Executive Producer - Leroux Botha

In this episode, I’m joined by Leroux Botha, the Creative Producer for Cape Town based production company AfrOkaans and Executive Producer for Survivor South Africa. 

Leroux shares his incredible journey in television from his early years working on soap operas, to becoming the instrumental force in returning Survivor South Africa to our screens in recent years. 

Transcript

00:00:02:04 - 00:00:31:19

Hayley Ferguson

Hi, I'm Hayley Ferguson. And this is Beyond Reality, the podcast that explores the world of television production by chatting to the people behind the TV shows you love. In this episode, I'm joined by Laurie Bertha, the creative producer for Cape Town based production company afrOkaans and executive producer for Survivor, South Africa. Laura shares his incredible journey in television from his early years working on soap operas to becoming the instrumental force in returning Survivor South Africa to our screens.

00:00:31:20 - 00:00:42:15

Leroux Botha

The only reason why we are doing Survivor South Africa is because it's I'm obsessed with it. So I think it's one of the greatest accomplishments as a production company and personally as well.

00:00:43:02 - 00:00:43:22

Hayley Ferguson

Hi, Leroux

00:00:44:02 - 00:00:50:00

Leroux Botha

Hey, Hayley. to see you finally. We've been talking about getting together for for a while now, right?

00:00:50:07 - 00:01:07:14

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah, definitely. To anyone that knows me or who has listened to the podcast, I know that Survivor is a show that, you know, is very close to my heart. And I know you have a sort of similar relationship with the show as well. So I'm really looking forward to sort of hearing your story and how you got to where you are now.

00:01:08:06 - 00:01:25:22

Leroux Botha

Thanks. Yeah, it's very, very cool to be on your podcast and I've listened to quite a lot of the episodes and it's it's it's wonderful to have that kind of platform for somebody who is in the industry and who wants to pursue some sort of job within the industry. So thank you for that.

00:01:25:23 - 00:01:26:23

Hayley Ferguson

Thank you.

00:01:27:10 - 00:01:28:17

Leroux Botha

Making the industry better.

00:01:29:20 - 00:01:35:15

Hayley Ferguson

Now, the question I always ask people when they come on the podcast, did you always want to work in TV?

00:01:35:21 - 00:02:04:16

Leroux Botha

Wow. Well, I'm going to start off, you know, way, way back. I grew up in a farm in the middle of South Africa in the free state. And my dad's cousin was an independent filmmaker in the 1980s. He was making movies with black lead actors in the middle of the apartheid years. And my dad's cousin came to the farm to come and shoot one or two scenes for his next upcoming action adventure on the farm.

00:02:04:23 - 00:02:27:03

Leroux Botha

The movie was called The Music Maker, and both my mom and myself and my my brother, who's younger than I am, got to star in this role, had like little bit parts in it. But I have a photograph of myself with the Clapperboard and this is 1983. So this huge clapperboard in the six year old and I was hooked in terms of movie making and television.

00:02:27:04 - 00:02:55:02

Leroux Botha

My dad subsequently bought VHS camera, which they filmed my brother's rugby matches on and our school concerts on. But I over holidays, I would I would kind of get all the cousins together and we would create these action adventure movies on the VHS and kind of we'd film it in sequence so that there's no editing needed. So my one cousin would be the villain and he would steal this doll.

00:02:55:02 - 00:03:13:24

Leroux Botha

And then my other cousin cry and then we change angles and then we have mattresses on the roof and do all of these sequences. So to me, as always, kind of been in the family and in my kind of frame of reference, but it's probably the big bag for my from my dad's cousin that eventually got me into television.

00:03:14:07 - 00:03:27:03

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah, I love that. And that's obviously you know, from such a young age, you are interested in television, I guess as you got older, you know, finishing high school, did you decide to study television? Did you go to university?

00:03:27:07 - 00:03:52:05

Leroux Botha

I went to the University of Johannesburg. It was called the Rand Afrikaans University in 1994 when I went, the only course that was even TV related was a B.A. in communications. But I couldn't take communications because my mark in mathematics was horrendous. I got like a foreign standard grade because I wasn't accepted in the communications class where you had to have math.

