The Real Housewives of Abuja to debut on 17 February on Showmax will bring a second set of Nigerian woman to NBCUniversal reality franchise.

by Thinus Ferreira

With the format proliferating like TV hamsters, MultiChoice's next African edition of The Real Housewives franchise will be The Real Housewives of Abuja which will be released on Showmax on 17 February across Africa, showcasing the lives of six women living in Nigeria's capital and eighth largest city.

The Real Housewives of Abuja, set in another Nigeria city similar to The Real Housewives of Lagos, will release a new episode on Showmax every Friday and will include the Abuja women Arafa, Comfort Booth, OJ Posharella, Princess Jecoco, Samantha Homossany and Tutupie, as "they navigate their opulent lives, relationships, family and businesses within the powerful city of Abuja and beyond".

The reality series's launch will follow after the debut of The Real Housewives of Gqeberha which will have its TV debut on M-Net's 1Magic (DStv 103) on 3 February following women in the Eastern Cape's Nelson Mandela Bay metropole.

The Real Housewives of Abuja and The Real Housewives of Gqeberha are the latest two African franchise editions, joining existing series like The Real Housewives of Johannesburg, The Real Housewives of Pretoria, The Real Housewives of Lagos, The Real Housewives of Cape Town, as well as The Real Housewives of Durban which will have its third season starting on 1 February on Showmax.

The Real Housewives of Abuja is produced by Delmedia Productions.

Busola Tejumola, MultiChoice head of content and West Africa channels, says "Telling our local story is at the core of what we do, and we are glad to continue this partnership with NBCUniversal Formats, to bring the franchise to a second city in Nigeria".

"The new series will follow the luxurious lives of six influential and successful women in Abuja."

Arafa, creative director and founder of Selaralifestyle is a married mom of twins and an art entrepreneur. 

Comfort Booth is a partner at Asia Ahmed & Co and is a lawyer, social commentator, travel blogger and talk show host.

Ojoma Sule, known as "OJ Posharella", is an entrepreneur and CEO of the Posharella Group of Companies.

The hotelier Princess Jecoco is a married mom or two as the managing director of the Sefcon hotel group and is a lawyer, brand ambassador, influencer and content creator.

Samantha Homossany is the creative director of Zohi Taglit and is a wellness entrepreneur. She is married to an Israeli millionaire and the mother of four kids. 

Tutupie is the creative director of Urban Day Party and is an event curator who is a certified chef.

BREAKING. 'Make it work': Project Runway SA reality show coming to Mzansi Magic on DStv; produced by Ndalo Pictures and Rapid Blue for broadcast from July.

"Make it work": A South African version Project Runway is coming to Mzansi Magic (DStv 161), with episodes of the designer competition reality show that will be broadcast on the channel from July.

Project Runway South Africa is the second of two new localised titles of well-known American reality shows that South African and African viewers haven't yet seen before.

M-Net's local entertainment channels division announced that month that it will be doing a South African version of The Real Housewives of ... for the rebranded 1Magic (DStv 103).

The Project Runway format is held by the now notorious The Weinstein Company (TWC) and local licensing versions are shopped by FremantleMedia International's (FMI) FremantleMedia Licensing Worldwide (FLW) division.

FMI already sold several seasons of the American version of Project Runway to M-Net with seasons broadcast on the M-Net, M-Net Series, VUZU Amp and Vuzu channels along with spin-offs like Project Runway Junior and Project Runway All Stars.

“Project Runway has done well internationally. We are excited to have the local version on Mzansi Magic," says Reneilwe Sema, the director of local entertainment channels at M-Net.

"As a channel we have successfully introduced scripted content and reality formats into the market. Project Runway SA will add value and variety to our content proposition".

Project Runway SA will be produced by Ndalo Pictures, the new TV and multimedia division of Ndalo Media that secured the licensing rights from FMI for a local version, and production partner Rapid Blue that is currently producing Dancing with the Stars SA for M-Net and did a new season of Come Dine with Me South Africa for BBC Worldwide South Africa.

“South Africa has impressive design talent that is absolutely ready for an international show like this,” says Khanyi Dhlomo, owner of Ndalo Media where magazines like ELLE and Destiny are going to be used to leverage interest in the local version of the TV show.

"It’s engaging, informative, enlightening and entertaining. It’s about talent, about mentorship, opportunity, and pushing creativity past all boundaries. We’re incredibly proud to be able to bring this show to our shores.”

In Project Runway South Africa, the finalists will have to prepare for the 2019 Paris Fashion Week in February 2019 with Edgars as the clothing sponsor and TRESemmé for hair.

Project Runway South Africa will face somewhat of an uphill climb. Designing reality TV shows in South Africa cater to a small niche audience and several other attempts have suffered from a combination of lackluster viewership and low ratings as well as scandals.

From 2006's The Cut South Africa to Raw Silk on SABC1 and most recently the scandal-riddled The Intern with David Tlale on SABC3, the local shows that suffer from rushed and bad production values have struggled to capture public viewers' attention and catch on in the way overseas ones do.

Last week David Tlale and the SABC shocked when the prizes of Kuena Moshoeshoe who was announced as the winner of The Intern in October 2017, were given to runner-up Keletso Moraba who was suddenly "crowned" the new winner following ongoing acrimonious in-fighting behind the scenes.

Entries for Project Runway South Africa will open on Monday 26 February.

BREAKING. Real Housewives of South Africa drama as NBCUniversal says Barbie Brazil doesn't have local production rights for a reality show.

Photo: Facebook

NBCUniversal which owns the international rights for local versions of The Real Housewives ... reality show says the woman named Barbie Brazil (real name Thembi Ennie Tshabalala) who says she is producing a local South African version of Real Housewives of South Africa does not have the local production rights for a local version of the reality show.

Barbie Brazil says she does have the rights and is producing The Real Housewives of South Africa.

A Sunday newspaper in South Africa, which didn't check with NBCUniversal, reported that Barbie Brazil said she is going to produce Real Housewives for South Africa. Also according to the paper, Barbie Brazil said that she was going to be in Real Housewives herself.

On her Facebook page Barbie Brazil says she registered the paperwork for the reality franchise "and I have done it through the South African department of trade and industry. Therefore Bravo! [the international TV channel in America which shows the Real Housewives versions] cannot have the name in South Africa, I own it."

Jonathan Tuovinen, the international director of formats and production in the United Kingdom for NBCUniversal says "I need to inform that Barbie Brazil does not have the format rights for The Real Housewives franchise in South Africa."

"NBCUniversal and its affiliate Bravo! - the original channel that airs the US versions of the show is in no way affiliated with Barbie Brazil. She has never been in touch with us, and we have never heard of her."

Several versions of America's The Real Housewives have already shown and are showing in South Africa across various TV channels set in Atlanta, New Jersey, Orange County and New York showing "real housewives" going on shopping sprees, throwing tantrums and bickering.

Barbie Brazil's manager Lelo Bikitsha says on Facebook "I would like to clarify that Barbie does own The Real Housewives franchise in South Africa."

"I have the paperwork with me, all the necessary documents. Americans seem to think that if you register something there, it applies to the rest of the world, but patenting law strictly states that before you own any name, company or franchise in any other country either than the one you have registered in, you also have to go through the process of registering in that country. That is the law. This is nothing but an unfounded claim," says Lelo Bikitsha.