The reality of Kampala Creme, Uganda’s latest reality TV show, goes beyond the glitz and glamour presented on screen.
As The Observer gains exclusive access behind the scenes, we unveil the raw drama and entertainment that unfolds when the cameras are not rolling on this MultiChoice/Pearl Magic project.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Critics of the show (even before the premiere episode) questioned the choice of cast, especially Zahara Nalumansi aka Zahara Toto – almost everyone’s villain.
Other cast are Deborah Nantongo aka Mami Deb, arguably the least known of the quartet, Gloria Mulungi Ssenyonjo aka Baby Gloria, who should now be Aunty Gloria according to some viewers, and Etania Mutoni who prefers to call herself ‘the Life of the Party’.
“Why not the usual suspects?” Viewers had expected to see popular influencers and socialites cast as Kampala’s crème, and queried the producers’ choices when the promos and trailers started running weeks back. Such questions affirm to the show’s head of production in Uganda, Joel Ndugwa, that Uganda’s entertainment industry is indeed narrow and the answer to all those questions was summarised in just one word: professionalism, or lack of it?
“If someone has worked with someone on a particular project, chances are they’re going to meet again on another project in the industry because the industry is very small. The entertainment industry is extremely small. The pool of people that we have to work with and the number of people who are interested is even smaller. Believe you me, in the entertainment industry, it is a bad idea to wrong someone because you’re going to meet again,” Ndugwa said.
“The obvious names. If these people are not on the show, what are the chances that we didn’t think of them? The fact that they are not on the show means there is a reason…Even us [producers] we’re Ugandans, but the fact that we have these four people there is a reason,” he added.
For one, social media posts do not translate to the inspirational, entertaining and vulnerable characters that the show was looking for. Also, some of the usual suspects were asking for as much as $5,000 (Shs 18m) per episode, because “apparently they think they are the Kim Kardashians of Uganda”. No prizes for guessing who.
Viewers and followers of the show might be surprised to discover that the cast search from April to November 2023 certainly took longer than the show’s 13 episodes. Also, apart from Mami Deb, the final cast was not the producers’ original choice. The show is produced by Kenya’s Tru D Pictures whose pitch emerged best and was picked by MultiChoice last year.
Tru D is also the producer of Oh Sisters, a 13-part reality show that started airing last year and peeks into the lives of seven Kenyan gospel stars.
ZAHARA, THE PANDORA’S BOX
So, if the keyword was professionalism, is Zahara Toto professional? Not in a zillion years, and Judithiana Namazzi Ndugwa, the content director, admits as much, but says she brings more to the show than her usual dramatics on TV and off it. She has an unknown side of her, especially regarding family, which viewers will enjoy to explore.
Off set, she is a caring mother, a true go- getter and hustler juggling several jobs from deejaying, presenting, and emceeing to now a budding aviator to give her children and the several she adopted a better life.
For the show’s drama, Zahara has ‘the tea’ on everyone. She is one of the reasons why some of the usual suspects pulled out of the show once they learnt that she was part of the cast.
“What people don’t know is that all those names they are giving, have dirt. And let me tell you about these girls in the nightlife, they all have dirt about each other. All of them! When we learnt about why some people didn’t come, we were like, ok, it makes sense. There are also others who just compete; egos: ‘if you have this one, then I can’t come’,” Judithiana said.
On learning that some of Kampala’s socialites pulled out of the show because of her, Zahara says it is their loss and she can’t help it that she knows so much dirty linen, call it Kampala’s sexual network. Some could not risk going to a reality show with Zahara, where she could easily let some of their secrets out.
THE NO-NONSENSE BABY GLORIA
Aunt Gloria or Gogo (as her family calls her) that the TV audience ordered for, is way different from the Gogo that has been delivered by Kampala Creme. Initially perceived as a church girl, Gloria’s persona off-camera is quite different.
Ask Zahara about Gogo and you will get a totally different description. Little wonder that they detest each other on and off set. Buoyed by her equally assertive 16-year-old sister, Gogo’s expletives and skimpy dresses off-set will give you all the hints. She is literally the instigator of the wars off-set and on-set.
