Reality bites Toerien

2008-09-19 07:42

Lyle Volkwyn, who is at the centre of the controversy.

Thinus Ferreira

Cape Town - MNet and its reality series High School Musical(HSM): Spotlight SA was plunged into a crisis on Thursday.

In a vindictive and unflattering e-mail, dramatist Pieter Toerien, who appears as "the producer" in the series, tried to raise votes for his personal favourite in the show.

In the e-mail he said that he didn't want Lyle Volkwyn, 21, from Johannesburg to win.

The aim of the reality series is to find the boy and girl that would take the lead roles of Troy and Gabriella in Toerien and Hazel Feldman's stage show, HSM: Live on Stage.

The last live episode will be broadcast on Saturday at 19:00. The musical starts in Cape Town in November and moves to Johannesburg in February.

On Monday morning, Toerien sent a caustic e-mail to an advertising agency in which he raved against Volkwyn.

Toerien starts the e-mail, which is in Die Burger's possession, with: "Victoria, it's a CRISIS!

E-mail circulated widely

"We simply can't have a programme (and advertisements for you) with this kind of talent.

"Lyle, shame, the poor boy can't act and will KILL the programme if he wins. But he has such ENORMOUS church support voting for him.

"He simply has to be voted off tonight! At the moment he leads David by 3 000 votes and that's not good news," wrote Toerien.

The well-known stage impresario made no secret of the fact that he wanted David (Schlachter) to win when he wrote:
"Please circulate this e-mail with for [sic] David to win. Please guys, P."

The e-mail has been circulated widely since Monday and has plunged the channel into a massive credibility crisis.

Die Burger was told by a reliable source that M-Net's chief executive, Patricia Scholtemeyer, had warned staff to not forward Toerien's e-mail to anyone, as it was company property.

Disney, the franchise owner of the programme, has decided to allow M-Net to manage the scandal.

South Africa and M-Net are the first country and broadcaster to get Disney's permission to choose the lead actors for an HSM stage production in a reality competition.

At the time of going to press, Toerien had not responded to media enquiries.

However, a brief media statement from Toerien was sent to Die Burger via M-Net: "I was told that, in a reality series like this, it is not unusual or against the rules for participants' supporters to canvass for votes for their favourites, but in view of my involvement in the programme, it was wrong of me to get involved on that level."

A reliable source told Die Burger that Volkwyn has a large lead in terms of viewer votes compared to the other competitors.

Monday night's live results show was on air when the producers, EdenRage Productions, received confirmation that Toerien had sent the e-mail and what it contained.

The producers hurriedly in a "surprise move" decided that Toerien would not "save" his favourite participant as usual, but that all six participants would go straight through to the final.

Carl Fischer, M-Net's head of local productions, described Toerien's behaviour as "regrettable".

"Toerien is one the most talented, most creative promotors and dramatists in South Africa and is widely respected. Pieter is also the promotor and producer of the stage musical.

For him, in that position, to be openly involved in canvassing for votes for a particular candidate was regrettable.

"But the incident hasn't and will not damage the reputation of the TV series or the winner."

- Die Burger