Pearl Thusi dumps RGB on SABC1 as stand-along presenter; Amanda Du Pont to take over, possibly with Sinazo Yolwa as well.

With so much drama behind the scenes it's been an open secret within the local TV biz for a long time, but Pearl Thusi has finally dumped RGB on SABC1 with Amanda Du Pont who will be taking over as the stand-along presenter next to Phat Joe Kambule.

RGB is also set for other overhauls very soon of the weekly Saturday lifestyle and entertainment magazine show which pulls a weekly TV audience of 5,6 million viewers on SABC1.

Although SABC1 strangely announced that Sinazo Yolwa will also be joining RGB as a co-presenter, Sinazo Yolwa has not signed any contract with the show yet and who is still involved with the current season of So You Think You Can Dance SA on SABC1.

Pearl Thusi decided to dump RGB just over a year and a half after she joined, saying she has too many things going on and that RGB, compared to all the other things, takes a lesser priority.

"Everyone at the show has been amazingly supportive with my decision to move on," says Pearl Thusi. "I had to make a tough decision on what to focus on."

"We and our viewers are going to miss her," says Dichaba Phalatse, SABC1's portfolio marketing manager for entertainment, saying SABC1 will continue to work with Pearl Thusi on "other projects".

While SABC1 announced that Pearl Thusi will be replaced by Amanda Du Pont and Sinazo Yolwa as co-presenters, Sinazo Yolwa has not signed any contract.

Pearl Thusi will make her final appearance on RGB on Saturday 9 November; Amanda Du Pont will start from Saturday 16 November - possibly with Sinazo Yolwa.

REVIEW. SABC3's The A List is a horrific melange of sad gutter television that belongs with the letter at the other end of the alphabet.

Rarely in my life have I've seen television as bad, with such incompetent editing, such shoddy presenting and filled with such utter trash such as SABC3's new The A List with presenter Sinazo Yolwa that started Thursday at 20:31 on SABC3 for the next 13 weeks.

The usually classy Carol Bouwer should be ashamed and mortified about serving up this superbly low class, badly done dreck and drivel under the banner of her production company Carol Bouwer Productions. The utter horror and embarrassement that is the mess purporting to be The A List is a mangled, bleeped out, horrifically edited, vapid, unoriginal and contentless melange of sad gutter television masquerading as glam TV, blatantly hoping to quickly cash in on South Africa's World Cup hype.

SABC3 deserves a red card for this badly done crap, dished up with an underpar, stoic presenter who's probably watched e.tv's Showbiz Report and thinks that to be on TV all you need to do is try and dress up (the more gold the better) and try and walk and talk and show shopping bags. So bad is it that Sinazo Yolwa, strolling through a Cape Town mansion, had to be beeped in the first episode in a jarring insert, because the production couldn't even redo the scene or edit it better. Horrible! Filled with bad second hand tabloid trash, The A List on SABC3 is more associated in quality with the letter at the other end of the alphabet. If one of SABC3's previous slogans were ''Quality shows'', the pathetic and badly done The A List is definitely not it.

ALSO READ: SABC3 surprises with The A List hunting for footballers' wives.

BREAKING. SABC3 surprises (even me!) with The A List, a new local celeb magazine show that will hunt for access to footballers' wives.

You're reading it here first.

Well. Not even I knew about this one, which takes some doing. Completely out of the blue SABC3 just announced a brand-new local celebrity weekly magazine show, The A List that will start next Thursday, 3 June at 20:31 on SACB3 with presenter Sinazo Pelisa Yolwa. This new local production is blatantly going to try and cash in on all the football action coming South Africa's way. The A List will unashamedly focus on the glam factor around the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

The A List - according to SABC3 (and I'm still getting over my totally dazed look for being clueless about this TV production) will be ''a sexy, fast paced entertainment show which delves into the world of celebrities visiting our country''. I told you at the beginning of the month RIGHT HERE that SABC3 has no intention of bring Flash! back for a second season this year . SABC3  was obviously making plans to broadcast The A List that will have 13 weekly, half hour episodes.

SABC3 says The A List will be ''filled with the hottest celebrities, footballer's wives and girlfriends (the so-called''Wags''). Fashion, beauty and style are a priority. But it's not just the beauty and fashion that catches our attention,'' says the producers of The A List, ''we also give the hottest news around and front row seats to top events that are being hosted for the Crème de la Crème.'' The A List is quite blatant in who the show will be pursuing. ''The footballer's wife or girlfriend,'' says The A List, ''. . . it is she that we are after''.

I can tell you that The A List is being produced by the former Motswako host Carol Bouwer and will be done from Cape Town although it will cover the whole of South Africa.