Having been in front of a camera since she was just two years old, she also knows how to play for the gallery. The accents may be forced and overly dramatized, but the drama from gospel singer Betty Nakibuuka Ssenyonjo’s family is as real as it gets. During the shooting
of their confessions, a rejoinder show for the earlier shoots, you could not help but wonder how far this church girl was willing to go.
MAMI DEB, THE SHOW-OFF
Well, she has what to show off. She is the owner of Boujee, an elite female clothing store based in Kampala that stocks from London and Paris. At the show premiere at Mezo Noir in Kololo on Sunday, she said the viewers of the show are her potential customers. So, just know, she is bringing it.
True, she lived in the UK for some years where she met her husband Michael Cleave, but as the accents switch between the off- set Nantongo and the on-set Mami Deb, she oozes opulence and class; yet, she is also genuinely a natural well-wisher as demonstrated by her total break-down as Etania narrated her human trafficking story.
Mami Deb again broke down as they relayed the narration to her during the confessions show. Off screen, she clearly struggles to balance between Nantongo from Masuulita, still overwhelmed by the good hand life has dealt her, and the globe-trotting, glammed-up Mami Deb.
In Michael, she has a supporting and loving partner and from the look of things, he is possibly the most natural of the entire cast. He is also extremely wild and expressive. If he likes you, he likes you and if he does not, he won’t pretend. Gloria discovered as much.
ETANIA, THE VULNERABLE
Behind the bold exterior image of the loud party animal is an extremely vulnerable personality. The ‘bad bitch’ character of Etania is an attempt to mask a haunting past many people still use against her.
In the show, Etania opens up and perhaps this will offer her the emotional healing that she so badly needs. With not much supporting family to tag along during shootings like the rest of the cast, Etania’s fragility is all out there to see and viewers will be shocked by the girl they meet onscreen.
Her story always makes the entire crew to break down into tears, yet she also lives up to her name – the Life of the Party.
SCRIPTED?
While acknowledging the necessity of direction in reality TV, the producers refute the notion of scripting, emphasizing the importance of authenticity. There is no TV show in the world – not even live sports broadcasts – that is not directed. So yes, even Kampala Creme is expectedly directed; otherwise, the fights between the girls would drag on forever and even become boring.
That premiere episode that you watched on Sunday was not what the directors intended. Etania’s human trafficking story was meant to bethe opener, but the dislike that the girls have for one another made the directors rethink.
The cast was originally supposed to be six girls, but the two that were dropped, according to the producers, were more interested in showing off their unreal ‘fabulous’ lifestyle. Nothing inspirational.
“The worst idea is to script reality TV. You can script in drama. The main star can be shot and he doesn’t die and it is acceptable to the viewer but if you tell a viewer this is reality TV and you script it, the viewer will know,” Ndugwa said.
“We’re not trying to destroy these girls even if we want the juice and the drama. The story of Etania is a huge story which you would probably advise even the greatest enemy not to tell on the show. We encouraged her to tell the story; one, for her to tell the truth and two, for her enemies to stop using it against her and they were even telling it wrong. Three, we also wanted it to end on an inspirational end. That is where directing comes in…If you let the cast share everything, this thing could lose control… We don’t want people to drag her because we were careless. Someone doesn’t lose their life because we were careless…Sometimes if you let it go, it is a mental thing. Someone could commit suicide and that is on us. So, if it sensitive, we have to direct it,” said Judithiana.
If you followed what is considered the first reality show, The American Family that first aired in 1973 and how it dismantled that family, you would understand Judithiana’s stance.
LOCATION CHALLENGES
From South Africans, Kenyans, and British to Rwandans, they all praise Uganda’s vibrant nightlife and the producers say one of the intentions of Kampala Creme is to highlight and show the nice restaurants in Kampala. Hmm. Good luck, especially Mami Deb’s fiancé who calls it the pothole city.
But getting Kampala’s hotels and eateries to allow filming is akin to getting a grant from the president, the producers say. Indian-owned restaurants and hotels are all welcoming, but not the Ugandan managers and owners. Not even for pay.
The Observer understands the state spies at some of these locations are what underscores the complexities of reality TV filming in the country. Kampala Crème is currently showing on DStv/GOtv channels Pearl Magic and Pearl Magic Prime, every Sunday starting at 8pm.