00:03:52:05 - 00:04:27:04

Leroux Botha

So I did a B.A. general with English and philosophy as my majors. And then I also decided, you know, if I'm not going to be able to study communications or something that is related to division, then I try and get as much practical work as possible. So I started working at the audiovisual department, at the university, and to this day Christelle, who ran the audiovisual department, we are still very good friends and she's a great producer in South Africa, but she basically taught me everything I started editing on Final Cut for.

00:04:27:10 - 00:04:46:16

Leroux Botha

She was revolutionary at the time. I did the lighting, I did camera, I did all department, you name it. I did it to assist the students who actually were studying the practical side of it. And so I would stay as a student assistant dean to help them. But meanwhile, learning as much as I could.

00:04:47:04 - 00:04:55:05

Hayley Ferguson

You're obviously getting some really amazing practical experience, but could you take me back to that time? Like, what was the state of reality TV.

00:04:55:09 - 00:05:24:06

Leroux Botha

That was basically just before like Survivor came onto our screens? So I was advising from my sweet time, 94 was my first year and I started working in 1986 at the audiovisual department, and then I worked there until the beginning of 2000, and it was just when Survivor was kind of getting onto our screens and they would talks about this new genre of reality show called Survivor.

00:05:24:06 - 00:05:32:24

Leroux Botha

And we only got to see the first season of surviving 2001 in South Africa. It was still a little bit kind of behind the time.

00:05:33:07 - 00:05:39:20

Hayley Ferguson

So when you were watching Survivor, it was kind of a year after it actually went to, you know, all the parts of the world.

00:05:40:02 - 00:05:55:03

Leroux Botha

Exactly. But I mean, I was intrigued by the premise. So the Internet was, you know, starting off. And so I did quite a lot of research before the show started. And then when the show started, completely hooked from day one.

00:05:55:20 - 00:06:13:10

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah, I can definitely relate to being hooked. You know, you were talking about how it was sort of the rise of the Internet at that time. And I remember I was 12 years old and there was three of us who were obsessed with this new show, Survivor in Australia. I think we were about 12 hours behind, like they were actually fast tracking it back then as well.

00:06:13:10 - 00:06:35:04

Hayley Ferguson

And one of our friends, her brother, he was kind of all into like building websites and all that kind of stuff. And I remember the day of finale coming to school that day, and she told us, like all Richard wins to this day, like one of my friends and I, it's like we've never forgiven us for ruining that moment.

00:06:35:04 - 00:06:54:14

Leroux Botha

Yeah, it's it's a terrible thing if you get spoiled on a season like that, especially on your favorite show. It kind of happened this season of Australian Survivor. It's me as well. I was spoiled, so I was actually enjoying the show for. For what? It was the great piece of television that it was. Yeah, it's, it's it's unfortunate.

00:06:54:14 - 00:07:21:14

Leroux Botha

But, you know, I think also what has changed since then is and I don't know if it is the different kind of outlooks on how TV is being consumed nowadays, especially the younger generation. They don't mind being spoiled. They say, Tell me what happened and tell me how it happened, and then I'll go and watch it for myself and see if if what you told me.

00:07:21:14 - 00:07:43:23

Leroux Botha

So that's kind of the mentality that I'm kind of picking up nowadays on it, specifically on on reality television is I don't mind who wins. You can tell me who wins, but I would like to find out on my own how it happened and follow that narrative. And that's it's a it's a weird kind of part of where we are nowadays in terms of reality television and producing for reality television.

00:07:44:08 - 00:08:01:23

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah, definitely. When you say that you were back in 2001, you were watching Survivor go to air and you were sort of hooked from the beginning at this time, what area of television were you planning on going into and like did that make you sort of change tact?

00:08:01:23 - 00:08:27:18

Leroux Botha

Well, and I met my now husband and owner of our company, Afrokaans Handrie Basson , in June of 2000. It was literally two months later that that survivor started airing in South Africa. By October that year we bought a house and we moved in in Johannesburg, and we moved into the property next to the CFO of a big production company called France Marks Films.

