Why MasterChef SA's 5th season axed 5 contestants in the debut episode.

by Thinus Ferreira

Saturday evening's 5th season premiere of MasterChef South Africa on SABC3 ended with the unexpected axing of five contestants who all returned home after just one episode's cooking in the kitchen.

The rugby recruiter and coach Lucas (33) from Worcester, the Johannesburg video producer Andrew (42), the Boksburg content creator Lesego (26), the law firm manager Robyn (28) from Midrand, as well as the environmentalist Ella (39) from Johannesburg were all eliminated after their checked dishes were the lowest-rated out of the 20 contestants.

"It breaks my heart to say this, but your MasterChef SA journey ends here," MasterChef SA judge Katlego Mlambo told the five contestants.

"I'm a very competitive person, so this was pretty serious to me but you've got to be humble in victory and defeat," Lucas said. "It's reignited something in me. It's given me belief and hope. I'll always keep cooking." 

Andrew said that he feels "disappointed". "I didn't expect it to be this short. But we are in the MasterChef kitchen and I didn't perform to the standards".

Lesego said "I'm devastated to leave this early in the competition because I don't think I was able to really show myself. But this is not the end, this is just the start of something different".

Robyn who's lucky charm broke during the cooking challenge said she doesn't believe it had an impact. "I don't feel that my necklace breaking had any effect on the outcome. I choose to carry on in a positive way."

Ella who kept the apron of her dad who had passed away, on underneath her new white MasterChef SA apron, said "I'm quite happy not to have taken my one off. This one belonged to my dad. My dad had the biggest heart. His light shines through and that is the best gift you can give someone - share a bit of light. So I wear it with pride and I know I've done my family proud."

Fifteen contestants from across South Africa are left for the remaining 19 episodes of the Banijay format cooking competition reality show filmed by Homebrew Films at Atlantic Studios and done by Primedia Studios for SABC3.

"knew from the start that this season would only have 15 contestants, but in the pre-auditions, we found 20 really worthy candidates - it was just so difficult to choose only 15," Paul Venter, executive producer, tells TVwithThinus as he explained why the 5th season decided to axe five of them at the end of the first episode.

"We decided to give them all the privilege to come to the kitchen and cook for one episode in the MasterChef SA kitchen - a dream come true for many - but that would then be the last round of auditions, and what great jeopardy to have 5 people going home already in the first episode - drama from scene one, episode one and guaranteed for the whole series!"

According to Paul Venter, the biggest enemy in the MasterChef SA kitchen is and remains time.

"We hear screams and see tears when some candidates fail to make the final adjustments in the final minutes and then we will also have the curious case of the 'stolen pickles' ... which is eventually solved. But will karma send the pickle thief home? Viewers will have to wait and see!"

In Saturday's 5th season debut episode, one contestant told judge Justine Drake that she grew up watching her on the show, while another contestant watched her sister compete on the show in a previous season of the series that has over time become a South African television institution.

Kaye Anne Williams, vice president of content at Primedia Studios, tells TVwithThinus that MasterChef South Africa has become an institution because of two components: food and people.

"For those two reasons, it is not hard to find something that you can relate to and, therefore, incorporate in your own life. Our goal in driving awareness for the new season was to ensure that the average viewer understood that this show was for them and is about them, their food and their stories."

Paul Venter says the latest season of MasterChef SA has "contestants from all four corners of our country, from all walks of life and from as young as 20 and as 'young' as 65".

"Some contestants have roots deeper into the African continent, as far as Congo and as close as Zimbabwe, and some even as far as Taiwan. But one thing that equalises the playing field is the big food dream to win the coveted MasterChef SA title".

2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 2: Showcasing the tenacity of South Africa's film industry.

by Thinus Ferreira 

As 2022's 10th Silwerskermfees launched as a hybrid-event - the year's first major film festival of the calendar as South Africa starts to return to a semblance of what once was - there's a collective sigh of relief under attendees from across the local film and TV industry who had to survive the past two years under unimaginable circumstances.

