JOZI DIVAS SET TO DAZZLE
Mash-Spies lifts lid on new reality show
THEY lead such charmed lives in the lap of luxury, their every whim attended to and now Johannesburg’s ultra wealthy women fling their doors open for cameras.
Led by Puleng Mash-Spies who gained notoriety from her appearance in Come Dine With Me SA and coining such phrases as “shut the front door” and “what the fudge?”, the manicured, preened and pruned housewives of northern Johannesburg will serve up plenty of drama and glam on their reality show.
The production has long been in the works, first as Housewives of
Johannesburg and after three years it has been dubbed Divas of
Jozi and the rights sold to a new owner, executive producer Sinini Matu.
I put in a late-night call to MashSpies to whet my appetite for
Divas. I had been chasing her for a while about the show.
“You’ve been up my ass asking me questions about the show. It’s finally here. Good things come to those who wait,” she laughs.
Mash-Spies tells me that although it’s dramatic, she’s not her usual loud self on Divas of Jozi .
“I’m behaving on this show. You know I’ve just started a new business and can’t afford to to be bad. So we won’t be throwing glasses or spilling wine on people or pulling them by the hairs.
“But there is good quality and classy drama. It’s not a kasie fight, the show is lit.”
Mash-Spies, also known as Dainfern Queen, says we will see her going under the knife and looking for property as she coins more new phrases and tackles the other strong-willed personalities on the show that leads to a few clashes.
“We can be bitchy but we do love each other and travel a lot. This weekend we will be shooting at the Durban July and people will see drama. You will see opulence, Louboutins, Hermes, Gucci... the Americans say we live in a jungle and we’ve got game. We’ve got good stuff and we pay lots of money.”
She hastens to remind me that while they show off their wealth they still have a conscience.
“Yes, I know we have issues with the gap between rich and the poor, but all these ladies give back. We know where we come from, we have worked hard to be here. We didn’t need blessers.”
Mash-Spies says her ethos of hard work was inculcated by her father.
“He had three jobs to provide for his six girls, before we had a boy. He told us to make our own money and have our own houses before we got married, so that when the husband chases you away in the middle of the night you still have a place of your own.”
Mash-Spies, who is in an inter- racial marriage with a wealthy businessman, becomes even more animated when she talks about the concept of blessers.
“I don’t understand these girls. South Africa is alive with opportunity. The government chooses women over men when providing funds for entrepreneurs. Why would you not want to finish matric and hope to get a blesser? I don’t promote that idea, for me it’s shut the front door... what the fudge?”