BRAVERY OF A CHANCER
‘MasterChef SA’ contestant Anél Potgieter gets her own TV show where contestants have to bake a cake for a celebrity – in three hours
IN 2012, Anél Potgieter made it into the top 35 of MasterChef SA. After she left the show she began indulging in her favourite cookies – zoo biscuits. After a few weeks, she woke up one morning and decided she needed to write about food.
This was the birth of her blog, lifeisazoobiscuit.com, which went on to win major awards. She now writes for print media, freelances for magazines, is a radio guest, and has become a familiar face on television, including SABC3’s morning show, Expresso. Dreams are coming true for Potgieter, all after the age of 40; this week her own TV show, Bak of Brou, premiered on Via (DStv channel 147, Mondays at 6.30pm).
Potgieter resigned as a marketing manager to follow her passion of becoming a full-time foodie. “Wow, when I look back, I must have been either exceptionally brave or a real chancer. But thank goodness I did it, as my life was never the same again – every day is just one adventure after the other.”
In Bak of Brou, two top bakers receive an identical brief from a celebrity client for an event. The bakers won’t initially know who the client is, and have only three hours to produce the winning cake, cool it, decorate it and, finally, stack it. To add to the drama, the participants will receive more clues that will either assist them… or throw them off completely.
“Then they must still transport the cake to the venue, and as we all know, to transport a cake can only cause trouble,” explains Potgieter.
Celebrities include Elana Afrika-Bredenkamp, Crystal-Donna Roberts, Kurt Darren and Jenny Morris, among others.
“My life is a testimony to the fact that one should never give up on your dreams. Age should never be a hindrance. I really believe that if you can dream it, you can do it.”
TOMORROW
Comedy Central Shibobo Special (Comedy Central, 8.10pm): Hosted by award-winning comedian Jason Goliath, this “soccer” special will see some of the country’s funniest comedians Lazola Gola, Nicholas Goliath, Thabiso Mhlongo, Richelieu Beaunoir, Mo Mothebe and Nqoba Ngcobo squaring up for the confrontation in a form of two teams – Team Not Chiefs and Team Chiefs. They will be refereed by comedian Joey Rasdien in full view of famous faces from the original Kaizer Chiefs team including Itumeleng Khune, Kaizer Motaung jr and George Lebese, who attended the live recording at the Parker’s Comedy & Jive at Montecasino in Johannesburg.
Each team comprises three comedians and will go head-to-head in a 15-minute stand-up set. The red and yellow cards will have no place in this match where the best strikers will defend themselves and only the fittest will survive until one team lifts the trophy.
IN THE WEEK
Shark Week (Discovery, Monday to Sunday, July 30): Celebrating its 29th anniversary, this year’s Shark Week promises to deliver all-new ground-breaking stories incorporating innovative research technology to reveal compelling insight on some of the species in the world. The most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps, will intrigue viewers with one of the most challenging races of his career, in addition to getting schooled on everything “shark” at the Bimini Shark Lab. This is the first year in the franchise’s history that Shark Week will sync around the world, airing during the same week on Discovery Channel (DStv 121) in more than 220 countries and territories.
Phelps Vs Shark: Great Gold Vs Great White (Monday, 10pm): In which the world’s most decorated athlete takes on the ocean’s most efficient predator.
Shark-Croc Showdown (Tuesday at 10pm): In which Dr Mark Meekan and conservationist Paul de Gelder go on an expedition to one the “sharkiest” places in the world – a remote wilderness called the Cobourg Peninsula in the Northern Territory of Australia. Meekan is there to count sharks and species as part of Vulcan’s Global FinPrint project; De Gelder because he heard sharks and crocodiles fight over sea turtles out there.
African Shark Safari (Wednesday at 10pm): Madagascar is not known as a location for great white sharks. According to the shark sanctuary there, Great Whites and tigers are “extinct” in Madagascan waters. So why has a Great White shark, tagged in South Africa, travelled 2 400km up the African coast to Madagascar? Craig O’Connell and his team make the long journey to the remote island to investigate whether Madagascar is the next big Great White shark hotspot.
Great Hammerhead Invasion (Thursday at 10pm): In early November, giant hammerheads arrive off Bimini, in the Bahamas. Leading shark scientist Tristan Guttridge tags and follows these normally solitary sharks to find out why.
Great White Shark Serial Killer Lives (Friday at 10pm): Every two years in October – 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014 – a secluded beach on the central California coast has been the scene of Great White shark attacks. Is it the same shark returning again and again? And will the attacks continue in October 2016? Dr Michael Domeier believes the attacks may be more than a tragic coincidence.
Alien Sharks: Stranger Fins (Saturday at 10pm): Dr Craig O’Connell goes to the Bass Strait looking for sawsharks, while Victoria Elena Vasquez and Dr David Ebert go into deep water in Tokyo Bay to find the star of the show, the Goblin Shark. They find these and many more, including Ghost sharks, frilled sharks, and the amazing luminescent lantern shark.
Shark School With Michael Phelps (Sunday at 10pm): In which Michael Phelps joins Doc Gruber and Tristan Guttridge of the Bimini Shark Lab to get a crash course on everything shark-related. Together, they will dispel the myths and common misconceptions, while Phelps learns how to safely dive with sharks – including how to stay calm when a hammerhead swims two feet above his face.
Rhythm City (e.tv and eHD on DStv, weekdays at 7pm): After an online open audition process to search for an actor who closely resembles Reneilwe, played by Amo Chidi, the producers found their match, with the role of Kgaugelo finally cast.
Student Lethabo Mashego, 23, impressed Rhythm City series producer Yula Quinn and her team with her combination of talent and looks and plays Kgaugelo opposite Chidi – with lots of on-screen drama in store.
“We always want to bring our viewers great drama and showcase SA’s finest fresh talent. By holding open auditions, we give young actors a springboard into mainstream television,” says Quinn.
Bushbuck Ridge-born Mashego is fluent in English and Setswana and has always had a passion for drama, completing an NSC in dramatic arts at the National School of the Arts in 2011. “I am so excited about this opportunity to work with and learn from these big names in the industry,” she says.
Mashego says she’s a sucker for old-school R&B: “I’m a Broadway diva in my spare time, I love playing netball and I’m obsessed with anything beauty-related. I also really value my sleep and would do anything to sneak in a nap.”