The biggest fan of them all
THE DAYS of putting posters on your bedroom wall might be over but that doesn’t mean stan culture has died down. SABC 1 will premiere a new quiz game show on September 28 that proves just that.
Hosted by Rorisang Thandekiso, Tropika Smooth Fan sees super fans go against one another in quizzes and trivia about their favourite star.
They stand to win R250 000 and a Honda Amaze.
The eight celebrities taking part are musician Babes Wodumo, actors Letoya Makhene and Clement Maosa, and TV personalities Bonang, Somizi, Khanyi Mbau, Khaya Dladla and Jeanie D.
The show will focus on their careers as well as what it took for them to get this far.
“Tropika Smooth Fan celebrates the eight celebrities but it also celebrates the entertainment industry as a whole,” says Thandekiso.
“Some of the questions are about them but others are entertainment industry-based just to show what it is that goes into creating the culture.
“There is a huge misperception that anybody and everybody can walk into the industry and just become whatever they want to. But nobody wakes up and says they want to be a doctor and becomes that tomorrow. This is a process.”
She said the show would teach viewers that entertainment was, in fact, a career.
Thandekiso is a fitting presenter, having been on television for 10 years.
The presenter and Touch HD radio host has not been immune to fawning over celebrities.
As the contestants in Tropika Smooth Fan are going to be diehard stans going up against one another to prove they know their idol the best, it’s only right that we ask Thandekiso about her most memorable fan moment.
“When I was in matric, I got to go to the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown and Lebo Mashile conducted one of the workshops,” she said. “I was just blown away by her and couldn’t stop staring at her.
“The next year, I got my YoTV gig and the year after that, I said one of the Blue Couch episodes was boring. The commissioning editor said if I though I knew better, why didn’t I produce a show. And I did.
“Lebo was the first guest for the first show I produced. I was in awe. I couldn’t believe that I wrote her on script and here she was.”
There’s no telling how the fans will react if they ever get to meet the people they adore but Tropika Smooth Fan will probably give us an idea.
Catch Tropika Smooth Fan On September 28 at 6pm on SABC 1.