E! unveils a new E! Africa TV commercial to celebrate its presence of 15 years on the continent; 'it was like a proper film set,' says Roxy Burger.

E! Entertainment (DStv 124) filmed and has launched a brand-new TV promo including Bonang Matheba, Minnie Dlamini, Roxy Burger, Kat Sinivasan, beatboxer Tina Redman and Nigerian rapper D'banj as part of a marketing campaign to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the presence of the channel from NBCUniversal International Networks (NBCUIN) in South Africa and across Africa.

Lee Raftery, NBCUniversal International Networks content and marketing boss for the Africa region, unveiled and played the TV promo at the #15YearsOfE in Africa celebration party that took place on Thursday night at the Alice & Fifth underground avant-garde nightclub at the Sandton Sun Hotel in Johannesburg where celebrities, TV executives and the media mingled.

The #LoveELiveE brand campaign comes after NBCUIN did the first-ever E! Africa Pop Culture Awards giving 7 E!-trophies to South African and Nigerian stars.

Besides the South African and Nigerian star, the TV promo also includes the E! News co-anchor Giuliana Rancic, the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star Kim Kardashian and Dr Terry Dubrow and Dr Paul Nassif from the Botched reality show.

In the new promo spot, the E! talent appear in the brand commercial that gives the smartphone a prominent and central place - the device that has propelled and forced channels like E! to adapt to the avalanche of quickly-available entertainment news content now available, but also creating a new opportunity to use and leverage the content now being generated by social media users themselves.

In a press statement quote hand-out to media, Lee Raftery, managing director for the United Kingdom and emerging markets and chief marketing and content officer at NBCUniversal International, said "As we mark our 15 year anniversary in Africa, in partnership with DStv, the #LoveELiveE brand campaign celebrates our passion for all things entertainment and celebrity – in a way that only E! Africa could do – by combining best-in-class talent from Hollywood and Africa".

"E! has a very exciting year ahead with the recent announcement of our new local commission, Celebrity Game Night, airing late-2019 with more details to follow in the coming months."

A planned NBCUI interview with Lee Raftery on Thursday didn't work out and wasn't possible.

Roxy Burger, co-host of How Do I Look? South Africa at Thursday night's E! party event told TVwithThinus that "it was absolutely incredible to be in this TV commercial for E! Africa".

"Filming this E! TV commercial was so much fun - I think the level and standard of what we did was just amazing. It was like a proper film set, you know!"

"So for me as someone coming from and working in television, I'm not used to these fancy things, so it was amazing. And to share the E! stage with people like Minnie Dlamini, Bonang Mathema and D'banj was an honour and really cool."

Kat Sinivasan, co-host of How Do I Look? South Africa and E!'s Africa correspondent, told TVwithThinus that filming the E! TV commercial was "fantastic and spectacular", done really professionally and on a large scale.

Minnie Dlamini told TVwithThinus "It was really fun, it was actually really painless. We did it super, super quick - almost like a 'one-take wonder'. It was really, really fun!"

A planned NBCUI interview with Bonang Matheba on Thursday didn't work out and wasn't possible.


ALSO READ: REVIEW. E!'s 15th birthday party in South Africa was fine and looked beautiful but with too many 'standing-room only' guests while TV execs hid away in their roped-off alcoves, it felt more college-years nightclub night than big celebration.
ALSO READ: TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. As E! marks 15 years in South Africa as a TV channel on DStv, here are 15 things that E! brought into my life that I'm thankful for. 
ALSO READ: TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. At E!'s 15th Africa anniversary party, I tried to ask ProVerb just one question - and then something happened that made me think about what's reasonable to expect from TV stars who decide to be on the red carpet. 
ALSO READ: IN IMAGES. 37 photos from inside E!'s party to celebrate 15 years of the channel from NBCUniversal International Networks in South Africa and Africa on MultiChoice's DStv.ALSO READ: MultiChoice content boss, Aletta Alberts, on 15 years of E! from NBCUniversal International Networks on DStv: 'Africans will continue to be part of the E! story'.
ALSO READ: Bonang Matheba, Minnie Dlamini and Lasizwe panned over red carpet fashion choices, Nomzamo Mbatha and Aisha Baker praised for E! Africa's 15th birthday celebration.
ALSO READ: E! in Africa announces the recipients of its first-ever E! Africa Pop Culture Awards in 2019. 
ALSO READ: NBCUniversal International Networks celebrating E!'s 15th anniversary in South Africa and Africa with a celebration party and the first-ever E! Africa Pop Culture Awards.
ALSO READ: E! commissions new 10-episode show, Celebrity Game Night, produced by Rapid Blue, as its next localised African series; production starting July for broadcast in late-2019. 

