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''Top Billing allows people to dream. Dream about things they could never have. And this is something I never ever dreamed I could have. ''I'm just looking forward to saying, 'Good evening . . . and welcome to Top Billing.'' These are the very first words of Simba Mhere just after being announced the winner of the Top Billing Presenter Search (Read more RIGHT HERE.) and who will now be joining the weekly magazine show on SABC3.
I have the first exclusive reaction from Patience Stevens, executive producer of Top Billing about Simba Mhere winning a new Top Billing presenter role on her show. I chatted to her specifically about the winner and wanted to know what she thinks of Simba Mhere. ''When you go on a shoot its really, really hard work,'' she says. ''You need somebody who's going to work with the team. So you need a worker. You need somebody who - when the kit needs to be packed up - doesn't walk away and do the prima donna act and disappear when the real hard work starts. You need somebody who's going to be in there with you and help. Simba Mhere did this without being asked.''
''Simba Mhere got sick in that final crucial week of the Top Billing Presenter Search,'' Patience Stevens reveals. ''Simba did not reveal that he was sick, did - in spite of the fact that he was sick - went on and did the job. It's about showbiz. The curtain has to go up. You have to be the star of the show and you have to be there. Simba Mhere proved his ability to do that. Simba has staying power, he has courage.''
''The other thing that Simba Mhere has is charm,'' Patience Stevens tells me. ''He's someone whom we hope everybody will just love. He will hopefully be like your teddybear - someone you will just love and who you'll be able to relate to and feel can be your best friend.''
''The winner had to be someone who's lovable and who you feel is going to share and bring you into that experience. Simba Mhere has that. He grew. Everytime he got input of you should do this, you shouldn't do that he used it and ran with it. He kept raising his performance until he was just better than anybody else,'' she says. ''He was a sponge. Simba Mhere was a sponge with the information given and grew from that.''
ALSO READ: Simba Mhere wins the Top Billing Presenter Search; joins Top Billing permanently.
ALSO READ: Why the Top Billing Presenter Search could be - and should become - its own stand-alone spin-off reality show.