00:08:27:18 - 00:08:47:16

Leroux Botha

funnily enough, at that point I was a runner and it was my first TV job as a runner at a soap opera called 7de Laan, which is Seventh Avenue. And it was it's like the neighbours of South Africa. It's it's the same kind of that institution, soap opera. And I was a runner. I was just starting out.

00:08:48:02 - 00:09:10:11

Leroux Botha

And one of the leads on the show was Nico Panagio who is a young Nico Panagio, this brand new actor. And he was playing this very suave guy. So I met Nico on my first job. On his first job as well. So we've we've been coming along quite a long time now anyway. So that's basically where I started off with.

00:09:10:14 - 00:09:17:03

Hayley Ferguson

For anyone listening that doesn't know who Nico is, Nico is obviously the host of Survivor South Africa.

00:09:17:03 - 00:09:42:00

Leroux Botha

Yeah. And that's that's true. So it's funny how we were actually reminiscing about it the other day, how how long we've been in each other's lives, which is amazing. And then after we moved in next to Kathy, she, she said to me, but there's a and opening in the art department at Egoli Place of Gold, which is the other staple soap in South Africa.

00:09:42:03 - 00:10:03:10

Leroux Botha

I applied and I got into the art department and I was a stage racer for two years there and then kind of worked my way up in, trained as a floor manager and later on trained as a multicam director for soap opera. And then around the same time is when Survivor South Africa the first season went to a which I applied for.

00:10:04:02 - 00:10:04:06

Leroux Botha

Yeah.

00:10:04:22 - 00:10:06:12

Hayley Ferguson

Oh, I love that.

00:10:06:18 - 00:10:25:19

Leroux Botha

It's such a stupid story because at the time Survivor South Africa only had paper entries and I filled in that paper entry like it was, you know, it like it was a job interview with all the right answers that I thought they were looking for. And I didn't even get a call back on season one.

00:10:26:19 - 00:10:38:17

Hayley Ferguson

A paper entry is such a tricky thing. I feel like you cannot get like a vibe for a person of the application. I always feel like you watched the video and then you read the the application.

00:10:38:17 - 00:11:01:21

Leroux Botha

You know exactly who that person is the first time that you see them on camera. I don't understand how they cast that season. Yeah, the next season, season two, I entered again that had the same paper entry form. This time I actually did a three minute video which I burned to CD and I had the paper entry and I put it all in and like a denim bag.

00:11:01:21 - 00:11:25:15

Leroux Botha

And then I had a full size cardboard cut out. I'm six foot three, so I'm quite tall, and I had a full size cardboard cut out of myself. I had a photoshoot and in the outfit that I would get marooned in and I had an old buff on my arm and I had this denim bag slung over the shoulder of this cardboard cut out.

00:11:25:15 - 00:11:33:11

Leroux Botha

And I had that delivered to M-Net, which made an impression. And it's to this day, it's quite a funny way of kind of entering for the show.

00:11:33:11 - 00:11:36:08

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah, that's true. To do that.

00:11:36:09 - 00:11:59:19

Leroux Botha

For me, those those type of ideas are important because it shows that you think out of the box, you are unorthodox in the way that you approach. And I suppose that's kind of who I am as well. I mean, I'm a little bit, you know, left field, a little bit unorthodox in terms of my thinking. And and I do think that got me seen by the producers.

00:11:59:19 - 00:12:12:11

Leroux Botha

I was Endemol South Africa that was still producing Survivor. It was season 1 to 5 and I do think they saw me just to somebody who's thinking out of the box. Yeah said.

00:12:13:20 - 00:12:15:24

Hayley Ferguson

You are so ahead of your time though.

00:12:16:05 - 00:12:16:17

Leroux Botha

You think.

00:12:17:07 - 00:12:40:13

Hayley Ferguson

I mean to do that with your application. Yeah, I think that's like, you know, it's really innovative like at the time, especially when they're not even asking for a video and you went above and beyond. I think there's a risk now that you say that you think standing out and doing things like that makes an impact because you might have a thousand like giant cut outs of people trying to get onto Survivor South Africa coming your way.

00:12:40:20 - 00:13:03:05

Leroux Botha

Yeah, it's a it's a funny thing because the reason why I didn't get onto season two was, was the fact that Handrie was at the time. We've been together then for five years and before he started Afrikaans, he was the PR manager for M-Net. So when the CEO of the company saw me in the final casting, he said, No way, it's conflict of interest.