NBCUniversal International Networks celebrating E!'s 15th anniversary in South Africa and Africa with a celebration party and the first-ever E! Africa Pop Culture Awards.

E! Entertainment (DStv 124) is turning 15 years old in South Africa and Africa and NBCUniversal International Networks will be celebrating this milestone with a special 15th anniversary celebration party on 11 April in Johannesburg, as well as a special E! Africa Pop Culture Awards.

In the lead-up to the event, NBCUniversal says E! Africa will be recognising some of the most iconic and influential people in the region through the E! Africa Pop Culture Awards.

E! Entertainment is celebrating 15 years if having a presence in South Africa and on television in Africa since it launched back in 2004 on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

On 11 April - at a celebratory event that will be hosted by Kat Sinivasan and include his How Do I Look? SA co-host Roxy Burger, Bonang Matheba, Minnie Dlamini, D'Banj and others - E! plans to party with some of the biggest names in the African continent's pop culture sphere.

"For the last 15 years E! has proudly delivered African viewers unrivalled access to Hollywood and the evening's celebrations will bring this to life with local E! stars, African celebrities, a red carpet, glamour, high fashion, entertainment and music acts," says E!.

Meanwhile the E! Africa Pop Culture Awards will acknowledge the best in business, in categories including music, fashion, film, TV, social media, philanthropy and an Ultimate Pop Culture Icon.

"Since 2004, E! has delivered the best of American reality television to Africa, including the ever-popular series Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Total Bellas, Very Cavallari, LadyGang, #Dating No Filter, Botched and Hollywood Medium with Tyler Henry," says the entertainment channel.

"E! has developed exclusive local productions from The Search: E! Host South Africa to How Do I Look? South Africa. E!'s Live from the Red Carpet signature events keep fans connected to all their favourite stars during awards season and E! News airs nightly with breaking entertainment news and pop culture coverage."

IN PHOTOS: The media launch event and press screening of the second season of E!'s How Do I Look? SA.

NBCUniversal's E! Entertainment (DStv 124) in Africa on Tuesday evening held a media launch event and press screening of the first episode of the new second season of How Do I Look? SA with co-presenters Roxy Burger and Kat Sinivasan in Johannesburg.

Guests at MESH in Rosebank were shown the first episode of the second season with red jersey Makhosi getting a makeover in the show produced by Black and White Productions, while sipping drinks, tucking into roving food platters, and getting makeup touch-ups at a L'Oreal makeup station.

Interesting to note was that E! has now also replaced plastic straws with paper straws similar to other broadcaster's media events - E's first press event where it was paper over plastic.

I later asked her specifically about this, and Janine from MESH told me it's important to be environmentally friendly and that the co-working and lifestyle space recently made the switch.

Guests at the How Do I Look? South Africa media launch went home with the brightest and "silverest" goodie bag this TV critic has ever seen in almost 20 years of doing this. The swag bag was filled with L'Oreal beauty products and a smartphone selfie ring light.

ALSO READ: IN PHOTOS: The new Sasani Studios set of the second season of E!'s How Do I Look? South Africa.

ALSO READ: How Do You break the How Do I Look? SA set? You won't believe what a participant did in the new second season - and that the producers decided to leave in for viewers. 

ALSO READ: Roxy Burger answers 9 questions about beauty, baby and E!'s How Do I Look? SA's new second season. 

How Do You break the How Do I Look South Africa set? You won't believe what a participant did in the new second season - and that the producers decided to leave in for viewers.

How Do You break the set of How Do I Look? SA? Well, you won't believe what a participant did in the second season of the fashion makeover show in a funny gone-wrong moment that the producers decided to leave in the episode, and that the two presenters call their favourite moment of the season.

