JOKES. Top Billing's Janez Vermeiren on Jonathan Boynton-Lee: 'I'm bringing my A game. I have some competition now!'

The Top Billing presenter Janez Vermeiren who's been absent from viewers' TV screens on SABC3 the last few weeks while the limited-run My Top Billing Dream reality show ran with Jonathan Boynton-Lee (left) who won last night, had some choice words when I spoke with him last night: "I have some competition now!"

Janez Vermeiren told me that he's back doing Top Billing inserts "and I'm bringing my A game". "I'm back fully into it, I have to - I've got some competition now!"

It was a little joke of course, Janez Vermeiren told me he's been back at work "since last week. I had a little holiday for 7 weeks while this was going on."

The truth is that Janez Vermeiren had very nice things to say about Jonathan Boynton-Lee as the newest addition to the Top Billing presenters' team.

"You can see in his eyes that he's the kind of guy who wears his heart on his sleeve. He's not scared to be himself. He's not trying to copy anyone or trying to act like any of the other presenters. He allows his own personality to shine through and I think that's the most important thing about being a Top Billing presenter - you want to express emotion and show how you are feeling."


ALSO READ: What the Top Billing producers and Top Billing on-air talent have to say about Jonathan Boynton-Lee.
ALSO READ: Interview: Jonathan Boynton-Lee breaking up with his girlfriend, what winning means, and what he's looking forward to the most after winning the My Top Billing Dream.

DON'T CRY FOR THEM, ARGENTINA. Lynelle Kenned, Chamendran Naidoo, getting further opportunities.

You're reading it here first. 

They will be fine - I can reveal that the My Top Billing Dream contestants like Lynelle Kenned and Chamendran Naidoo who didn't make it (since Jonathan Boynton-Lee won)  are fielding offers and already have opportunities and tantalising prospects after their exposure on the reality show.

A reliable source told me that Chamendran Naidoo, a Navy doctor will be making some appearances on The Dr Mol Show on SABC3 in future with Michael Mol - in what capacity, for how long and what the extend of that will be is not yet clear.

Then there's Lynelle Kenned, the opera singer from Paarl who sang a duet with the Welsh Katherine Jenkins in the My Top Billing Dream finale which was shown Tuesday evening on SABC3.

In a terrific made-for-TV moment (and according to reliable sources close to the production final confirmation was only clinched super early this morning!) Katherine Jenkins had a big surprise for Lynelle Kenned live on the air on Expresso this morning on SABC3.

The Welsh singer asked Lynelle Kenned if she wants to sing a song on stage during Katherine Jenkins' stage show this Friday evening at the GrandWest arena.

"I wondered if you would want to come and perform your own number at my show on Friday?" Katherine Jenkins said. "It would be incredible! I would love that! Yes! Yes! Of course!" a stunned and surprised Lynelle Kenned said.

Of course their is also already talk that Lynelle Kenned could be joining SABC2's Pasella as a new presenter soon. She is actually Afrikaans and since Top Billing "stole" Jo-Anne Strauss a few years back ago Pasella, rumours are swirling in the industry that Top Billing might now give Lynelle Kenned the opportunity to possibly join Pasella after they've discovered her.

On Tuesday evening I asked Lynelle Kenned about that. "I don't anything about it at the moment but it would be wonderful. I love singing, I love opera and I would like to continue to do that; if its possible to keep singing and to fit in some TV work that would be wonderful, I just don't know if that would be possible," the bubbly contestant told me.

INTERVIEW. Jonathan Boynton-Lee: Breaking up with his girlfriend, what winning means, and what he's now looking forward to the most.

Looking back now having won and being the new Top Billing presenter, did you almost not enter?
I wasn't supposed to be in Johannesburg during the national audition phase. I broke up with my girlfriend a week before the auditions were supposed to take place. It's funny how things worked out. I think everything in life happens for a reason. I stood in a queue for 7 hours just to audition. It was freezing cold.

