by Thinus Ferreira
After M-Net revealed last month that the Carte Blanche anchor Derek Watts has cancer, is receiving treatment for it and Watts said he planned to return to the show, the legendary anchor has now made it clear that he won't be back and that his 35 years on the show has reached its end.
After privately battling cancer, Derek Watts (74) was diagnosed with severe sepsis which led him to collapse and end up in hospital and having to learn to walk again.
Watts last month, in a taped recording made from his Netcare hospital bed, revealed his cancer battle to Carte Blanche viewers but noted that he definitely planned to return to the show when he's better.
Last year Derek Watts was diagnosed with skin cancer that had spread to his lungs. With the support of his family and specialists, he was able to continue presenting Carte Blanche, but the sepsis infection in March complicated his cancer treatment.
"Really just wanted to say to our viewers - thank you for all the love, the messages, the prayers that give us all hope. And thanks of course for continuing to watch Carte Blanche. I'll be back soon, have a magic week and cheers for now," Derek Watts said.
In an interview with the Rapport newspaper on Sunday from his home in Bryanston, Johannesburg, Watts revealed that he won't be returning to the Combined Artistic Productions show on Sunday nights on M-Net (DStv 101) and that his time with the show as anchor and presenter has come to an end.
About the end of his Carte Blanche career after 35 years, he says the plan was to end it anyway and that 35 "is a good number".
"A while back we did have a discussion about it that this would have been my last year anyway. And the show is in a good place, there are absolutely wonderful people and journalists who ask the difficult questions without shying away."
Derek Watts told Rapport that he found a lump under his one arm and went to the doctor early in 2022 - but that it only happened after several months and after incessant prodding by his wife Belinda.
"Like so many men, I didn't listen," he said. "I had left it for several months, and when I eventually did go to the doctor it was much bigger. He sent me for a sonar where they discovered spots on my lungs. The lump couldn't be removed since it was too close to nerves. I then started treatment - for more than a year - of first immunotherapy".
"Unfortunately it didn't work; followed by chemotherapy; and at a point, both," Watts explained.
With the cancer now in his lungs, Watts has to be connected to an oxygen machine every now and then due to decreased lung capacity.
He's also had to halt the chemotherapy to prevent a flare-up of the sepsis - although his oncologists are telling him he has to resume the chemotherapy.
"How will I feel if I'm already feeling weak and struggle when I resume chemotherapy? It's a difficult one. The chemo will shrink the wound and open my lungs but take its toll on my immune system," he explained.
"From my first day with cancer I've stayed optimistic because that's who I am. That hasn't changed".
Asked about Derek Watts now saying he's done with Carte Blanche and not returning, M-Net told TVwithThinus in response to a media query that "nothing has changed from our side since the last update. The team from Carte Blanche is in continuous contact with Derek and his family".
