Boity Thulo gives the lowdown on her new reality show

Boitumelo “Boity” Thulo is one of SA’s most Instagram-followed celebrities, having started her career on a KFC advert, then moving into TV presenting, acting, being a brand ambassador and currently a rapper. Thulo leads a life envied by many.

As the premiere date for her reality show looms closer, platinum-selling Boitumelo “Boity” Thulo is getting ready to embark on a country-wide launch tour for the show.

She announced the news to her excited fanbase last week via Instagram. The Citizen sat with Thulo to get insight into the much-anticipated reality show.

The show, called Boity: Own Your Throne is set to premiere on Wednesday, 5 February 2020 on BET Africa DStv channel 129 at 9.30 CAT and it is the first local celebrity reality TV show to air on the channel.

Thulo’s show is among the number of BET Africa firsts that were announced last year alongside show’s such as Faith Nketsi’s reality show Have Faith and the show’s first local original sitcom Black Tax.

According to the channel, cameras will closely follow Thulo as over the span of 13 episodes as fan questions about how Boity strikes a balance between her business, family, spirituality and music career which has grown exponentially in the past year are answered.

Apart from certain aspects of her love life which have been splashed all over the tabloids and blogs, much of Thulo’s life has been a relative mystery to her fans. When asked why she chose to finally address things head-on, Thulo told the Citizen she thought it was time to take control of her narrative.

“Because now I am finally confident, comfortable in who I am. I think now I’m happy to allow people in and let them see who I truly am aside from what they see in the media.

“The biggest focus is me being me and me owning my narrative which is something I don’t think I’ve really gotten to do intentionally. But I think now, for the first time, I’m owning the narrative and I’m giving it to people of my own accord, the way I want it.”

Main characters in the show will also include Thulo’s mom Modiehi, her manager Bash and entertainment industry novice Bobby Blanco who has been listed as her best-friend-forever (BFF) in reports about the show, much to Thulo’s surprise.

“What?! I did NOT say Bobby is my best friend,” exclaimed Thulo.

“It is not true, that’s for sure. Even in the show I am very clear about the fact that he’s my party mate, he’s my little project, he’s a young person I would like to groom into becoming something more significant with regards to what he wants to do in the media space. He’s not my best friend. Kgale is my best friend,” she added.

Over the years, young women from across the country have been begging Thulo to mentor them and she has deferred their requests each time, owing her decision to the fact that she believes she is not yet in a position to adequately mentor anyone.

When asked if her taking Bobby on as “her little project” means she has changed her mind about this, she maintains “no, I haven’t changed my mind, I’m even busier now!”

“I’d like to do it when I don’t have so much going on because I don’t feel like I’m going to give my all to making sure that this person grows in a certain direction. I’m not ready yet, I still have way too much on my plate.

“I’d love to but maybe a few years from now, I’m still learning myself.”

Part of her being busy comes from her penchant for travel which saw her become the butt of many an entertainment industry joke last year when it was said that her travel made her the most successful rapper with only two songs in circulation as the proceeds from those two songs funded such a lavish and long European tour.

“[On the show] people do get a glimpse of what I do when I’m travelling, when I’m out there but I always say I wish we had started talking about the reality show and started shooting it when I was in Monaco and Italy and France etc but all that came afterwards,” she said, before adding: “At least people saw it on Instagram.”

If the opportunity for more seasons presents itself, Thulo says she would like to see her travels form a big part of the show.

“I mean, I wouldn’t mind… But let’s see how the show goes and then from there we’ll see. There’s obviously going to be so much more travelling in the future. Maybe we will base season 2 on that if there is a season 2.”

What fans will get to see more of, however, is Thulo’s spiritual journey – a fact that has been subject to much speculation since she shared the news after undergoing the process of ukuthwasa in 2016.

“I think people will get to see it on the show without me even having to verbally explain it, you know, that my life continues as is and the spiritual aspect of my life and journey embodies everything that I am and everything else is just a branch of that embodiment.”

“It’s not like when I go somewhere, the spiritual side gets stopped. It’s who I am, it’s spirit, it’s with me, I am it.”

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