by Thinus Ferreira
The six women of Die Real Housewives van die Wynlande, ranging from beauty queens to a botox doc, includes socialites Candice Bester, Amy Kleinhans-Curd, Anita Lloyd, Karen Schwendtke, Mariska Thorpe and Michelle van Zyl who will showcase their gossipping and grandiose lifestyles in the reality show from 20 April on kykNET.
Die Real Housewives van die Wynlande is the second Afrikaans version of the NBCUniversal Formats reality show following Die Real Housewives van Pretoria, the 5th South African version and the 9th African version.
Besides Pretoria, South Africa already has localised English versions with different circles of women including The Real Housewives of Johannesburg, The Real Housewives of Cape Town, The Real Housewives of Durban currently in its third season, and The Real Housewives of Gqeberha currently in its first season.
The cast of Die Real Housewives van die Wynlande, filmed the past few months in and around Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Paarl, and Somerset West, with the series that is being produced by Red Pepper Productions.
The women include former beauty queens, entrepreneurs,
a fitness model and an aesthetic doctor. kykNET has now released mini-biographies of the women:
Candice Bester (37)
She lives in the Aan de Weber Estate in Stellenbosch.
She is the mother of Emma and is married to Werner. Candice is an experienced professional singer, but she left the stage for the corporate world where she made her mark as marketing manager of Quench which was acquired by the TFG group. Candice, however, still dreams of a future as a songbird.
She likes to play golf, has a big collection of whiskies, and facilitates a monthly quiz night. Candice and Werner are in the process of opening a restaurant.
Amy Kleinhans-Curd (54)
This former Miss South Africa is married to New
Zealand businessman Leighton Curd.
Amy is a mother of four, lives in
Franschhoek and is the director of various companies, including the homework
hotline, Dial-A-Teacher, which was founded in 2000 in partnership with the
Nelson Mandela Fund.
Their farms in Franschhoek, Swellendam and in the Cradle of
Humankind are but a few of the things that keep Amy very busy indeed.
She will
soon launch her own Cap Classique sparkling wine as well as a skincare range called
Amelia (her birthname). She is a committed mom and organises a swimming
festival, among other things, for the school her children attend.
Anita Lloyd (55)
She lives outside Paarl in a beautiful valley.
She and her husband, Boyce, are high school sweethearts, and she gave up her profession as teacher to support him in his career.
For 10 years, they lived across the world for Boyce's work before finally returning to South Africa. Boyce has been the chief executive of KWV since 2016. Anita has a master's degree in linguistics, and she loves the study of languages. Besides her husband and her cats, Anita's biggest priorities are her house, art and travel.
Karen Schwendtke (48)
She lives in the Val de Vie Estate between Paarl and Franschhoek.
She is a successful businesswoman who holds a degree in BCom Accounting from UP, an MBL from Unisa and a degree in Visual Basic Programming from Harvard in America.
Despite long working hours, she always makes time for charity projects.
In times of national need, she helped with the supply of water and cattle feed. Children are dear to her heart, and she is involved with fundraising for CHOC (Childhood Cancer Foundation SA). She is the mother of two daughters, Saskia and Arabella.
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Mariska Thorpe (39)
She has worked as
wealth manager for several years and lives with her husband, Quintus, and their
daughter, Ocean, in the same estate in Franschhoek as Amy and her family.
Mariska does not like to sit still and she and Quintus are stock traders, but she
also runs a business that upcycles second-hand clothes.
Mariska and her husband
are avid trail runners, and she is a perfectionist in everything she does.
Michelle van Zyl (40)
Michelle van Zyl (40)
She is a medical doctor.
She specialised in trauma and later
had a successful general medical practice.
Nowadays, she is an aesthetic doctor
who focuses on treatments like Botox. She and her husband, Dr André Olivier, live
in the Boskloof Eco Estate in Somerset West. They are the parents of Hanno and
Heidi. André also has two sons from a previous marriage who live in Namibia.
Michelle enjoys hosting and dreams of having her own TV talk show.
