by Thinus Ferreira
Rochelle van Vuuren (22), a digital creator from Pretoria, got dumped in Friday night's episode of Love Island South Africa on M-Net (DStv 101) after both she and Erin Japhta were left without men after the latest recoupling.
In this interview Rochelle opens up about how life in the villa was different from the outside world, who she made lasting friendships with, her disappointment after the big blindside that led to her exit, and how the show helped her to become more in touch with her emotions in the real world.
How long did it take for you to become used to the cameras or didn't notice them, or were you always conscious of being filmed?
Rochelle van Vuuren: I think after 2 days already it was already a case of you never knew the cameras were there, they were so subtle.
Obviously, when we do challenges the camera is in your face and you are completely aware that there are cameras but you become accustomed to being in an environment where you're loving there and it's like living at home. You don't look for cameras; you don't look for things.
I think people just became completely natural and themselves. Obviously, I'm speaking for myself. I'm not sure if other people were always aware of cameras but for me, personally, sometimes I had a realisation of "Wait, they're actually filming this" and then think: "Wait, wait wait. What did I just say?"
But that's the best part of this show - you're getting as a viewer of Love Island SA raw, authentic footage.
Speaking of raw and authentic, the moment after you and Erin had to leave the firepit area, you said that "you can't trust anyone in here but at the same time I'm so ready to be out". I'm wondering if you can elaborate a little bit on how you felt in that moment?
Rochelle van Vuuren: I was completely blindsided in that moment.
Ian had actually gone out of his way that day to make it so clear to me and to my fellow Islanders that he had decided he was picking me. It's not like anyone asked him to say it but he had gone out of his way to make it clear to many, many people in the villa.
Just watching it back, you can see that just before we recoupled he told someone that he's actually picking Summer and him in the moment then picking Summer - I was blindsided. It was unexpected. I think everybody was blindsided.
Obviously what we saw viewers didn't all see completely. It was actually very heated and heightened in that moment and the girls were very disappointed with Ian. It was a complete blindside - both on my part and on Summer's side. I watched it back and I saw that Ian was very proud to have blindsided two people.
In that moment me saying that you can't trust anyone I was purely referring to Ian because he went out of his way to make it so clear beforehand who he was picking and then went 180 degrees on that.
It was very unexpected but still a huge relief to be out and that's why I said I was happy to leave.
Viewers also saw you speak to Asad afterwards before you left, and not to Ian. Was that deliberate because you were upset with Ian?
Rochelle van Vuuren: It's funny because Ian had pulled Erin for a chat but didn't have the decency to pull me for a chat after the recoupling happened.
Ian was too scared to pull me for a chat after because he knew that he had pulled the first Love Island SA blindside and it was a biggie. So Ian just didn't have the guts to pull me after he had done it and that's where it ended.
I still left maturely and said thanks to him but if he had a gameplan, then I think he sadly messed it up that night.
Then in your talk with Asad you said that you went into this adventure of Love Island SA but that you know that God is protecting you, so it's time for you to leave. So I'm wondering: Protect you from what or what did you mean by that?
Rochelle van Vuuren: Because there's constantly so much drama going on - I felt that it was time for me to be taken out of that situation.
I never found myself in drama. I think the only drama I had was a little bit with Chris but I knew who I was as a person and I knew how people felt about me and it was always positive. I wanted to make sure that whenever I did leave that it was still positive and that people did still think well of me and that we had good relationships.
It's not to say that that would have been the case if I had stayed another 3 weeks because things were getting so hectic in there every single day. In that moment I wanted to stay, but when I thought about it I didn't actually.
So I knew that God had made that decision for me that it was time for me to leave and I knew that it was definitely a form of protection from what was to come.
You bring up something interesting - when you're in this you want to couple up and play a game and you have to be strategic, and at the same time you get feedback from the public on which Islanders they like.
In the way that you interact with fellow Islanders, are you also aware of how it might be perceived by viewers? It feels that when everyone speaks they cushion their language to make what they say be less harsh and less direct?
Rochelle van Vuuren: To speak for myself, I was never really thinking when I was speaking. I was truly just being myself and genuine throughout the process.
I think there's a lot of swearing in Love Island SA that didn't make it onto TV. If I can be honest everybody was just swearing all the time. Watching it back I thought "Wow, there's no swearing on here" but I can promise you now that nobody was restricting anyone's language at all.
There was permanently "f"-bombs being dropped and no-one restricted themselves. It was so beautiful to see everyone really was trying to be genuine to who they are. I don't think anyone was trying to look a certain way to the public. I genuinely was.
I'm not really one to swear in general, anyways, but I watched it back and I saw there was a part where I was like you know, like this, and I thought "Oh Rochelle, really?".
It's just all depending on the person, I can't speak for other people. I was completely myself the entire time and I never overthought anything I said.
You're not the tallest in the villa but you're definitely the tallest under the women. Do you feel that in this experience, or that in life in general, in order to not make men feel intimidated that you have to "shrink" yourself down physically and try to not appear as tall as you are or taller than a man you're standing next to?