How did you feel when you heard you won?
How do you describe the feeling of a dream coming true? You can't. There's no words that can ever describe it. Inside there's all these emotions you never knew you had - just this rush of all of those emotions through your body all at once. It's a feeling which... you can't describe it.

Doing something like this; winning something like this - it means you instantly become public property. You become a public person with a public profile. You win stuff through that, and you lose stuff through that. It probably perhaps have already happened to you just walking down the street and being greeted and recognised. Are you ready to be a public person?
I don't think you can ever get used to that attention. it's not a normal feeling. Yet you have to embrace it. If you're in this industry it's something that comes with the territory. I can't understand why some people are always complaining about this and yet want to remain in the public eye - why are they then doing it? I wasn't even on social media before the competition. I only just now have joined Facebook and Twitter. It's still something I'm getting used to but it's something I have to embrace.

You studied at Rhodes, now you're living in Johannesburg. Will you be working from Johannesburg and remain based there or be moving to Cape Town?
Based in Johannesburg, yes.

And what are you looking forward to the most, Top Billing work wise?
Just working with these incredibly amazing people and meeting incredible people, and just working with this incredibly close-knit family unit. I just know it's going to be this amazing journey. Also the travelling and people. I love travel and people and that is what Top Billing is all about. Top Billing is about highlighting people's dreams and sharing in their dreams and that is what I will be doing.

Obviously you had to put your life as it was up until now on hold for ... who knows ... seven weeks and is was basically completely changing. 
Yes.
...and not knowing the outcome. And now you have won, and you are a part of Top Billing now and now it is permanently changing. What's the biggest, uhm, challenges or changes; the biggest things that you have to think about now?
There's no ways I'm going to give up on my directing and writing which are things which I will definitely carry on doing anyway. I think with the people I'm going to be meeting with, meeting very creative people it will be natural to continue that. I've got a Loerie finalist coming up; my second Loerie coming up.
So directing is really something I am very passionate about and which I will keep going on the side and I will keep writing. And hopefully a feature film will be coming out of me one day.


ALSO READ: Jonathan Boynton-Lee is the new Top Billing presenter.
ALSO READ: Top Billing producers, on-air talent react to Jonathan Boynton-Lee winning the My Top Billing Dream reality show.
ALSO READ: How My Top Billing Dream contestant Jonathan Boynton-Lee's very emotional backstory blows everything else out of the water.

BREAKING. Jonathan Boynton-Lee wins the My Top Billing Dream presenter search; joins Top Billing as newest presenter on SABC3.

Jonathan Boynton-Lee wins the My Top Billing Dream reality show on SABC3 and now joins Top Billing as a presenter on South Africa's longest running, uninterrupted weekly TV show.

Jonathan Boynton-Lee, an aspiring film director, actor and writer who was adopted, recently found his birth mother and was willing to be daringly different on camera, beating out fellow final contestants Lynelle Kenned, Zama Ngcobo and Chamendran Naidoo to win the My Top Billing Dream reality show.

When the show began, TV with Thinus instantly pegged Jonathan Boynton-Lee as the contestant to win the show and the participant to beat in the three month reality show search. In the show viewers, who nicknamed him "the silver fox", saw him getting a new left arm tattoo and peroxide his hair.

Jonathan Boynton-Lee's on-camera delivery style and live shot demeanour was instantly endearing to viewers, with the visually and non-verbally expressive, yet natural presentation style often imitated yet elusively hard to find in television presenters. It also helped him to get the most viewers' votes.

ALSO READ: How Jonathan Boynton-Lee's emotional backstory blows everything else in My Top Billing Dream out of the water.
ALSO READ: Interview: Jonathan Boynton-Lee on breaking up with his girlfriend, how his life has changed, and what he's looking forward to the most with Top Billing.

Jonathan Boyton-Lee from Johannesburg who studied Drama and Television at Rhodes University describes himself as a "starving actor, philantropist and hopeless romantic".

