Where is the laid-back star of South Africa’s first ‘Big Brother’ now?

FIFTEEN years ago, while he was running with the bulls in Pamplona, Ferdinand Rabie got a call from home in South Africa. Friends and family begged him to try out for the auditions for Big Brother, a new reality TV show.

He scraped together money for the airfare, and made the auditions at the 11th hour. He won the first season and, with it, became an instant millionaire.

Weekend Argus caught up with him this week:

I was raised by Sotho and coloured people. I think at the time South African viewers appreciated this. Every time we had arguments in the Big Brother house I would talk to people about what affected them, and acknowledge their backgrounds and their points of view.

My chickens, which I loved dearly, and my poo (a reference to the episode in which he defecated in the garden while the 24-hour cameras were rolling).

That day I drank Russian Bear vodka, wine and mixed a concoction of things. Nobesuthu Cele saw it first.

She said it was human faeces. In my smug Kaapstad Afrikaans tone, I told her there was no way someone could do that.

I didn’t know it was my s*** in there, and thought it was the chickens.

I do a lot of auctioning and that topic always comes up. But then I just joke around that I had a s*** and made a million… (laughs heartily).

I was not afraid to say what I felt. I didn’t buy face. With me, I called a spade a spade.

I truly felt like a rock star. Although I was nominated for eviction on the show it was funny that I never packed my bag, because I was always safe – right up until the end.

In 1995 I started my tour operating company; it was way before Big Brother. Today, I’m the youngest tour operator to have successfully run a company for 21 years.

Go for gold. I can apologise for a lot of things in my life but, at the end of the day, face your mistakes. I’ve learnt that you’re going to fail at times, but sitting in the corner and feeling sorry for yourself is not the answer.

Always be on the go and love yourself. And, oh… I had the worst time of my life with that million I won.

Everyone wanted money from me or needed some form of help. I ended up buying a house, and invested half of the money in the company.

I learnt who my real friends were and those are people who were there long before Big Brother, and are still here with me now. - Noni Mokati.

Ferdinand Rabie, winner of Season 1 of Big Brother, with clients during one of his tours in Cape Town.