With both in-person screenings and panels, as well as virtual streaming taking place, the individually QR-coded, proven double-vaxxed and lanyard-clad crowd - smaller and more subdued than in previous years - are darting since Wednesday from Rotunda sessions and short films screenings to feature film discussions and breakaway catch-up coffee dates. 

A sense of relief permeates The Bay Hotel as attendees - ranging from the country's top TV and film execs to producers, directors, actors, distributors, film commissions and industry bodies are allowing themselves to slowly exhale. 

Waldimar Pelser, M-Net director for kykNET channels, says he's immensely looking forward to "what the lockdown period released in filmmakers".

"I'm also looking forward to take a guess as to which of the short film filmmakers within a few years will end up as the producers of big feature films and which of them will achieve success in television".

"The Silwerskermfees film festival remains an incubator of new talent and people who go on to achieve breakthroughs on the small screen on kykNET, and on the big screen- and you never know who they'll be."

The 10th Silwerskermfees is also the first time that Nomsa Philiso, the MultiChoice Group's new executive head of programming is attending.

"For me, as long as I've been in the industry I have been, I've not been to the Silwerskermfees - my first interaction with it was during Covid, it was remote; so I'm really looking forward to be interacting with everybody, and from a partnership point of view to reassure our providers that we're here and we're looking forward to working with them."

She says local South African film festivals like the Silwerskermfees are crucial to grow and maintain the country's film and TV industry. "It's part of our industry development because it's a platform to showcase some of the content that we would ordinarily not see".

"As a broadcaster you're often focused on certain things and sometimes you might miss the gems. Forums like these allow you to tap into spaces where you wouldn't ordinarily. And it's also the interaction with people and networking and building our industry."

'Boere-Cannes'

The veteran South African film critic Leon van Nierop who has been part of the Silwerskermfees since the very first edition with just 18 people that started in Prins Albert screening 6 older films in the Jan Rautenbach Schouburg, says the Silwerskermfees has morphed in the "Boere-Cannes", taking place the past few years at The Bay Hotel in Camps Bay, Cape Town a bit like the Cannes Film Festival.

"It's for Afrikaans people but also South African people and Karen Meiring [former kykNET director] had the insight and vision to bring the Silwerskermfees to this fantastic setting. The short film initiative is also fantastic: You first learn, and you're mentored. And some of those short films then become feature films."

"That's why the festival is important because it's also a learning school - with all different kinds of conference sessions and workshops."

Leon says he's looking forward to watch a movie with a cinema audience. 

"Not a lot of films have been produced the past two years. So, to suddenly see what was made like Gaia, made in 2020 for the big screen and waiting since then for a release date - I'm looking forward to seeing that."

"And just the atmosphere that is here - it's a networking atmosphere, so you can network with the people who you couldn't see and was impossible to do the past two years. It's great to see all of the familiar faces."

Seeing people in person

Paul Venter, manager director and producer at Homebrew Films, says "I think what we're all looking forward to the most is seeing people in person".

" It's about sitting down and making connections because you can Zoom and you can email and you can do what you want, but there's no substitute for grabbing someone by the shoulder after a film and saying 'Let's quickly catch up' and the next minute you're going to make another film."

"So it's that kind of energy and dynamics that we miss and which is the advantage of a film festival".

He says it's important for something like the Silwerskermfees to exist because "it's a decade later and they've done 50 feature films, they've done more than 100 short films - it's just a boon for the industry as whole; it gives jobs, it helps develop new talent, it makes people excited, especially if you look around you and see the diversity and age: The young people coming in - that's why film festivals happen." 

SA's film industry is stronger together

Kaye Ann Williams, M-Net's head of local content and independent films, says she's also looking forward to seeing everyone in person and "connecting with people and chatting with them. It's been sorely missed".