He loves extreme sports such as shark-cage diving and was late for his original audition for the reality show. He had to find a replacement shirt after his nephew threw up on his shirt on his way to the auditions.


ALSO READ: Top Billing producers, on-air talent, react to Jonathan Boynton-Lee winning the My Top Billing Dream.

ENDING ON A HIGH NOTE. The My Top Billing Dream finale tonight sees the final 4 contestants battle it out interviewing musicians.

In the finale tonight at 20:00 on SABC3 from Cape Town of the My Top Billing Dream reality show looking for a new Top Billing presenter, there will be 4 contestants remaining instead of the originally planned 3.

Lynelle Kenned, Chamendran Naidoo, Zama Ncgobo and Jonathan Boynton-Lee are the 4 contestants who will hear tonight who got a contract with South Africa's longest running, uninterrupted TV show.

As to why there is 4 and not just 3 contestants in tonight's final episode, Tswelopele Productions told me that "the judges thought about this long and hard - and decided that it would be more exciting viewing if there were 4 finalists contesting for the one spot - not just 3".

The show switched to a limited-run reality format for the past few weeks and saw eager viewers engaging on social media around the favourites as the contestants were whittled down one by one during real-life TV production challenges behind-the-scenes.

The show had planned an additional action adventure challenge for tonight's My Top Billing Dream finale, "but we felt we had covered this type of challenge sufficiently already in the 7 August episode," the production tells me. "We allocated the time that would have gone to the adventure challenge to the fourth contestant".

The finale of My Top Billing Dream was shot at the studios in Sea Point where Michael Mol records his weekly Dr Mol Show for SABC3, one floor down in the highrise building where the penthouse is the Expresso morning show studios.

Viewers will see Zama Ngcobo interview the South African musician Toya Delazy and Lynelle Kenned (left) will do a profile piece on the Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins.

Jonathan Boynton-Lee will interview the musical phenom Paige Mac, and Chamendran Naidoo will hang out with the instrumental band Sterling EQ.

According to the producers the final task "is about the key of linking the show together - doing the studio links in a beautiful location and also interviewing the top local and international performing talent".

Tonight's finale and organising it the past week was a logistical challenge for the show. The crew had to get all the performing stars together in one place - at one time - to shoot those inserts last week.

Lynelle Kenned's mom Christine was diagnosed with cancer when she was 16 and has lived to see her daughter achieve as an opera singer - both Christine and dad Ralph was there when Lynelle Kenned performed with Katherine Jenkins which viewers will see tonight.

Jonathan Boynton-Lee's mom, Bronwen Boynton-Lee was also flown down by the production to come and watch him perform with Paige Mac. It was her 72nd birthday. Chamendran Naidoo's mom and one of Zama Ngcobo's good friends also supported them.

The Top Billing presenter Simba Mhere will be on hand tonight to welcome the new Top Billing presenter to the fold.

Tension among the contestants in the My Top Billing Dream reality show on SABC3.

There's been definite tension between the remaining contestants in the My Top Billing Dream reality show on SABC3 looking for a new presenter for the show, with contestants who've said they feel "a bit of iciness" coming from contestant Zama Ngcobo.

"I think it's the competition. You can't trust anyone," Zama Ngcobo told the judges. "We all try to say we are friends, but you just never really know if people really appreciate you."

"Zama has become known for her antics off camera," said Chamendran Naidoo. "They can be seen as diva antics. She has moments with some of the other competitors."

Zama Ngcobo mentioned Lauren Blackwell who in turn said "there's tension between me and one other person".

Zama Ngcobo said "there's less of us now. The fun is decreasing. It's great that we're around each other, but each one of us wants this. And only one person will make it," she said. 

She said maybe the other contestants are jealous of her, or perhaps she appears to confident. "I'm playing my own game. I'm really trying to take care of myself as much as I can. I'm here to get a job."

This morning on Expresso, SABC3's breakfast show, Graeme Richards and Liezel van der Westhuizen interviewed the remaining 5 contestants and asked them about the tension behind the scenes.

