Posts in Category: Showmax
Smash Afrika Takes the Reigns as New Host of Big Brother Mzansi Season 5!
Johannesburg, 21 November 2024: Mzansi Magic is excited to announce Smash Afrika as the new host of its highly anticipated reality series Big Brother Mzansi as it makes its grand return for season 5. With his vibrant personality and undeniable charisma, Smash is set to breathe new life into the show and take Big Brother fans on a thrilling ride.
Smash, whose real name is Afrika Mdutyulwa, is no stranger to the limelight. Hailing from Bloemfontein, this fireball has dominated radio and TV for many years. From his early days on YFM to hosting Massive Music on Mzansi Magic and Channel O, Smash has become a household name with his infectious energy. His voice has been a staple on 5FM and he’s had crowds buzzing as an MC at some of Mzansi’s biggest events including Rocking the Daisies, Black Coffee’s Block Party and the DStv Delicious Festival.
With his natural flair for entertainment and passion for storytelling, Smash has captured the attention of South Africans with his natural charm and dynamic presence. He brings years of experience in media and a deep understanding of South African culture. Now, he’s ready to step into the role of host for Big Brother Mzansi, guiding viewers through every challenge, elimination, and dramatic moments.
“I’m beyond grateful and honestly speechless because this opportunity was always meant to be. Looking back at my journey in radio and TV, it feels like everything I have done has been leading to this moment. I may not have shouted it from the rooftops or had it on a vision board, but deep down, I knew something big was coming,” says an excited Smash.
As the new host, Smash Afrika will guide viewers through the twists, turns, and drama that define the Big Brother Mzansiexperience. The show’s return is expected to bring fresh surprises, new housemates, and many thrilling moments, as fans are invited to tune in for what promises to be an action-packed season.
And what is he most looking forward to? “I’m hyped for the experience ahead and can’t wait to bring that energy to the audience at home and to the housemates whenever I can. I want to make sure everyone walks away feeling something good. The feel-good host is here baby! Let’s get it!”
So, Mzansi, get ready for an unforgettable season filled with drama, high energy, and all the excitement that comes with Smash Afrika at the helm. This is going to be one wild ride – don’t miss it!
For Big Brother Mzansi updates and more go to Big Brother Mzansi or join in the conversation by using the hashtag #BBMzansi on our social media platforms Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube or Mzansi Magic Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok.
CRUZ VODKA GOES FLORAL FOR SAFW OPENING NIGHT CELEBRATIONOPENING PARTY PICS
Johannesburg, South Africa – Last night Langhams Lifestyle Estate was ablaze with the hottest fashion affair of the season as CRUZ Vodka hosted an electrifying opening party. Attended by the crème de la crème of the South African fashion world, the event set a new standard for style, sophistication, and innovation ahead of South African Fashion Week, which kicks off tonight in Mzansi.
Themed around the vibrant energy of New York with a delicate touch of floral, the dress code inspired attendees to showcase their unique interpretations of metropolitan chic intertwined with natural beauty. The result was a visual spectacle, with guests adorned in avant-garde ensembles that seamlessly blended urban flair with botanical elegance.
Among the luminaries gracing the event were the icons of South African fashion, including the illustrious “stylist to the stars,” Phupho Gumede, whose innovative styling has graced the pages of global fashion publications and adorned the frames of A-list celebrities. Also in attendance was the charismatic self styled Durban socialite, Naliyani Uma, whose magnetic presence added an extra spark to the evening’s festivities.
The Cruz Vodka South African Fashion Week Opening Party served as a prelude to the upcoming South African Fashion Week, promising a week-long celebration of creativity, diversity, and ingenuity in the realm of fashion. This collaboration between Cruz Vodka and SA Fashion Week exemplifies a shared commitment to fostering the growth and recognition of local talent while simultaneously embracing global trends and influences.
Additional celebrities included Angela Sithole, Gigi La Mayne, Kim Jayde, Penny Lebyane, Natasha Thahane, Kayise Ngqula, Yaya Mavundla, Rosette Ncwana, Khosi Twala, Money Badoo, Farai Samurai, Vafa Naraghi and Lord Kez brought their innovative style and charisma to the red carpet. Love was in the air with couples Kay Sibiya and Judie Kama, Lula Odiba and partner King Asshley as well as the Kgosinkwe’s Theo and Vourne. Our favourite reality TV stars included the gorgeous Housewives of Joburg Annie Brauns, Mamukus Koka and Mareli Bentley who were also in attendance.
Fashion designers Hangwani Nengovhela (Rubicon), Ephraim Molingoana (Ephymol), Sello Medupe (Scalo), Craig Jacobs (Fundudzi), Msukizi Mbane (Imprint) and Lele Dhlamini (Ezoketho) not only graced the event showcasing their talent in their own attire but also dressed many of the red carpet guests last night. Other fashionable guests included Margo Fargo, Lisa Madibe, Leon Payne and Ayanda Nhlapo.