"Why something like the Silwerskermfees is important is the networking - this is how people make deals and form partnerships and build relationships and think of their next big story. We've all missed this. You don't get the same vibe with a virtual event."

Nicola van Niekerk, M-Net senior manager for scripted content and factual entertainment at kykNET, says "the most important thing about this year's Silwerskermfees is that it really showcases the tenacity of the South African film industry".

"While many other countries saw their film industries shut down completely for Covid our producers did not and our crews worked and we all invested in getting these films out. The films here - while they are slightly smaller and filmed under very difficult conditions - show just the absolute willpower and the growth of our industry and how strong we are together".

She says she's looking forward to seeing the audience reaction to Indemnity, the Travis Taute Gambit-produced film starring Jarrid Geduld as a proudly South African action film, as well as Stiekyt set in the world of drag artists and produced by Homebrew Films.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees - Day 1: Programme director Ricky Human on the growing need to tell authentic local stories.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 2: With South Africa's global co-productions still in infancy, MultiChoice to announce Afrikaans series with Canal+.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 2: Not a white napkin to be found - how South Africa's event industry is starting to bounce back.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 3: 'You're not going to work with that hair' - South African women in film share their stories.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 4: M-Net boss Jan du Plessis: 'We're fully committed to growing local film.'

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 4: Number of South Africa's cinema screens to remain flat post-Covid.

ALSO READ: 2022's 10th Silwerskermfees awards: Barakat and Gaia the big winners.  

MasterChef SA S4 Day 3: Fine-dining lunch out-of-the-box.

by Thinus Ferreira

It was time for some out-of-the-box thinking in the third episode of MasterChef SA's fourth season on M-Net (DStv 101) on Wednesday evening when the contestants were divided into two teams for a team challenge and tasked with preparing lunch ... for a group of health care workers.

Chef Bertus Basson dropped by Makers Landing as a guest judge for the red team with Charmaine as team leader, and the blue team with dentist Dr Harri as the team captain who were competing for immunity as a team in Thursday's episode that will be a pressure test.

"During this lockdown, the entire restaurant industry came to a standstill. Stuck at home, we were forced to reinvent ourselves. Even fine dining establishments had to resort themselves to the previously unthinkable: making takeaway meals," said judge Gregory Czarnecki.

"Just like that, a new trend was created - fast fine-dining."

For the challenge, each team had to make 24 lunch boxes with two fast fine-dining dishes. 

The first dish had to use sustainably sourced fish, while the second dish had to be a fine-dining take on an iconic South African workers' lunch. It should also be possible to hold and eat one of the dishes with just one hand.

The red team prepared Amasi fried fish with slap chips and tartar sauce, as well as a Durban lamb curry for a ubuntu bunny chow with spinach dombolo (dumplings) and salsa.

The blue team made a Cape Cream Mille-Feuille sandwich, as well as Putu Arancini balls that is spicy mince balls filling and chakalaka.

The blue team won, which means that they will be watching from the balcony during Thursday evening's episode as the contestants who were in red, take part in a pressure test.

Take it away

"This episode gave an interpretation to the Covid-pandemic where suddenly restaurants had to look at take-aways. They had to start boxing stuff," says Homebrew Films producer Paul Venter.

"Bertus Basson was our guest judge because he is just the King of the Box when it comes to fine-dining take-aways. The guy's running five restaurants at the moment and he does these most amazing boxes."

"He says it's just amazing to get to the homes of his clients - when they open their front doors in their shorts - and then he gives them their box. He gets to see them in a different light while he's bringing them this fine dining experience."

"The nursing staff and health workers from the Somerset Hospital visited for the episode and we gave them the feast of the take-aways so thank them for the role they've been playing during Covid to save lives."

"Episode three of MasterChef SA, as are all of them, are just a very feel-good, South African show celebrating our local food culture," he says.

ALSO READ: MasterChef SA S4 Day 1: Spilling the tea inside the MasterChef cathedral. 

ALSO READ: MasterChef SA S4 Day 2: Out for a duck.