"You're with different people for 5 weeks - different personalities, different walks of life, it's bound to happen," said Lauren Blackwell. "It's always mad love, but sometimes it gets a little bit ..." 

Viewers saw Lauren Blackwell get the boot from the reality show on Tuesday evening's episode. 

That leaves 4 contestants who remain in the show - Jonathan Boynton-Lee (pictured), Zama Ngcobo, Chamendran Naidoo and Lynelle Kenned - instead of an initially planned 3 who were supposed to be left at the end of tonight's episode. The live finale of the My Top Billing Dream will be shown on SABC3 this coming Tuesday evening at 20:00 with the winner chosen out of the final 4.

PATIENCE STEVENS SAYS: 'Top Billing is a business, television is a business and we need people to be part of a team.'

Patience Stevens, executive producer of SABC3's Top Billing, the record holder of longest running uninterrupted local TV show on South Africa television and a judge in the My Top Billing Dream reality show had some extremely true words about the TV industry for a contestant who got the boot after she forgot her ID when it was time to check-in for a flight at the airport.

Contestant Kerusha got booted for other reasons but also because she forgot her ID - discovered when the contestants and production team had to check in at the airport. Her driver's licence had to be rushed from the hotel.

Patience Stevens explained why it's such a massive mistake - and how and why it impacts the actual making of television, which is something a lot of viewers never realize or think about.

"A pageant winner knows the importance of travel documents. When we heard that you had left your ID book behind, we thought it was a joke," said Patience Stevens. We thought it was you doing the comedy bit. And then we discovered it was serious. It was real and we had to sort out the problem."

"Now it wastes time, money and resources sorting out unnecessary problems. Top Billing is a business, television is a business and we need people to be part of a team who functions efficiently and where we don't  need to pick up unneccesary errors, because it costs money - and that's the reality."

PICTORIAL. The My Top Billing Dream reality show on SABC3 has a fashion show challenge.

The My Top Billing Dream reality show Tuesdays at 20:00 on SABC3 had a fashion show challenge which took place this evening at Canal Walk in Cape Town. With 8 contestants left (but one on a secret assignment after she won, leaving  for this challenge) the episode will be broadcast on 31 July.

The charming Top Billing presenter Jeannie D, also a judge on My Top Billing Dream looked stunning and dazzled the crowd with her MC'ing skills, even making a thinly-veiled reference to her called off engagement, saying "everyone knows when you work for Top Billing your work is your marriage".

She even joked by walking over and blatantly grabbing contestant Jonathan Boynton-Lee's pecs who wore an open cut T-shirt, saying "Jonathan, on this show everyone knows I'm the one who has and shows off the cleavage!"

The remaining contestants in the reality show looking for a new presenter, as well as models, modelled everything from casual wear, evening wear and swimwear on the red carpet as opera singer constestant Linelle sang; Good Luck provided techno-disco infused music; and the gumboot dancing troupe Happy Feet made a surprise appearance. 

The Top Billing presenters Jo-Ann Strauss and Lorna Maseko were terrific. The duo's constant delightful and really funny banter was wonderful to witness - well-experienced public speakers who know exactly how to move a show along, keep the audience focused, and make hard work look like play.

At one point all three were on the stage together holding handheld microphones. During feedback due to monitors and with Jeannie D flanked by Jo-Ann Strauss and Lorna Maseko on either side she instantly retorted to a laughing crowd: "As you can see we can't really stand too close to each other - it's not the microphones, its the ego's!"

Most heartfelt moment was when an audience member asked Zama Ncgobo a question on who inspires her. "I'm just standing here. I'm just dreaming. I was actually an orphan for a large part of my life. I was raised an orphan. I try to live an inspiring life and to keep on dreaming. I'm my biggest fan and motivator. I had to motivate myself. You can do anything if you believe in yourself."

