Thoughtful Vanessa
Adorned in a red lipstick and dressed in a brown leather jacket, a tight black dress that gives a sneak peek of her boobiliscious chest and high red heels I found Vanessa happy and eager to answer our questions
Segololo: How are you doing?
(Trying out my Wendy Williams impersonation) You look tired.
Vanessa: I am a bit tired but OK, thank you.
Segs: Your accent, do you put it on? Or is that how you normally speak?
Vanessa: (
laughs) This is how I always speak.
Segs: Take us through the experience, what did you expect and what you eventually discovered about yourself?
Vanessa: Uuuhm! OK, so before I entered Big Brother I had the perception that I’m gonna live with 12, 13 other people …
Segs: (
interrupts) nice people?
Vanessa: (
giggles) yesss, we are gonna have parties, have fun, sleep, gonna eat and do a couple of tasks, you know? And then day 2 I realized that it’s not like that, it is extremely difficult. I learnt a lot about myself and the situation.
I feel like the experience changed me as a person; in terms of dealing with people who have the same characteristics as me, who are as strong as me in their opinion and everything that they do.
It was just a shock 'cause I had never dealt with 12 Vanessa’s in my life. I have never been surrounded by another me, I always deal with my friends; people who accept me for who I am.
Segs: What are the 2 characteristics that you think changed about you when you went into the house? You went into the house a certain type of person and you found yourself very different to your normal self in the house. This question is from experience (
giggles).
Vanessa: I feel as if before I went into the house, I was more closed off and was not expecting anything major and I was not even nervous. I think there was a bit of shock and then realization that what I thought the game would be, isn’t what it is.
Looking fabulous and TALLSegs: Did you and Sol know before going into the house that you were both chosen as housemates?
Vanessa: No, never confirmed. He did not tell me. I didn’t tell him. I spoke to my CEO to keep my job at least, and he also never said anything. He already knew at that point that Sol was gonna go.
Segs: So it was a surprise to see him in the house?
Vanessa: Yes, it was a surprise.
Segs: You would often insist that he knows you personally and he shouldn’t do stuff to push you. Why did you guys keep clashing?
Vanessa: I don’t think that interaction would have happened in another environment. I feel that Sol played the game better than me. I couldn’t find people’s weak points and play on that. I just couldn’t do it. I applaud him for knowing my weaknesses and using that against me in the game. He literally played the game better than me, that is what he did.
Segs: So you think your honesty got you in trouble? Your honesty is shocking, you tell it like it is and explain how you see things.
Vanessa: I feel as if when I got into the house, I need to say what I need to say, I gotta do what I gotta do. After my conversation with Mzamo because he sat me down and tried to explain to me why I was misunderstood most of the time.
He explained that I need to be aware of the things I say, how I say things, when I say things. He then suggested that I think about what I want to say before I say something. That’s what I tried to do from that moment onwards.
I do feel that it could have gotten me into trouble but I didn’t want to go into the house and leave with people that personally know me thinking: “I don’t know Vanessa like that”. I needed to stay true to myself and my friends who know who really know who I am.
Segs: Mzamo truly understood you and got you. He would relay what you wanted to say without losing your message. I will ask him why he didn’t save you.
Vanessa: (
laughs) Yes, we definitely had a beautiful relationship.
Manicured hands Segs: Being so honest you couldn’t keep things to yourself, even when you saw things you would tell people about what you saw. You say you were being true to yourself, but don’t you think it cost you votes as the viewer may have seen you as a gossip or trying to create drama where there isn’t drama?
Vanessa: Just from seeing the couple of things (pointing to her phone) that I have seen since leaving the house, I definitely think that may have cost me some votes. I have seen statements and tweets saying “she’s gossiping”, “she’s stirring things up and doing this and that”.
For me, it wasn’t about getting involved and making it my problem. I just couldn’t keep quiet about the things that I saw. I feel as if very good-hearted, genuine people got hurt.
Segs: Do you think it was your place to tell Jase about what Kat was doing behind his back?
Vanessa: I felt Jase doesn’t deserve this and I needed to tell him so that he can decide as Jase what he wants to do. With all the other things in the house, this could have been taken the wrong way but I know that my intentions were not to do anything but to protect and help everybody in the house.
Segs: If you were in the same situation, you would want people to tell you and do what you did for you?
Vanessa: Definitely. In my real world, I get mad at my friends if down the line I find out that they knew something and they didn’t tell me. I felt that I owed the people that, if I wanted to stay true to myself. I wanted to act like I do outside the house, while in the house.
Even if you are not my friend and I see something I can’t keep quiet about it. I can’t see that going and not say anything. If it was me and everyone kept quiet, I would feel disrespected by everyone around me.
Segs: You previously spoke about “Mr Celebrity”, do you think this Jase/Kat mess reflected what you experienced in that relationship? Did your experience and understanding of the emotions in such a situation make you more determined to tell Jase?