The second season of How Do I Look? South Africa starts tonight on E! Entertainment (DStv 124) at 20:00 - produced by Black and White Productions and filmed at Sasani Studios. Six of the 12-episode season will be broadcast this year, and another 6 in early-2019.

Both Roxy Burger and Kat Sinivasan return as presenters, with a set change as well as other improvements to the localised version of the NBCUniversal International Formats show that makes the pretty good first local season now even better.

Kat Sinivasan is given more screen time and more to do, participants are profiled better before the makeover, the massive white walls have been toned down and pastelised, the runway-room is more intimate with amber raindrop lights, the curtain-pull reveal has been replaced by a sliding door revealing a mirror, and especially panning shots and editing in general are tighter and better.

Speaking about their favourite moment of the upcoming second season, Kat Sinivasan says "It's our favourite moment. Everybody's going to love it when they see it."

Roxy Burger explains. "So we had an absolute superfan of How Do I Look?. She watched the international versions, she watched How Do I Look? SA the first season, she nominated a friend to be in the show, she was so incredibly excited, and all that she wanted to do, was to take clothes and put them up the vacuum tube that sucks all the old clothes into fashion heaven".

"So I pulled her over and said come on over. So she she walks up so confidently to the suction tube and she takes that handle and she pulled it so hard that she broke it. And we've kept it in the show!"

"She's hysterical and mortified and she's such a fan of the show. And she just goes: 'I broke the set.' She's literally almost in tears and it's a hilarious moment. So that was incredibly funny."

More personalised
About other changes in the second season of How Do I Look? SA, Roxy Burger says "It has more of a local South African flare and flavour".

"We delve deeper this time into the journeys that each of our participants go on. We scratch deeper below the layers and get a bit more intimate and each of them come from really different walks of life and I've personally learnt so much on this season."

"This season we've also focused on supporting local creatives: from photographers to artisans to designers."

"There an episode this season where all connections are completely local - custom-made local pieces done for a particular woman in that episode. And it's really important for us to shine a light on the talent that we have in this country, because there are exceptional talent here."

"I think the moments where I get to reveal each participant and they get to see themselves for the first time is also something new in the second season - it's a really special moment. So I've felt quite honoured and privileged to take them through that moment and to share that moment," says Roxy Burger.

"The set is amazing - our loft apartment - is really cool. The set is very different from the first season."

"And then also the makeup room: The 'props' were makeup and hairstyling equipment so it was amazing. We pretty much used everything and the director would literally shout in my ear because I would stare at all the lipsticks and he would say 'Don't touch the props.' It was great and a very functional set."

"Also this season I'm not pregnant," laughs Roxy Burger.

"Literally in the first season on a Tuesday I would try something on and by Thursday it would not fit. And these poor stylists just looked at me. They were so exasperated. My belly was growing at a rate of zero to a hundred. So the second season of How Do I Look? SA is fantastic. I could drink Red Bull. I could have coffee and I wasn't growing by the second."

Kat Sinivasan says "I have gone to the homes of each and every single one of our participants this season. Going to their houses and speaking to the accomplices I've got a real sense of why the're fashion stunted. Roxy on the other hand goes through the entire makeover process with all the ladies - their style insecurities."

"Every time they feel like they don't want to do something, she brings them back to the table. She has also managed to mold herself to every single lady because every episode of the second season of How Do I Look? SA has been created for that specific individual as a journey. And seeing Roxy going through this journey with each of the ladies is absolutely incredible."

"What's really incredible is that it's a format show but we're able to morph it into it's own thing to give it its own South African flavour. For me this season was special for me in this I get to go to all their houses to help viewers get to know more about each participant."

"By the time they walk into the studio, we understand their lives. So this time around it's more personalised and we get to see their duality in every single episode," says Kat Sinivasan.


ALSO READ: IN PHOTOS: The media launch event and press screening of the second season of E!'s How Do I Look? SA.
ALSO READ: IN PHOTOS: The new Sasani Studios set of the second season of E!'s How Do I Look? South Africa.
ALSO READ: Roxy Burger answers 9 questions about beauty, baby and E!'s How Do I Look? SA's new second season.