BACKSTORY. How Jonathan Boynton-Lee's emotional backstory in My Top Billing Dream blows everything else out of the water.

The best backstory from all the top 10 My Top Billing Dream contestants is that of Jonathan Boynton-Lee.

Here's a guy who was adopted, who recently found his birth mother, who carries small tattoos on his body with things like his parents' initials and the place he was adopted from, and now might find television redemption through viewers who will like him. Because, if you make it as a TV presenter on television - the most populist medium of them all - you're there because the camera, and viewers, love you.

In the world of reality television, the backstory is secretly as important - if not more - as the actual look and on-air actions of the contestants - it's the intriguing, engrossing, relatable, often-sad yet redemptive "real life" backstory which endears a contestant to the TV viewer, make them feel like they "know" them or want to root for them to succeed.

The contestant in the Top 10 of the My Top Billing Dream reality show on SABC3 with by far the best backstory (if you're a TV producer you've found gold if this type of story presents itself) is Jonathan Boynton-Lee. He revealed in the first episode that he was adopted (as he's framed on camera playing with his nephew - sweet!) and recently found his birth mother. It nothing short of nuclear explosion level emotional television.

The backstory is often what gives a particular reality television contestant an instant immediate edge on the others. Think back to what you really remember of a reality TV contestant during a particular show. Chances are ... you don't.

You're much more likely to remember the emotional, heartwrenching and relatable backstory of Kartin Kortje - the poor apple picker from Grabouw; that Elvis Blue got his name from singing to a dying Aids orphan and wanted to sing to make him proud; or that James Bhemgee was a municipal rubbish collector before being discovered - and winning - SA's Got Talent. Those sad tales were revealed before their reality television journey even started on screen. And so powerful is that narrative that viewers often vote to keep them.

Now there's Jonathan Boynton-Lee, the adventure seeker whose moving story interwoven into the My Top Billing Dream reality show on SABC3 is another powerful new example of reality backstory functionality as a presentation device.

What the contestant offer up in personal revelations and lose in privacy, they gain in instant, and growing, viewer appreciation. The more "open" the contestant appears to be - specifically in sharing very painful and private and emotional matters, the more viewers start to feel for that particular contestant. Jonathan Boyton-Lee did so immediately with several eye-popping, yet genuine revelations which surfaced in the first episode and which basically trumped all 9 other backstories ... by far.

Jonathan Boynton-Lee was the only contestant out of the 10 My Top Billing Dream contestants to be seen with an actual child and a cute child - his precocious 2 year old nephew who had to tell him "top 10". He was not only seen with a child, but playing with a child, inside and outside in the garden. Adorable. And by then you know that Jonathan Boyton-Lee himself was adopted - powerful kryptonite in terms of metamedia contextual subtext.

Jonathan Boynton-Lee not only revealed heartwrenching details about his life, he was actually the only contestant to physically "reveal" himself by moving parts of his shirt to show tattoos - while he's telling his story and explaining what it all means. In the mind of the viewer, subconsciously, the personal revelations together with the physical stripping away of layers such as clothing (which is both physically real as well as symbolic) creates a very, very strong emotional reflective bond between TV personality and TV viewer.

"Family is very important to me," said Jonathan Boynton-Lee. "I was adopted and I recently found my mother, so its been a really interesting journey which has happened the last couple of years and quite an amazing experience."

"Family is really important to me, and its all over my body." "I have my parents' initials here on my shoulder," he said as he stripped away his white T-shirt to reveal his left shoulder. "I've got locations of different places in my life on my body," he said as he lifted his right back elbow. "The place I was adopted from. Where I grew up."

Then Jonathan Boynton-Lee showed his right bicep and left bicep - "The date I was adopted; the date I found my mother" - and also his right hip: "I've got something that says 'Wherever you go, go with all your heart'. Which is very applicable to this journey I'm about to take right now."