As guests mingled and danced the night away, they were treated to handcrafted signature Cruz cocktails, specially curated to complement the fusion of New York sophistication and the soft life-inspiring Cruz flavour range. The ambiance pulsated with anticipation, signaling the beginning of an unforgettable journey through the intersection of fashion, art, and expression.
Entertainment for the fashion affair included SA’s biggest Amapiano DJ duo TXC, hiphop megastar Maglera Doe Boy alongside DJ’s TenOceans, Rarri and Tyler ICU.
“The energy last night was electric,” remarked Cruz Vodka Brand Manager Maisha Mamabolo and added, “It was inspiring to see the convergence of creativity and culture on such a grand scale. As we continue the brands longstanding commitment to the South African fashion industry, it was great to celebrate the intersection of fashion, music, and culture and to provide a platform for emerging designers and artists alike.”
The Cruz Vodka X South African Fashion Week Opening Party marked not only the commencement of a groundbreaking collaboration but also the dawn of a new era in South African fashion. With the lights of Fourways as its backdrop and the fashion industry’s finest in attendance, the event proved to be a fitting herald for the sartorial extravaganza that awaits at South African Fashion Week.
SA Fashion Week runway shows kick off tonight until Saturday 18th April, with three days of incredible South African fashion being showcased to not only an eager SA audience but fashion enthusiasts from around the world at the Mall of Africa.
For more information about the show, follow the Cruz Vodka social media pages on both Twitter and Instagram. Alternatively, follow the hashtag: #CruzSAFW to see who wore what!
It’s not reality TV. It’s HBO. Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show now on Showmax
Now streaming on Showmax, Jerrod Carmichael Reality Showis a darkly funny documentary series about the Emmy-winning comedian’s tumultuous quest for love, sex, and truth. The HBO Original had its world premiere at SXSW in March 2024 and is now coming express from the US to Showmax on Wednesdays.
The first episode kicks off in the build up to the 2022 Emmy Awards, where Jerrod was nominated for his guest appearance hosting Saturday Night Live for the first time, as well as for Writing for Rothaniel, his Bo Burnham-directed comedy special where he came out as gay publicly.
Since winning the Emmy for Rothaniel, Jerrod has gone on to host the Golden Globes, won a Writers Guild of America Award, and been nominated for the Black Reel Award for Outstanding Breakthrough Performance for Poor Things, which went on to win four Oscars.
At the start of his reality show, Jerrod is trying to “selfTruman Show myself” while aiming “to remain being truthful on camera” – which, as he jokes in the trailer, “is cool until you have a reason to lie.”
As his experiment in radical honesty begins, he’s scrambling to find a date to the Emmys, even auditioning options on Grindr, while grappling with two key relationships in his life: his disapproving mother and his crush, Grammy winner Tyler, The Creator.
He decides to confront Tyler, The Creator, on camera, about why their friendship hasn’t been the same since Jerrod admitted he’d developed feelings for him. Watch:
At the same time, he’s trying to avoid his mother, a conservative Christian struggling with her son’s sexuality. Trigger warning: the trailer cuts straight from her trying to pray the gay away with her son to her telling him she loves him… Trailer:
The Real Housewives this is not; comparisons are being made instead to other genre-bending, meta reality shows like Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal. To update that old tagline: “It’s not reality TV. It’s HBO.”
The unusual reality show currently has a rare 100% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Time says, “Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show makes reality TV – hilariously, painfully – real again,” while The Hollywood Reporter says, “I laughed and covered my eyes in mortification in equal measure — and since I finished my screeners, I haven’t stopped thinking about it.”
Details of future episodes are still under wraps, although we know Jerrod confronts his problem with fidelity in episode 2, tries to make up for being a bad friend in episode 3, and attempts to reconcile with his father during a four-day road trip in episode 4.
Stream on Showmax:
House of the Dragon flies express to Showmax from 17 June 2024
House of the Dragon S2 | Express from the US | Mondays from 17 June
The second season of House of the Dragon flies express to Showmax and M-Net from 17 June 2024. The Emmy-winning first season was named Best TV Series – Drama at the 2023 Golden Globes and Best TV Series at Rotten Tomatoes’ Golden Tomato Awards for the best reviewed show of 2022.
Based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones and tells the story of House Targaryen.
Matt Smith is back in his Critics Choice-nominated role as Daemon Targaryen, as is Emma D’Arcy in her Golden Globe-nominated role as Rhaenyra Targaryen. Olivia Cooke, Eve Best, Steve Toussaint, Fabien Frankel and Rhys Ifans also return.
New cast this season include BAFTA nominee Abubakar Salim (Father in Raised by Wolves) as Alyn of Hull, Gayle Rankin (Sheila the She-Wolf in GLOW) as Alys Rivers, Freddie Fox (Slow Horses, The Great) as Ser Gwayne Hightower, and Kieran Bew (Bill O’Hara in Warrior) as Hugh.
Watch the Season 2 Green trailer here:
Watch the Season 2 Black trailer here:
Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm
For Immediate Use
The Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm is coming back to Showmax this week for its 12th and final season, with five episodes available from 15 March 2024 and new episodes on Fridays.
