Huge turnout for presenter role
Auditions for show ‘Our Perfect Wedding’ in EL draw hundreds
MORE than 400 hopefuls auditioned to be the next Our Perfect Wedding presenter at the East London International Conference Centre at the weekend.
Producers of the popular reality show have embarked on a nationwide search for a replacement for award-winning presenter Thembisa Mdoda, who announced she would be pursuing other endeavours after two years as anchor of the show.
On Saturday, registrations for auditions began at around 8am, with the auditions continuing well into the night.
Hopes were high among the contestants, some of whom travelled from as far as Cape Town.
The top contestants from the East London auditions were expected to be announced by 6pm on Saturday, but that only happened in the early hours of yesterday morning due to the large number of people who tried their luck.
Bongiswa Mzana, 29, travelled from Cape Town to be one of the first in line. “I arrived at 8am from Cape Town to audition for the show. I love watching OPW [ Our Perfect Wedding] and I see myself being a presenter for the show one day. If it’s not now, maybe some other time,” said Mzana.
Yonke Mkentane, 26, a television production graduate from AFDA – the South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance – said being a winner in the East London leg would help towards launching a TV career.
“Although, having studied TV production, I do not want to limit myself to behind-the-scenes work. These auditions came at the right time and I hope for the best to come out of them,” Mkentane said.
Aviwe Dwashu, 20, said she would not have missed the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “Even if I don’t get through, it will be an experience and a learning curve for myself and others who have come to try their luck. Very few of these auditions come to the Eastern Cape, particularly East London, and yet there is a lot of talent down here. We hope more talent scouts don’t limit such auditions to big cities,” said Dwashu.
Mzansi Magic’s Bongiwe Metsing said they were astounded by the turnout in East London.
“We did not expect so many people for a presenter-search competition. It was very difficult to choose because people of the Eastern Cape are very talented. We managed to get away with quite a number of contestants, who will be up against those who will be in Johannesburg and Durban,” said Metsing.
Following the East London leg of auditions, the show goes to Johannesburg and Durban. —