Rochelle van Vuuren: Growing up it was something that I was a bit self-conscious of.
I've got an extremely tall family and it just so happens that I got the genes. Growing up I was "Oh my word, this is this" and at some point in my life I really grew into myself and I became confident in myself.
My sports were so strong, I was one of the strongest players in all my sports I did in school. I feel that people started to gain a lot more respect for me and in that, I gained more respect for myself.
I really do believe that if you're self-conscious about yourself that people pick up on that themselves. Just being a woman now and being in industries like these, I'm so happy within myself, I'm so happy with everything I have and who I am.
There are so many tall people in this world. It's so weird to even think about it because it's never bothered me for years. I think the last time it bothered me was when I was so young, a little girl in school and I haven't even hit puberty yet.
I think there are many, many tall girls out there, many tall women out there but young girls especially who might be self-conscious.
I do want to portray and vouch for them in showing that it's so good to be self-confident in your height and in yourself. I need to exude that confidence so that other little girls growing up also feel that too.
How was the experience of Love Island South Africa different from what you thought it would be?
Rochelle van Vuuren: I think it met my expectations in many ways.
I had obviously watched the show beforehand, I loved the show. I wouldn't say I was a die-hard fan but I was very aware of the show and leading up to the day of entering the villa was so much fun. I was s grateful to be a part of everything.
I think Love Island SA exceeded my expectations in many ways. I felt that I had an idea of it but it exceeded it. I felt so special and so loved by the production and the cast - everybody went out of their way to truly feel so accepted and loved. I was never disappointed. I just truly, truly felt like I was meant to be there.
I never felt that I wished it was a different way, or that I wished it was a certain way. It was how it was and I truly embrace that; just so happy to be a part of everything.
Rochelle van Vuuren: I can choose to maintain a friendship with everyone in the villa but obviously you won't carry each one of those out in the real world - it's not possible.
In real life it's not a normal thing where you just pick up 12 people and you're best friends with everyone for the rest of your life - it's just not a normal thing.
I can honestly say I don't have bad blood with anyone.
I will not be in contact with Ian, I must be honest about that. He will not get a follow from me on Instagram.
But the rest of the people I love so much - so much love for everyone.
My closest, closest people - I felt the boys protected me so much - Jay, Kaige and Asad, we had a little "foursome romance" and will forever love each other; we'll forever be good friends until the day we die.
For the girls, definitely Thimna and Erin - I think they were the most genuine and authentic in there. I have so much love for them, I can't wait to create friendships on the outside where we can all go out and have a good time and just make the best memories outside of the villa.
I don't think you saw it but the narrator started making jokes about you that you're a part of every group and ready to listen and to dish out wisdom and advice, and the one who is constantly up to date with what everyone is thinking or feeling.
Do you think that took time away from maybe establishing one-on-one relationships or how do you think that strategy helped you?
Rochelle van Vuuren: It will look a certain way but we all knew what was going on in there but people had actually approached me.
It was never really me that had gone to groups to sit in that group and talk. I'd often find myself sitting on the couch and people would come to be, or sitting in the bed and people would come to me.
I really do think that I have that approachable energy where people feel safe and comfortable enough to open up to me. That's genuinely how it was - people approached me and I gave the advice that I could. That's naturally how I am in the outside world.
I'm very proud to see that it did come across that way on TV as well. My main thing was that however I am in the outside world. I'd hoped that I could stay true to myself in the villa as well.
Regarding taking time away from making a connection, I think I had the time to be there for everyone and to help everyone where I could because I chose not to make a connection with certain people.
It wasn't that I had lacked it or was shooting myself in the foot, it was that I was not going to settle for people that I knew I wouldn't be able to have outside relationship with. After Jay left I just didn't see it in anyone else.
I chose to be there for people and I will not regret any of that at all. I just knew that I had friendships with the rest of the boys in the villas so there was no other romantic connection to build.
Rochelle van Vuuren: I think I really grew a lot in 2 weeks.
I remember chatting to the girls just before I left and I had said that in the outside world I haven't been so in touch with myself and my emotions.
Being in the villa, if you felt any emotion it was a case of you taking it and you looked at it directly, saying "I'm feeling this, why am I feeling this and how do I sort it out?".
In the outside world if I feel a certain emotion, I usually just go "bye", let me try and avoid this emotion, but being in there, it was a lot of maturity that I think everybody developed.
You find yourself in situations that you wouldn't necessarily find yourself in, in the real world but you have to confront being in there.
You can't avoid it, you can't hide from it, and for me personally, I just felt that I truly let myself open up a lot more than what I do in the real world and I'm really happy about that.
Being out now I'm thinking "It's really okay to feel this way. It's okay to feel that way. I feel this way today because of this, this, this. So I've learnt a lot about this and about myself. I loved it.
I love that people felt that they could come to me. Watching it back I realised that I really am that person for someone and only then did I realise that I'm also that person on the outside, so it was a really nice realisation to have as well.
Love Island South Africa is on weekdays on M-Net (DStv 101) at 21:30
