Like cockroaches they scuttling to get away as far as possible: all of the initially eager sponsors and everyone else involved in the imploding reality show mess South Africa's Top Model Search after SABC3 finally decided to dump the show.
From Cleo magazine to Peugeot South Africa and Veet, are all like rats off of a sinking ship after none of them, nor SABC3 ever bothered to check whether the producers or SABC3 even have and own the naming rights to this advertiser-funded production (AFP). If they did, before I broke the news, they would have discovered that South Africa's Top Model Search really belongs to Bongie Alexandra who registered it and was not affiliated with the production.
''How could a broadcaster this huge get themselves entangled in such a project presented to them and not check standard protocol?'' asks Bongie Alexandra who says she will still attempt to run a competition under this now tainted banner name. ''SABC had decided to pull out of the illegitimate South Africa's Top Model Search within hours of our first discussion due to the fact that they had no rights to go ahead with the programme. SABC3 had no rights to flight the show,'' says Bongie Alexandra. She says they've ''put the brand of South Africa's Top Model Search at risk for the mess they had created by not checking protocol.''
''As the rightful owner of the name South Africa's Top Model Search, it has come to my knowledge that an illegitimate South Africa's Top Model Search has been operating in association with SABC3, Cleo magazine, Peugeot and Veet,'' who Bongie Alexandra now says have all gone silent. ''The sponsors who were involved have since not come back to us on where they stand in this whole debacle.''
Bongie Alexandra also has harsh words for SABC3. ''Since the advertising of this illegitimate South Africa's Top Model Search show by a legitimate channel like SABC3, sponsors and entrants are now scpetical about any modeling competitions within South Africa that will never see the light of day as long as broadcasters make these same errors year in and year out. Not too long ago this same broadcaster was faced with similar challenges with Model Million$.''
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