INTERVIEW. Katleho Sinivasan becomes E!'s first South African correspondent: 'I'm a boy from Soweto, and this time I'm the perfect fit'.

"I've always felt that I was never the perfect fit for what I was doing. This time around I feel that I'm the perfect fit."

So Katleho Sinivasan tells me backstage, moments after he's announced as the winner of E! Entertainment's (DStv 124) The Search: E! Host South Africa to become South Africa's first-ever official red carpet and entertainment news correspondent, clinching a one-year contract with the exclamation letter channel.

Kat Sinivasan joins the televised sequined world of the Ryan Seacrests and the Giuliana Rancics - a world where he's now the one holding the E! mic, getting to ask the biggest celebrities questions, and will soon be jetsetting to Los Angeles to visit E! and NBCUniversal Networks International headquarters.

He says he's "always" watched E! and that he practised interviewing people standing in front of his mirror.

Now, finally, that pop culture dream of not just watching E! but being a part of it and bringing it to viewers, has come true.

His proud mom, Joan, is at his side. "We always supported him," she says. "He never wanted to be a doctor. He never wanted to be a lawyer. And I wanted to support his dream of being a TV presenter".

I ask him what it is that he wants to bring to the E! mic for South Africa and Africa to differentiate E!'s presence in the country and the continent.

"I think the one thing that I'm going to bring to E! as a South African correspondent is definitely myself. I've never tried to emulate or be someone else. And sometimes it doesn't always work in my favour. But I'm willing to take the risk. And I'll always be myself."

"I'm a boy from Soweto and you can never cover that up with any amount of English in any form. I will always be authentically South African."

"I always wanted to be in the entertainment industry, so my very first break was on a show called Famous on SABC2 where they were looking for a band. And I was one of the 5 bandmates who got to be part of a group and record an album. I started with music basically".

"The one thing that I've learnt from this competition is to believe in yourself," says Kat Sinivasan.

"Once you don't no-one else will. Once I got to a point of 'I am going to host it. I don't know what's going to go wrong but I am ready for anything because I believe I can handle it,' that's when I started shining. So believing in yourself is the most important part".

"Even though I'm going to go to Los Angeles [a TV special will be broadcast on E! on 17 May detailing his new adventure], I'm still the South African correspondent for E! and E! is also broadcast throughout Africa, so South Africa isn't losing me."

TVwithThinus asked him what advice he now has for people in school, people studying after school - those looking up to what he has now achieved and who also dreams of a job in South Africa's media and entertainment world.

"The first thing is know if you really want to do it. Because it's so easy to desire television because its glamorous and it's in front of you the whole time and you see normal, everyday people being elevated to  level 2.0."

"And you think: 'Wow, I want to be elevated to my 2.0. Know if you're willing to take all the challenges with it."

"Remember that people will criticise you as an individual when you're in the public eye. They don't criticise your presenting skills when you're standing there presenting. So know if you really want to do it."

"And the second thing is invest in your craft. That's the most important thing. I spent hours on end - my mom even knows - we have this long mirror at home. I stood in front of that mirror and practiced and practised. It is my camera. Because when I step in front of the camera, I don't want it to be the first time that I'm doing all of the things that I'm doing. So it's very important to rehearse as well."

"I'm not really in it for the fame, so I'm not even preparing myself for the fame," says Kat Sinivasan.

"One thing that I definitely want to do is to be the best TV host in the country and that's one thing that I'm going to work really hard at. And for the future generation coming up in South African in television and entertainment, I really want to set the benchmark and show everybody that it's possible to cross over and be international."

"Lets stop thinking of it as that mountain that we can't climb because at the end of the day it's what we deserve - we deserve the whole world to see our world".

'This time around I'm the perfect fit'
On now being properly with E! and being E!'s South Africa's correspondent, Kat Sinivasan says "I've always felt that I was never the perfect fit for what I was doing".

"This time around I feel that I'm the perfect fit."

"I've done a lot of things. And I've been watching E! all my life. That's the one TV channel that I've wanted to be on. So I've been doing everything else, and just thinking its [to be on E!] is impossible."

"So when the opportunity arose, I was just 'What?' This is a dream come true."

