by Thinus Ferreira
The second season of the Afrikaans talent search competition Maak My Famous on kykNET (DStv 144) and kykNET & kie (DStv 145) has been forced to drop the heartbroken Namibian contestants Ayden and Tamaryn from the Top 10, as well as the live studio audience, because of Covid-19 regulations and travel restrictions.
The second season of Maak My Famous, produced by All Star Entertainment, returned on Saturday night with its first live broadcast from Cape Town after it was forced to shut down earlier this year along with the rest of South Africa's TV and film industry when strict lockdown regulations were abruptly introduced to try and curb the spread of the global Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa.
In March Maak My Famous initially announced a short production break to April but in June announced that the show, done from inside the Roxy Revue Bar in Grandwest Casino in Cape Town will be postponed until August.
It's the second locally-produced singing reality competition where Covid-19 has had a direct impact on the behind-the-scenes production and the top-selected contestants, similar to the current 16th season of Idols on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) that will start with its live Sunday shows on 20 September.
On Saturday the Maak My Famous host and executive producer Emo Adams told viewers that Aden and Tamaryn Beukes from Walvis Bay, Namibia who the audience voted into the Top 10 have been dropped from the show and replaced by Noleen Spinks, known as "Spinksie", from Port Elizabeth.
Spinksie was eliminated during the Top 20 round of the competition.
"Because of Covid-19 Aden and Tamaryn could no longer join us and their path on Maak My Famous has ended," Emo Adams said who used an "Emo Ticket" to bring Spinksie back to the show.
Aden and Tamaryn will now get the R20 000 as N$20 000 (R23 312) that was offered to contestants during the in-show "take the money or take your chance" segment. If there is to be a third season of Maak My Famous, the brother and sister pair will be given a guaranteed spot in the Top 48.
kykNET and All Star Entertainment reached out and tried to work with the governments of both South Africa and Namibia to try and get travel permission for Aden and Tamaryn.
After several failed attempts the producers were forced to give up and had no choice but to remove the pair from the show because of the restrictive Covid-19 regulations that prohibits travel between provinces in South Africa except for business reasons, as well as international travel including cross-border travel between Southern African countries like South Africa and Namibia.
In a video message Aden said that "We are so incredibly sorry that we can't join you further on the Maak My Famous journey". Tamaryn said "We know that the Maak My Famous team tried everything to get us in South Africa and we're so thankful for it".
Maak My Famous managed to assemble the rest of the Top 10 - including Spinksie as replacement - in time for the mandatory Covid-19 co-living isolation period in a "MMF"-house in Cape Town where the contestants are now all staying, practising and participating in the Saturday shows going forward.
The Top 10 Maak My Famous contestants are now Daylin Sass (Hanover Park, Cape Town), Elizabeth), Spinksie (Port Elizabeth), Jayson Kleinschmidt (Paarl), Gideon Lottering (G.Notes) (George), Henrico Coetzer (Pretoria), Reggie B (Rawsonville), Nicoleen Saal (Oceanview, Cape Town), DfeatSA (Kuilsriver, Cape Town) and Die Wesso’s (George).
Emma Ellis from Port Elizabeth was eliminated on Saturday night when she got the most votes from viewers to leave the show.
The show also dropped the live in-studio audience at The Roxy Bar because of Covid-19 social distancing and venue limit regulations.