Extraordinarily, Jonathan Boyson-Lee also ended up being the only contestant who immediately set himself apart by doing something no other contestant did. He in fact fluidly and organically managed to actually influence the producers (and what TV producer doesn't jump at new! exciting! content!) by going for a brand-new tattoo.

It created an insert in the show, and an additional narrative, which was all Jonathan Boyson-Lee's doing, as the lone catalyst which triggered the event through being willing to take the attention and the opportunity and to mold it around himself with presenter Jeannie D and the other contestants as passive onlookers.


ALSO READ: Product placement? Brand integration? Sponsor name-dropping? My Top Billing Dream on SABC3 gets it perfectly correct.
ALSO READ: My Top Billing Dream on SABC3 reveals the Top 10 contestants.

Product placement? Brand integration? Sponsor name-dropping? My Top Billing Dream on SABC3 gets it PERFECTLY correct.

It's almost always tacky, it's almost always forced. It's almost always condescendingly crass, artificial, fake, screams "sell-out commercialism" and comes across as so disparagingly trashy: product placement and sponsorships in TV shows and fake advertiser-funded productions (AFPs).

The new My Top Billing Dream on SABC3 which started this evening, is the very first TV show since Pick n Pay was integrated a few years ago as a sponsor into M-Net's Survivor South Africa, where brands, sponsors, products and services were perfectly, seamlessly, correctly and appropriately - and wonderfully! - integrated into a local South African TV show.

The product placement and sponsors didn't just benefit the overall TV programme and raised its production values, but it is being done so perfunctionally perfect, that instead of commercial considerations subverting the original premise, it actually serves to entertain and inform the TV audience brilliantly.

It was absolutely refreshing to see how well appropriate brands, products and services were clearly carefully chosen to aid the storytelling and narrative of this reality show. It was completely appropriate - in a TV show which is a reality show about television, and hence about appearance and reality - to work in commercial sponsorship consideration of a hair salon, a spa, a clothing retailer and a hotel and its penthouse suite.

Without being overbearing, and careful to extract functional information and real insight and tips for the viewer, the producers blended the commercial brands and sponsors perfectly into production.

As a TV critic who detest product placement and sponsorships - the bane of many a TV production - in this case there isn't a single criticism I can level about the way My Top Billing Dream went about to structurally integrate product placements, sponsors and brands into the very identity and core structure of this show.

In fact, Tswelopele Productions deserves credit and kudos for the way in which products, placements and sponsors were made to serve the overall story of the first episode of this reality show, instead of how productions usually roll over and pander to those providing gifts and services, which then often comes at the cost of creative control.

Hair guru Reto Camichel from Reto Style Lounge didn't just redo the My Top Billing Dream's top 10 contestant's hair (which would be a vicarious freebie to them and no pay-off for the viewer). The show carefully showed him showing and explaining what and why he's doing - it yielded expert information for the viewer at home.

''Wear your hair in a sidepath, because a middle path shows the jawline too strongly. Whenever you're on camera, always tilt your jaw back a little bit, and wear your hair slightly off centre." And: "You're hair is far too long because you're petite. You're using it as a kind of blanket. You need short edgy hair."

Then at Woolworths - appropriately integrated with actual real functional fashion advice - the contestants had to pick new ready-to-travel-ready-to-wear outfits. Where a lot of TV shows willynilly trot out trend experts, it was refreshing to see Alison Page, trend manager at Woolworths, in a show where it's actually appropriate and completely functional to have a trend expert with basic, informative advice.

Same for Marilize de Clerq, personal stylist and image consultant, again with spot on advice. Even Jo-Anne Strauss chimed in cleverly: "Feathers as ear rings are statement pieces - soft, and also no noise for the sound guy."

Michelle Collins, senior artist at M.A.C. Cometics had very useful and insightful advice regarding TV presenting make-up work. Again the make-up session integrated here but which happened through sponsorship, fitted beautifully into the construct of the reality show about looking for a new TV presenter.