00:13:03:06 - 00:13:40:17

Leroux Botha

So and that kind of forced me to think how, how can I be involved in Survivor? Because at that point I had no experience in reality television whatsoever. Yeah, I was a multicam drama director on a soap opera, so I knew what was expected from reality producers and directors, but I had zero reality experience. I just wanted to be a part of Survivor, so I tried my best to kind of get in there and try and be as as visible as I can with the possibility that if I can't play, then I'd like to work on it.

00:13:40:24 - 00:13:49:24

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah. And what was it about Survivor that made you want to apply? Did you just want to be on TV or was it more about the adventure, the game?

00:13:50:04 - 00:14:12:02

Leroux Botha

I think for me it was about the game. I do like a strategy, games and so forth. And to me, I think that the biggest thing was because I was in TV, I wanted to be on the show to use my knowledge of how a show is produced to win the show that makes you.

00:14:12:12 - 00:14:14:11

Hayley Ferguson

Better to game the system.

00:14:14:11 - 00:14:33:24

Leroux Botha

I wanted I wanted to play production, which is the worst thing that you can do for anybody ever wants to into Survivor. But yeah, I wanted to play production. I, I think I still say to my video, I know what is expected of me in terms of a television product, and I know that there is a certain level of showmanship that is needed.

00:14:34:05 - 00:14:48:02

Leroux Botha

And I think I can bring that. And, and I and because of my knowledge of how television is made, I think that will be in my advantage, which I think is also one of the reasons why I got as far as I did with that entry. So yeah, yeah.

00:14:48:22 - 00:15:05:01

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah. You know, if you're meeting with casting directors or executive producers there, obviously made it very far down the casting road. And obviously when they found out your relationship with Andre meant that, you know, there was a conflict of interest and you couldn't go on the show, does that come up in fights?

00:15:05:02 - 00:15:37:17

Leroux Botha

Not at all. Yeah. Mean I don't fight. It's just a very weird thing because we are in each other's company 24/7, people can't always understand it, but we work together beautifully. I think that the big thing that happened there was that I realized that you don't you can't always get what you want, but you can try and make things go in your direction by being tenacious and being a little bit unorthodox and, you know, working the system a little bit.

00:15:37:17 - 00:15:59:22

Leroux Botha

And I think that's one of the reasons why I then got onto season three of Survivor, South Africa. The director of the show at that point interviewed me and he asked me all these questions about what you would normally ask a story producer or a content producer on how would you handle stuff on an island and what type of questions would you ask?

00:15:59:22 - 00:16:26:17

Leroux Botha

And because I didn't have that experience, I kind of sucked some stories out of my thumb and I kind of went that this is I imagined it would be. And later years, I worked with him again on, on MasterChef and he told me that I was his third choice to actually get that position. The story producer for for that season and my mom always said bronze is also on the podium.

00:16:26:17 - 00:16:55:11

Leroux Botha

So just just take the win. And that's kind of how I got onto Survivor and and that season was we shot it in Mozambique and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I got to know amazing Crew that I still work with today. I got to meet the format custodian for Survivor, who later on when we took over for season six, I contacted personally and said, Hey, listen, what's up with the format?

00:16:55:11 - 00:17:06:00

Leroux Botha

So it's all these little kind of little twists and turns that you take in your career and the chances that you take that that actually get you to that position that you really wanted.

00:17:06:09 - 00:17:14:13

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah. So it was in meeting people through the casting process that actually set you up to eventually work on the show the next season.

00:17:14:13 - 00:17:29:09

Leroux Botha

Yeah, absolutely. And once I got onto the show, it literally took me three days to understand what is expected from me as a as a content producer, as a and it was I had so much joy. It really was quite fun.

00:17:29:13 - 00:17:42:14

Hayley Ferguson

So when you say you were a content producer, I guess just because it might mean something different in Australia. So content producer, is that essentially like a story producer you're interviewing the contestants following the story out there?