INTERVIEW. As All Access Mzansi enters its 2nd season 'content and opportunities are getting better and better,' says producer.

The second season of the local weekly entertainment magazine show All Access Mzansi has just started on Thursdays at 20:00 on Mzansi Magic (DStv 107) with presenters Jason Greer and Pabi Moloi.

I asked Paul Venter, All Access Mzansi producer from Homebrew Films about the second season of the show, the new black male presenter All Access Mzansi wants to add, what has happened to Tammy-Anne Fortuin, whether the show is going to change this season, and how the show has adjusted moving from M-Net to the Mzansi Magic channel.

With the shift and relaunch of the show as All Access Mzansi on Mzansi Magic, what has been some of the big things over the course of the first season that the show had to adjust to and perhaps learnt from the experience of making a ''new'' show for basically a newly started TV channel?
Paul Venter: The only real shift for us was the target market. We now exclusively focus on content that will appeal to a black market audience ages 25 to 49. And if anything, it is an absolute joy, as the target market is so clearly defined.

Are there certain segments and inserts that viewers gravitate to more or like more? How do you determine the mix of any given week's episode and is it difficult to find something of everything to sprinkle in there that you're looking for?
All Access Mzansi is and has always been a celebrity, events and entertainment programme, so we keep the mix around this every week. But yes, as with any magazine programme, the scoops are extremely popular, and exciting: if I have to make an exception of one insert, it must be Kimora Lee Simmons at ZAR in Cape Town - it was a major scoop and hit the proverbial ''bulls-eye'' with our target market!

The show has now been renewed for a 2nd season. Anything new or different coming up either in the way the show is produced or the way it looks, or what viewers will see in terms of content or will the 2nd season be more focused on solidifying and building on the first season?
It takes a magazine programme at least 6 months to settle on a channel and I think it would be unwise to change and mess with the formula so early into its Mzansi Magic lifespan. The brand is getting out there more and more, and content and opportunities are getting better and better as we prove our commitment to quality content and professional broadcasting.

There was talk that All Access Mzansi is looking for a black male presenter. Is that still on or not? What happened and what's the latest with this process?
It was never a driven search for a presenter, but with content getting more and more and events happening all over the country, we realized it would be easier on production to have a bigger presenter pool. More news about this will follow soon.

Is it ta-ta Tammy-Anne Fortuin? Where is Tammy-Anne Fortuin and what is she going to do?
Tammy is in New York at the New York Film Academy where she will be studying for the next 4 years. She will however stay on our ''books'' – so to speak – and our first insert with her from New York is scheduled to be produced very soon. And with all the contacts she will be building in New York….

The show has evolved numerous times on M-Net, and seems to be doing the same now on Mzansi Magic. In what sense do you think the show will be different or have evolved from the first episode of All Access Mzansi that was on Mzansi Magic?
The show's look and feel stayed exactly the same since the first episode on All Access Mzansi on 21 April 2011 and we are keeping the look, feel and production qualities exactly the same for the future episodes.

All Access Mzansi II, Thursdays at 20:00 on Mzansi Magic (DStv 107)

INTERVIEW. Producer Paul Venter on All Access turning one: ''We just want to do what we do even better.''

You're reading it here first.

All Access on M-Net, the weekly entertainment magazine show Fridays at 19:30 just turned one since its high gloss debut last June on the pay broadcaster. In a comprehensive interview I spoke with All Access producer Paul Venter from Homebrew Films about the show's success, how All Access decides what makes it to air (and what not), as well as the logistical challenges of putting together such a show on a weekly basis behind the scenes.

Paul Venter talks about some of the difficulties All Access faced in the first few months and how it changed and reveals how the show keeps working to get international access to TV shows and celebrities. See what All Access insert of the past year he calls ''just magical'', what he says he enjoys the most about his work and how as a producer of the show he sees All Access moving forward.

For my complete interview with Paul Venter about All Access, click on READ MORE below.