Seinfeld co-creator Larry David stars as an over-the-top version of himself in the iconic HBO comedy, which continues to prove how seemingly trivial details of day-to-day life can precipitate catastrophic chains of events.
“As Curb comes to an end, I will now have the opportunity to finally shed this ‘Larry David’ persona and become the person God intended me to be – the thoughtful, kind, caring, considerate human being I was until I got derailed by portraying this malignant character,” says Larry. “And so ‘Larry David,’ I bid you farewell. Your misanthropy will not be missed. And for those of you who would like to get in touch with me, you can reach me at Doctors Without Borders.”
Curb Your Enthusiasm also stars Jeff Garlin (The Goldbergs), Susie Essman (Broad City), Cheryl Hines (Suburgatory), J.B. Smoove (Mapleworth Murders), Richard Lewis (Anything But Love), Ted Danson (The Good Place), Vince Vaughn (Wedding Crashers), and Tracey Ullman (Tracey Ullman’s Show). This season’s cameos include South African Sharlto Copley (District 9), Jimmy Kimmel, Bruce Springsteen, Sienna Miller, and Dan Levy.
We caught up with Larry to find out more about the final season, which currently has a 95% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is in IMDb’s 20 Most Popular TV Shows globally, with an 8.8/10 rating after 12 seasons that puts it at #61 on their all-time Top-Rated TV list.
Did you ever imagine when you did the pilot for Curb Your Enthusiasm that it would last anything like this long?
After the show got picked up for a season, my agent said to me, “Hey, you can do ten seasons of this.” I said, “Are you out of your mind? Ten seasons?! Are you crazy??” And now here we are, twelve seasons later.
At what point did you decide that this was going to be the last season of Curb Your Enthusiasm?
I can’t remember. I think before we wrote it, I knew it was going to be the last one. We’ve been at it a long time. I’m getting old, as is the cast, and nature has a way of telling us to stop.
But you’ve changed your mind before. Like at the end of Season Five when you died and went to heaven…
Yeah, I’m always afraid I can’t write another one. So, I did think it was the last one, but this time it IS the last one.
No one can ever accuse you of avoiding the big issues of our time, and you have a scene involving a trans character in one episode, for example. Do you think you can get away with almost anything because the tone of the show is so playful?
It’s just a question of how you handle stuff. When you see something funny, you forget how you’re supposed to think.
You famously write an outline for each episode and the dialogue is then improvised. Are there specific lines in the script you write or is it really all improvised on the day?
Well, there’ll be lines in the outline that we come up with that we like and that we feel we should say at some point. But to tell you the truth, a lot of times I’ll be in make-up and I don’t even know what we’re shooting. And so I’ll say to somebody, “Can I read an outline? What are we doing?” And that’s as much thought as I put into it. It just makes it more spontaneous and more fun to try and make it up on the spot. But in every scene, we have to move the story along, too. So there are a lot of points that have to be addressed. And the cast is really good at moving the story along.
There are many hilarious scenes at the golf club this season. Are you actually any good at golf?
No, I’m very mediocre, as I am at most things. And I’m not being modest. It’s too hard. And it’s bad for a marriage.
There are some scenes with Richard Lewis this season that get even deeper into that friendship than ever… did it feel that way to you?
In Season Eleven when we were at the political rally, arguing about something idiotic, and Tracey Ullman was sitting behind us and I said [to Richard], “When are you going to die?” I mean, there’s nobody else in the world I could have said that to. It just came out in the scene. And because we’re so close and we’ve known each other so long, it’s just the kind of friendship where you can say anything and not have to worry that you’re going to hurt the person’s feelings. So, we get to do things like that, and it just makes the show better. And you can see how tight we are during our scenes, right? We have that friendship rhythm.
Do you have a favourite guest star?
Well, Tracey [Ullman] was pretty great. But I don’t like to do a list like that just in case I make other people feel bad. See, I’m a sensitive guy!
How does Tracey Ullman feel about being the embodiment of Larry’s absolute physical disgust?
I think she loves it. She embraces it. Working with her has been one of the highlights of the series, for me.
When you wrote that character, did you have her in mind?
I didn’t. But after it was done, I remembered that she played Betty Friedan in this television show [Mrs. America]. And I remember thinking that yeah, that’s kind of what this character should be like…
Was it emotional for you when you filmed the final scene?
No. It was for a lot of people. But not for me. There’s something obviously wrong with me.
Do you know what you’re going to do next?
I really don’t know what I’m going to do, honestly. I have an office and it can’t just go to waste. When I was in college and people asked me what I was going to do when I got out, I said, “Something will turn up.” That’s how I feel now.
Watch the S12 trailer here:
Sidebar:
“Prett-ay, prett-ay, prett-ay good.”
Larry David’s favourite episodes include:
• S8: Ep 3: Palestinian Chicken
• S2: Ep 7: The Doll
• S5: Ep 8: The Ski Lift
• S10: Ep 7: The Ugly Section
• S8: Ep 9: Mister Softee