00:17:42:22 - 00:18:20:20

Leroux Botha

Yeah. So we were initially called content directors, but the term has changed in the past couple of years, kind of making it a little bit more streamlined. So in the in South Africa, we would call them content producers in Australia you referred to them as story producers and I believe in the US they, they called segment producers. But essentially the person who sits down with the contestants, do the interviews and have that conversation and follow the stories that that kind of come out during the day and then report that back to them for content.

00:18:20:20 - 00:18:24:24

Leroux Botha

So that's kind of how we do it. You may say so. Yes.

00:18:25:04 - 00:18:40:04

Hayley Ferguson

That totally makes sense. So you went from basically being a multicam director on a soap opera to working as a content producer on Survivor. How did that role that you were initially doing translate once you got to the island?

00:18:40:11 - 00:19:01:23

Leroux Botha

I was actually full on multi-camera directors. So with that is and you have three cameras on the floor, how it basically works is you plot the shots and say that you want to cut from this camera to this camera on this line of dialog. And you going from an image shot here to an MCU here, and then you go to closeup on this camera.

00:19:01:23 - 00:19:26:24

Leroux Botha

And basically what happens is the three cameras on the floor have have you shot list and the box producer then calls the shots in the control room and they basically adjust the shot. So the entire scene in the soap opera is shot in one take. But you have basically a rough edit of that scene done in in the control room.

00:19:26:24 - 00:19:59:05

Leroux Botha

So the lighting has happened for for both sides of the conversation. So when I talk about it being a multicam director, it's knowing the art of using multiple cameras to record a scene at once. And I think what happened for me because of that knowledge that I had as a multicam director, it translated directly to what was happening on the island where you had multiple cameras, and there was a scene that took place.

00:19:59:13 - 00:20:21:22

Leroux Botha

And in my head I knew this camera is getting that angle. This camera is getting that angle. And what do I need to tell this story? What do I need? And then you would be able to kind of go to your reality camera operator and say, I need a wide shot non sync, wide shot from this side so that we have something to cut to.

00:20:22:02 - 00:20:43:20

Leroux Botha

I think having that basis as a soap opera director and translating that into the soap opera, which is sometimes what is happening on the island, and Survivor helped me a lot. It really kind of focused my attention in terms of how a scene is kind of put together. I'm one of those people that that is referred to in the industry as a predator.

00:20:44:18 - 00:21:05:10

Leroux Botha

I'm a producer, editor, director. So because I know how it works and how the producing side of it of of a story works and how to direct it, I think that that all kind of worked together to help me be a good story producer on Survivor.

00:21:05:10 - 00:21:24:15

Hayley Ferguson

So yeah. Wow. I mean, that sounds like an amazing experience to sort of to, to take with you. Obviously, you've had an amazing career spanning many years. Are you able to talk through some key moments of your career from starting in reality TV as a content producer on Survivor? What happened next for you?

00:21:25:05 - 00:21:51:21

Leroux Botha

So all of this Season three, which was my first season and my first kind of foray into reality television, is in fall came around for Survivor, South Africa, and we had a new director and he contacted hundred because they've worked on format development together previously and he contacted Handrie and said to him, I want you as the head of department for full content.

00:21:52:05 - 00:22:24:10

Leroux Botha

He basically told Handrie that he knew the job was actually supposed to come to me, but that he needed me on the island, which is kind of a very side side, right government. I'll take it. So he and I actually went and worked on season four together in the Maldives, which was phenomenal. And after that survivor, South Africa went on a bit of I just it's a tale as old as time that Survivor Africa goes on haiatus at some point I was series director for a TV game show he and I worked together on Come Dine with Me.

00:22:24:17 - 00:22:48:01

Leroux Botha

And then came Master Chef South Africa. We did two seasons together. I worked on three seasons of the show. We had so much fun on the show. It really was like a whole different ballgame from working on Survivor. But in the same vein, it's so much fun to work on new positive content. I was one of the content producers for the first season and then Handrie directed the second season.

00:22:48:01 - 00:23:12:07

Leroux Botha

I became head of department of Content, and then in between afrOkaans as a production company, we had a daily ten minute gossip show that we were producing. And it was at this point that Handrie was asked to write a feature form for a new format that one of the afrOkaans channels in in South Africa, where we're starting to work on.

