JOHANNESBURG, Might 20 (Reuters) – Dripping with champagne, diamonds and catty dialogue, two made-in-Africa actuality TV sequence have transfixed viewers on the continent, showcasing ritzy existence which can be a far cry from stereotypical pictures of African hardship.
On Netflix’s “Younger, Well-known & African”, a bunch of music and showbiz celebrities from across the continent celebration, flirt and fall out in opulent settings in Johannesburg’s Sandton space, proudly introduced as “the richest sq. mile in Africa”.
Showmax’s “The Actual Housewives of Lagos”, a part of a world franchise, portrays a bunch of glamorous, entrepreneurial ladies searching for to outshine one another as they go about their lives in Nigeria’s business capital.
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“Folks have this false impression about what Africa is,” stated Ugandan businesswoman and socialite Zari Hassan, who as “Zari the Boss Woman” is a key protagonist of the Netflix sequence alongside together with her ex-partner, Tanzanian music star Diamond Platnumz.
“Why is it that it is solely within the States or Europe the place we’re alleged to be seeing the cash, the personal jets, the Ferraris and every little thing? We’ve got this stuff in Africa. That is the brand new Africa. That is the trendy Africa,” she instructed Reuters in an interview at her workplace in Pretoria.
Each sequence have been hits, in line with their platforms, and have generated enormous volumes of touch upon social media.
At a latest launch occasion in Johannesburg for “The Actual Housewives of Lagos”, the present’s stars sported vertiginous hairstyles, tight-fitting night robes and eye-popping nail extensions as they posed for images on the pink carpet.
“For us, it was a case of ‘you already know what, if they will do that internationally, why cannot we do it domestically?’,” stated Candice Fangueiro, Head of Content material at Showmax, talking on the occasion.
“We have seen the Nigerians, we all know the calibre of ladies, the existence they stay, how exuberant and ostentatious and unbelievable they’re.”
Showmax, a part of the South African pay-TV group MultiChoice, says the sequence set a Nigerian document for probably the most first-day views on the platform when it was launched in April. Six weeks later it was nonetheless within the high 5 most-watched sequence in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa, Showmax stated.
Netflix says “Younger, Well-known & African” ranked primary on the continent in its first week of launch, in March, and stayed within the high 10 for 4 weeks in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.
South African actress Khanyi Mbau, one of many stars of the Netflix sequence, stated that throughout the gloom of the COVID-19 pandemic Africa had largely been introduced as a continent that was in a foul place, missing vaccines.
“(The present) got here on the proper time after the darkness that we confronted,” she stated, talking on the pink carpet on the Housewives launch occasion.
“For those who have a look at the world, our music, our trend, it has filtered via to European international locations, the People love what we do. So this present is definitely to point out us that we’re actually the motherland. We’re the sound, we’re the tone.”
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Writing by Estelle Shirbon. Enhancing by Jane Merriman
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