everywhere - this is Big Greg who stood watch at the door.
The first housemate I caught up with was Meryl who was nursing a bandaged arm after it got hurt by a crazed fan. My mind was blown when I heard about it so I gathered girl power to protest violence towards chicks. Also in the pic on the left: Lebo Nthate, a newsreader for Highveld FM.
I had a long catch-up with Lerato who was hanging onto her voice by a thread. I asked about a rumour I'd heard that her and Max are engaged. In husky tones she said they weren't but were officially an item and had spent the last three weeks together. She went on to chat about the engagement ring she's plotting - a t-t-t-something - tamzanite I think it is. She doesn't want diamonds 'cos she doesn't believe in them after Blood Diamond.
What was so interesting was that while myself and others were chatting to her I spotted Max walking past a little distance away and he glanced across to see what Lerato was up to - she was totally unaware of it. The two of them then hung out talking for ages and later everything turned into Big Brother pandemonium apparently.
At the press conference on Monday morning journo Natasha Uys from The Namibian (MemeJ's colleague) told me that after I'd left the party there was major trauma between them that ended with Lerato and Bertha locking themselves in the bathroom crying while Max was trying to get in.
Max's blinged out belt that turns off and on - to big up his package obviously.
I caught up with Justice who was debating with Viwe and had a long chinwag with Viwe about how Survivor's gonna pan out. He said that his courtroom battle with Grant's over and that he's top of his list for the win.
Jeff was being Jeff and just sort of standing. I didn't spot him talking to anyone.
On the dancefloor: Bertha ...
KB ...
... and Ofunekka who was ripping up the beat amidst a bevvy of guys who wouldn't leave her alone - to the extent she had a bodyguard with her at all times. She was so surrounded by guys I couldn't even get in close enough to get a proper mugshot from the front.
Ha! The only pic I was prepared to take of the
idiot Loser. Him and Tatiana sucked face from the moment they arrived at the after-party.
Argh!! Everytime I clapped eyes on Richard's sister I couldn't believe she's actually real. Scary, scary ass *bleep!*.
I caught up with Kwaku to tell him that he managed to charm me just a little bit.
Maureen spent most of the night hanging out with Shaleen Surtie-Richards. I overheard some of their conversation and from the sounds of it they've turned into bossom visiting buddies. I caught up with Maureen for us as promised - I'll fill you in soon.
The goss gathering night ended with a dream come true. Themba - one of the bodyguards standing watch over the room the housemates could escape to - allowed me to kick some bodyguarding butt with him until I left the shindig.