I don't feel that I can have friends who are on television (and I don't have any by choice), since I cover the medium as a journalist.
It might compromise my integrity when a friend is in a show and I then have to tell viewers it's bad or the acting is bad and then perhaps might not want to, just to spare my friend's feelings. Luckily it's never happened because I resolutely keep to the rule.
Well, there is actually one. His name is Morgan Cathey and the dude is one of my 3 best guy friends and lived very close to me in Cape Town for the past few years. He's also the ''vacuum cleaner man'' on South African television.
Morgan Cathey has become quite a star since his first appearance in heavy rotation during this past season of Idols on M-Net when he appeared in Bissell commercials during what is actually the second most expensive advertising slot on South African television. It was quite a hoot seeing him almost constantly during the advertisement breaks for Idols talking about Bissell.
Now Morgan Cathey is back for yet another new Bissell commercial and infomercial for the handheld Bissell Spotlifter 2X, once again getting a lot of airtime on South African television during expensive timeslots like MasterChef USA.
Now a secret: My buddy, an avid soccer player, is currently an assistant soccer coach at a preppy American tertiary institution. Although he appeared heavily during Idols as well as now in new Bissell advertising work, the actual infomercial filming was all done and all the different commercials shot at the end of last year over a few days in Durban.
This time my buddy (the American accent is real by the way, he's really American) is lowering himself and getting much closer to the carpet in the new Bissell Spotlifter 2X (Only R499! It deep cleans too!) commercial. I can't help but smile every time I see it and how he behaves because I know the real guy.
So there. I'm friends with one guy on TV. But who keeps a low profile because viewers only see him mostly very close to dirty then suddenly wonderfully clean carpets on television.
PS: With the Bissell Spotlifter 2X, fibres are refreshed; no stains or nasty odours!
