How much acting goes into being a
Big Brother housemate?
30% according to
Weza Solange.
I've always thought that it ranges from 25 to 50% so it's good to hear a former housemate actually admit it. Weza dished the juice about her BB deception when I caught up with her recently and asked:
Tashi: How much did you act on Big Brother?Weza: I think that I started acting on Big Brother when I realised that a lot of people were acting too. I think I acted maybe 30%. The thing about being in that house is that you lose yourself.
You think you have a plan, you think you're going through with a plan, you're halfway there and then you have no idea what's going on. You lose the plot and then you have to start all over again.
I did act at times, I think most of the time my acting was trying to not lose it. People thought that I was very bold and that I would say it as it is - I was holding back a lot.
In normal situations I would be throwing bottles and glasses at people and just lose it so me being cool and collected - I think that was the biggest part of my acting.
Weza in hair and make-up on iNkabaWithin the space of a season Weza's gone from Housemate to acting 100% as Fumi on Mzansi Magic's
iNkaba. Fumi was on the scene during the early episodes of the series and then she disappeared.
She'll back in the future and when she returns she'll make her comeback with a sister. The show's in the process of trying to find someone who suits the role - they've been struggling to find the right actress because she has to be combo of a schmodel and Weza lookalike.
Tashi: What's the biggest difference between being on Big Brother and being on iNkaba?Weza: Obviously iNkaba's a made-up thing whereas in the house you go through phases of wanting to be real then you want to protect yourself so you kind of hide away and put up a persona that you think is going to to make you win the competition. You think it's going to fool everybody else in the house.
Even though people think that Fumi's very similar to me, there's a lot about her that I had to learn. On set I'm working with professionals who've been doing it for a living for a very long time so I have a sense of respect, of wanting to be better, of wanting to improve myself as an actress.
Just being Weza was enough while I was in the house. I've always had the kind of personality where if you love me you love me, if you hate me you hate me - I don't really care.
On set you want to be present, you want these people to remember you, you want these people to like you because you might work with them again.
So who remembers and likes Weza from her season? Seems Karen does ...
Tashi: What's happened to Karen? She's just disappeared?Weza: I hear that Karen's doing very well, I'm proud of her. She had a birthday party where she invited a few housemates - she invited me but I couldn't go because I was working so I couldn't go. She has a line out - I think it's a T-shirt line or something - she's doing well.
Tashi: Bwa! Her boobs in T-shirts.
Weza: Yes, tank tops, I imagine so.
Tashi: What were men's responses to you when you came out of the house?Weza: Oh gosh, all those little shorts I wore in the house - I guess I knew the impact it was gonna have, I just didn't know how big it was gonna be. Put it this way, I've a lot of positive responses from men, they become very bold.
I've been in lots of awkward situations where wives will be fighting with their husbands because they would come over and try to talk to me - I've been put in very awkward situations with wives and girlfriends because of the way their spouses behaved.
-----
Then Weza delivered a a low blow - something so annoying you're gonna freak when you hear:
Tashi: Who would you say the biggest actor was of your season?Weza: Oh, Wendall. I only found it out afterwards - I take off my hat to him. I was one of the people - I'm not gonna lie, that felt it was unfair for Wendall to win.
I felt that Luclay gave a lot of entertainment but then coming out of the house ... I remember when Wendall was in the house in the last days ... when Big Brother asked who had a secret and he said that his secret was that he's a party animal - Wendall is the biggest party animal.
Ever.
He's the craziest dude. To think that he was able to keep that in for 91 days and not lose it and be calm and collected - even at parties he still kept it cool. I give it up to him for being able to keep that under check. That makes him such an interesting person now, to know that he's a fun, out-going dude and not just a guy who sits on the couch the whole day and doesn't care about everyone else.
It worked for him - I think he was very observant. In a house when you have so many people trying to show off, maybe the best thing is to hold yourself back and it worked.
We'd never think of Wendall when we went to nominate. We thought he was the weakest link and wanted to take out the strongest people first. Nobody thought he was a threat, up until the very end, nobody expected Wendall to be a threat. Sometimes that works better and it worked really well for him.
I disagree with Weza's theory wholeheartedly - it's still too astounding to me that he won.
In between our chatter I snooped about other stuff too like:
Tashi: Is there a Mr Weza?Weza: There is a Mr Weza.
Tashi: Can you tell us about him?Weza: No, I cannot. All I can say is that he's a very public person so I'm trying to keep it a secret for as long as possible.
Tashi: So do you never go out with him?Weza: I never go out - I travel out of the country just to avoid ...
Tashi: Does he live here or out of the country?Weza: Out of the country.
Tashi: Is he a former housemate? Is it Richard?!Weza: He's not a housemate - he's just a person who's way more public than I am. He's public on an international level - I want to live my life privately - I want it to be something normal because I feel that once something gets into the public eye it's ruined. I feel that it's something real, I'm really happy, we're really in love so I just want to preserve that for as long as possible.