"[TV make-up] is about creating those really solid, prime looks, making sure that they understand the architecture of their face and how to sculpt their face. And to understand hotspots and that sweaty areas are a no go. Understanding the importance of powder and mattifying your appearance is what is important," said Michelle Collins.


ALSO READ: My Top Billing Dream on SABC3 reveals the Top 10 contestants.
ALSO READ: Backstory - How Jonathan Boynton-Lee's emotional backstory in My Top Billing Dream blows everything else out of the water.

BREAKING. My Top Billing Dream on SABC3 reveals the Top 10 contestants.

Top Billing and its reality show My Top Billing Dream (Tuesdays, SABC3, 20:00) just revealed the Top 10 contestants who over the coming weeks will have to endure gruelling and highly pressured real production situations or hang up his or her top hat.


The My Top Billing Dream Top 10 include in the contestants an opera star, models, entrepeneurs, academics, students, a navy doctor, filmmakers, dancers and even a flasher.


Top Billing executive producer Patience Stevens, Top Billing presenter Jeannie D and Jo-Anne Strauss were the three judges in the first episode.


"We wish each of the 10 finalists every success as they pursue their Top Billing Dream but there can only be one winner and that will be the one whose natural flair embodies the hallmark of excellence that has set Top Billing apart as South Africa's premier TV magazine show for the past 20 years," says Ed Worster, SABC3's acting channel head.

Khanya Ngumbela
This former Zoopy presenter wanted to study medicine or journalism to help people. "Zoopy was very scripted. With this competition my creativity gets taken into account. It definitely tests you in a way you can't prepare for," she says.

Lauren Wallet
This AFDA graduate's current  business is called  Malva - a pop-up stall showcasing creativity from various designers in South Africa. "I've leanrth so much but it's also been terrifying, in a good way," she says. "I've never been put in a situation like this."

Zama Ngcobo
This former SABC1 continuity presenter recently appeared in Generations. "I have a passion for the media. Presenting comes naturally to me, and I'd love to grow in this medium. Top Billing is the epitome of what one aspires to in this business. It's in a league of its own and I'm keen to learn the art of presenting."

Jonathan Boynton-Lee
This Rhodes University graduate in drama and TV journalism says he was stunned to hear he made it to the top 10. "It still doesn't feel like I'm in the Top 10. My feet haven't hit the ground yet."

Kerusha Kisten
This Durban law student says she's determined to make her dream of being a Top Billing presenter a reality. "I'm ready to take on this challenge. I have the passion and desire for it. It feels as though I've been chasing a dream and now I have the opportunity to catch it."

Lynelle Kenned
This Capetonian is a trained opera singer. "I come from humble beginnings, and the fact that so many people can relate to that makes me more accessible to a wider audience," she says.

Zama Mtshali
This Sharks flasher says "when I started watching Top Billing, I realised that this is what I wanted to do. Top Billing is different, it's not totally scripted. It's about personality and creativity, so I'd be able to show my quirky side on camera."

Chamendran Naidoo
This young doctor who works for the South African navy. He says you have to work hard for your dreams. "It's been a lot of hard work. You've got to know how to take criticism, learn how to enhance your strength and work on your weaknesses. If you can achieve this, you can achieve all your goals."

Greg Kriek
He has a degree in Global Business Leadership and a postgraduate qualification in film and television production. He has been working in developing his practical skills set as a producer, writer and actor. "It has been a dream, completely overwhelming. There's this excitement of not knowing what's coming next. It keeps you on your toes. In this scenario everyone is on an equal footing; no-one has a head start."

Lauren Blackwell
This edgy drama student lists dancing as one of her many passions. "I've always wanted to be involved in the showbiz industry, whether I am presenting, acting, writing or fetching coffee for the assistant of the assistant director."


ALSO READ: Backstory - How Jonathan Boynston-Lee's emotional backstory blows everything else out of the water.
ALSO READ: Product placement? Brand integration? Sponsor name-dropping? My Top Billing Dream on SABC3 gets it perfectly correct.