Vanessa: I did. I feel like that all I did was coming from good intentions because what I have learnt in my experience and people who have deceived me in a way. I just feel that Jase did not deserve this and he has done absolutely nothing to deserve anybody lying to him and be conniving.
He is just a total sweetheart. I just couldn’t keep quiet about it and see that happen. I couldn’t take it. I knew that potentially I was leaving on the Sunday; I felt I needed to say everything I needed to say to everybody to give them all the ammunition for themselves to play the game that they can play best.
Segs: Mr Celebrity. When you came out, were you a little worried that the social circle that you are in would know what exactly happened since you kinda named him?
Vanessa: I don’t think my mission was to name and shame ‘cause I never said his name. I called him Mr. Celebrity and stuck to that. I don’t want that perception that I am out to ruin anybody’s career or to be the girl in the newspaper because of a celebrity.
All I wanted to do was to share my experience so that when people get involved with people in the industry to be careful. I feel a lot of people get misled. It is not just happening in the industry, it happens everywhere. I had to tell my story, in some way some girls can relate to being screwed over and that was my intention.
Segs: What is your opinion of Lexi?
Vanessa: Lexi is now very dear to my heart but when we initially went into the house I didn’t like that her bum was outside and ...
Segs: (
Interrupts) It is still out.
Vanessa: The way she was acting (
smiles). I made it clear the first time we had a discussion that I was brought up a different way. My morals and values are different than hers; and I respect that. I don’t judge her at all but I respect that this who I am and that is who you are. While we are in the house, let’s be ourselves but let’s not try to influence each other.
We agreed to that but as the relationship carried on, I got to know her on a personal level. I got to see that she comes across as hard and she doesn’t care. I got to notice that she is actually free and she is being herself. I made her a project to make her admit that she is my friend. She never said it.
Her opinion was that I used to know and say what she thinks and she didn’t want friends . For me the turning point was when I left, she held me longer, walked with me to the garden, cried as I walked up the stairway in the garden. Even if she never said it, I know that she felt that I was her buddy.
Segs: When you were visiting the parlour, Lexi didn’t seem to like you. She would talk over you; she would disrupt your conversations and direct topic another direction, exactly what she did to Iris on her arrival. She seemed to be getting closer to you after Iris arrived, what are the differences between you and Iris that made the animosity between them escalate beyond what yours did?
Vanessa: I feel as if, maybe subliminally, Lexi gave me a chance to show who I am. She got to know me whether she liked it or not. I got under her skin.
Iris was not given that opportunity but when that situation happened, I did not feel that it was my place to say anything to Lexi or Iris. I voted for Iris, I love her. I found her funny and adorable.
I love Lexi and certain characteristics about her as we relate on a personal level. I felt I had to stay out of it but make it clear to the housemates that we were fuelling the situation. We would sit in conversations with Lexi saying she would slam the door on Iris and we would laugh.
People carried on about it and kept asking Lexi how she felt about Iris, the house helped fuel the fire. With our situation, Lexi and I, everyone stayed
out of it but with Iris everyone was involved in some way.
Segs: Was Iris aware about the housemates chitty-chatty conversations or was she also involved in them?
Vanessa: I feel that Iris wouldn’t have said anything if she did not have the platform to say it. I didn’t know that she felt the tension until she spoke during the confrontation with Lexi. When Lexi spoke I was surprised and I felt like “I know you wanna be the queen bee but come on, Iris is a nice person”.
Segs: Did Lexi ever mention or hint if this dislike had anything to do with Mandla? Has he said something while Iris was in the chambers to Lexi that rubbed her up the wrong way?
Vanessa: I feel like Mandla was an excuse for the dislike. I honestly feel that, I don’t think he had a direct impact or effect on the dislike. He was used as an example but the problem is that Mandla is Mandla, separate from the girls that have a problem with each other. The problem originated between them and that is where it stayed and that is where it should have stayed until they fixed the problem.
Shoecam Segs: Who do you think can win the show?
Vanessa: (
deep breath) It’s difficult to say because I feel that someone who is humble, sweet and nice should win the money but when I look at the people in there. I know what they did and what I did in there. I don’t know who I am gonna support.
I actually wanna watch and see from a viewer’s perspective what everybody says. When I was in there, I tried to evaluate but I just couldn’t get it. I would say that if I chose to vote for somebody, I would vote for Lexi. I feel that if she stays in the house 2 weeks longer, people will see of who she really is. I think she deserves that chance because she is really misunderstood.
Segs: What are the plans for Vanessa after leaving the show?
Vanessa: Whatever I have learned in terms of myself; what to do and what not to do, in terms of myself and my character, I am gonna take that and practice it in my life in the future.
Basically, it’s back to my nine-to-five at the moment. If another opportunity arises, I will welcome it with open arms but up until then I have got bills to pay and things to take care of so it’s back to normal life for me.