He said his mom needs no preparing for what's to come and what might be written about him.

"My mom already knows what the deal is. My mom knows me better than anybody else in the world. If its a rumour she will know that it's a rumour. If it's true, she will know that it's true".

The man who will be asking celebrities about their lives already seems to have the rules down about having the story being about the people he's interviewing, and not himself. When asked if he's single, he coyly answers with a "No, I'm not".

"Although I've interviewed a lot of celebrities, I've never interviewed them on a platform this big. So it's really not just about them, it's about how I handle it as well," he says.

I ask him what his advice is for South Africa's local celebrities when they attend red carpet events - a burgeoning cottage industry where very few know how to properly behave, what to do and what's really expected from them when a mic like E! is held before them for a comment.

"For me, the one thing about the red carpet is that that is the one opportunity for your fans to see you outside of your job. So if you're an actress and you come to 'act' on the red carpet, you're defeating the purpose because we've already seen you act," he answers.

"So I think be real is the most important part. And I think that's a note to the celebrities and the hosts alike. We want to see real people. We don't want to see fakes."


ALSO READ: Katleho Sinivasan is the TV presenter winner of The Search: E! Host South Africa; will visit E! headquarters in Los Angeles, followed by a TV special.

Katleho Sinivasan is the TV presenter winner of The Search: E! Host South Africa; will visit E! headquarters in Los Angeles followed by a TV special.

It became a full circle moment for E! Entertainment (DStv 124) on Wednesday night when The Search: E! Host South Africa show ended with Katleho Sinivasan whose new career as a South African red carper presenter is now starting, when he was announced as the winner of E!'s first South African presenter search programme.

The media as well as NBCUniversal Networks International executives who flew in from overseas, together with fans, advertising executives, Miss South Africa finalists and local celebrities all converged on Taboo to watch the last episode of The Search: E! Host South Africa where Kat Sinivasan was crowned the new king of the red carpet.


ALSO READ: Interview: Katleho Sinivasan becomes E! first South African correspondent: 'I'm just aboy from Soweto, and this time I'm the perfect fit".


Consistent in winning various challenges throughout the 6-episode presenter search series, Kat Sinivasan beat out ANN7 (DStv 405) news reader Abigail Visagie who together were the last two contestants left standing.

E!'s South African presenter search winner was announced right back where it all began originally: The trendy nightclub Taboo, nestled in the most glamorous square kilometre in Africa - the exact spot where E! did its very first media launch to herald its arrival as a TV channel in December 2004 in South Africa and across Africa when the channel was added to MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

Taboo was a more that fitting venue for the The Search: E! Host South Africa winner.

Just over 13 years ago bathed in white and red neon lights, Taboo on Wednesday evening was filled with angular grey couches and striking white and black E! blocking to mirror the comfy interior of Los Angeles' E! News interior seen on television.

While the champagne flowed, the well-heeled guests - most dressed in black and white - snacked on a wide array of finger food and watched the final episode, with an offline version of the episode - four minutes ahead of the actual broadcast on E! on DStv - shown on giant screens.

"Being part of The Search: E! Host South Africa was an honour in itself, and to win the highly coveted title of the first-ever E! South Africa host exceeds any expectation I had going in," says Katleho Sinivasan in a statement.

"Representing E! on the red carpet is truly one of the greatest jobs in the entertainment industry and a dream come true for me. I can't wait to start my journey with E!"

He will immediately be putting his red carpet skills to the test, co-hosting the E! Beyond the Red Carpet: SAFTAs alongside Bonang Matheba that will be broadcast on E! Entertainment on 21 March at 20:00.

On 17 May at 20:00 Kat Sinivasan will also front the once-off TV special, E! Host SA: Hollywood Special that will detail his win and his once-in-a lifetime trip to Los Angeles and E! headquarters.

Katleho was a strong and memorable contender from the moment The Search: E! Host South Africa commenced and we feel his win is greatly deserved," says Chrystele Fremaux, the vice president for programming for the UK and emerging markets for NBCUniversal International Networks.

"We are excited to welcome Katleho to the E! family and look forward to working with him on our upcoming original productions as we continue to bring South African viewers more local content on E!."