by Thinus Ferreira
It's almost as much bubbly as Bonang pours when she and friends go on a jet-set holiday: 42 bottles of sparkling wine were used during the course of filming of The Bachelorette SA on M-Net (DStv 101), with crates of candles, flower arrangements, men's suits and kilometres of fairy lights that were hung.
The Bachelorette South Africa with Quiniso Van Damme, produced by Rapid Blue, is currently broadcast on M-Net on Thursdays at 19:30.
While Sixteen Candles is the title of the 1984 romantic movie, The Bachelorette SA lit 265 candles during the production and opened 42 bottles of sparkling wine, and used a whopping 296 roses.
An eye-popping 42 flower arrangements adorn the show across the various episodes while a full 10 kg of rose petals were lavishly strewn.
The lighting team on the show unrolled and draped over 3.6 km of fairy lights while the wardrobe from the eligible bachelors would put shame to Tori Spelling's infamous revolving hanger closet: 140 suits were bought in, fitted, pressed and worn during the course of the season.
Spare a thought for the editors who have to decide what goes in and what is left on the cutting-room floor in post-production: More than 800 hours of footage were filmed for The Bachelorette SA.
And here's another astounding number as South African and African TV productions from MultiChoice and M-Net ranging from Survivor SA and Big Brother Naija to Love Island SA and Op My Eish! have become "production bubble" shows during Covid-19: A whopping 13 824 hours were spent in quarantine during the making of The Bachelorette SA.
Here are some images from behind-the-scenes during the making of Rapid Blue's The Bachelorette SA:
The Bachelorette South Africa is broadcast on M-Net (DStv 101) on Thursdays at 19:30
