WHEN Reality Check first aired on e.tv, three unlikely people – Nonhle Thema, Khanyi Mbau and Babalwa Mneno – were grouped together as a team. Their brief was simple: get out of your comfort zone and do some charity work.
Knowing the trio of divas, we expected there to be drama, but in the end they all did just fine.
The second season is upon us and the new faces on the show are Boity Thulo, Somizi Mhlongo and Bongani Fassie. These three, again, are unlikely characters who want to help the needy – but on their terms.
“I watched a bit of the show and thought it was good that it’s not about glam or anything like that, but actually helping people,” said Thulo.
For her it’s a great thing to give back to the community and be involved in uplifting the spirits of the less privileged.
“After being on the show for a bit and seeing other people’s situations, I realised just how blessed I am. I saw that it’s not worth complaining about petty things when there are people who have less, yet make some-thing out of that,” she explained.
Talking about her two colleagues on the show, Thulo said she enjoyed working with them and that their true personalities came out.
“I wasn’t sure about Bongani at first because I did not know him well. However, it was amazing to see him put 160 percent into all the tasks we were given. Somizi, on the other hand, did what he could when he could,” she said.
Only two episodes of Reality Check have been shot so far and the producers have come up with several tasks that the celebrities would not ordinarily put up with.
“I’m hoping that by the end of the show I will have a new perspective on life. So far I have done well, but if they add heights or frogs then I am darting out of there,” she said.
But Mhlongo has already found something on the show he can’t deal with – dogs.
“For me, dogs remind me of 1976. They are not really something I’d want to be close to, so when we had a task to help the blind at an institution that supplies dogs, I could not function. If my partner wanted a dog, they’d have to decide between me and the dog,” he said.
Asked if the tasks done have put him in touch with the poverty in South Africa, Mhlongo said he already knew a few things about it.
“I have travelled extensively so I know what the situation is in South Africa. I could be in Hollywood or Soweto, I can relate with what’s going on there because I respect people. One of my fondest moments on the show was when we had to help a woman bake bread. She wakes up at 3am to bake about 300 loaves before 5am. We only got to bake 30 and we were finished. I have enough respect for her,” he said.
• Reality Check, August 2, e.tv, at 6.05pm.