00:23:12:07 - 00:23:27:24

Leroux Botha

And they asked me to direct this feature film. So we went back to the drama kind of side of it, which was a lovely experience, but it's one of the hardest things I've done in my life. I really then after that got involved in afrOkaans as a production company.

00:23:28:08 - 00:23:33:18

Hayley Ferguson

So this is the company that you and your husband set up essentially?

00:23:33:18 - 00:23:59:14

Leroux Botha

Absolutely. So afrOkaans started in 2006. And Handrie is the sole owner still, but I am the creative director. The I do a lot of format development, especially on the creative side of the business I produce, I edit, I direct. And then in 2015, we actually got our first big reality show commissioned, which Nico Panagio, then host of Survivor, South Africa.

00:23:59:20 - 00:24:25:00

Leroux Botha

He actually brought the format to us and we pitched it to him. The format was called Power Couple. Oh, it's such a fun format. And so it's, it's a feel good reality format. You have eight couples in a house. They have individual challenges where the one partner has to bet on the other partner if they can finish a challenge, they get 50,000 rand and then they have to make that amount on their partner finishing a challenge.

00:24:25:00 - 00:24:44:02

Leroux Botha

And then next cycle they swap around and then there's a couples challenge. At the end of it. And then the couple with the lowest amount of money and the loser of the couples challenge will then battle it out in the elimination. Nico introduced us to this and say you as associate producer, I'm on the show as well. And that actually brought us to Cape Town.

00:24:44:02 - 00:24:52:10

Leroux Botha

So it's a lovely format and we produced that for M-Net and it was Oh, it's still one of my favorite formats besides Survivor.

00:24:53:13 - 00:24:55:20

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah, it sounds like a great format.

00:24:55:23 - 00:25:00:03

Leroux Botha

Yeah, that's kind of how afrOkaans came to Cape Town.

00:25:00:10 - 00:25:06:18

Hayley Ferguson

So afrOkaans as a production company was now working in the reality TV space. What happened next?

00:25:06:21 - 00:25:42:24

Leroux Botha

Just after we finished shooting the Power Couple, we were approached by a new channel to produce lifestyle stuff and we did like almost 2500 hours of lifestyle content that we produce, brand new content of which the one was a reality show where I was the host. So we bought a food truck. And basically what happened was because of my connections with MasterChef and so forth, we were looking for a new menu for this food truck that I know in my forties.

00:25:43:09 - 00:26:07:01

Leroux Botha

My mid-life crisis have gotten so I would cook with my culinary heroes in the Western Cape. We did two seasons of that and that was quite fun. It was nice to be behind the scenes. The second season I directed myself, which is weird because you would see the camera operators in in the shots and I would kind of go, Alright, let's, let's get a close up on this.

00:26:07:08 - 00:26:12:12

Leroux Botha

It's a, it's a very kind of real behind the scenes kind of reality show.

00:26:12:24 - 00:26:15:21

Hayley Ferguson

If you will, on camera, but also dramas on camera.

00:26:16:03 - 00:26:41:01

Leroux Botha

Yeah, it was a little bit bizarre, but it was quite fun. So we did two seasons of that and a whole host of other kind of lifestyle type shows. But yeah, the development side of it is mostly what I do nowadays. I develop new seasons of Survivor, so that is happening in the background, although we haven't been commissioned for it for a new season yet.

00:26:41:07 - 00:26:53:24

Leroux Botha

I'm constantly working on a presentation for some sort of pitch, for some sort of show that we are about to do. So yeah, yeah. It's it's a lot of a lot of development, which is great.

00:26:54:06 - 00:27:15:22

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah. Wow. It sounds like, you know, you have such a broad role and broad range of experience. And let's talk about Survivor, South Africa. You are now the executive producer on the show. Can you talk me through how that actually came about and how your production company came to be producing the show?

00:27:16:02 - 00:27:43:18

Leroux Botha

So in 2016, Survivor had been off the air for four years and then I was very cheeky. I emailed the format custodian and and I said, Hi, remember me? Met you in Mozambique, in Maldives and in Malaysia. Our production company is interested in acquiring the rights to Survivor. Is it available? She came back to us and and said, Yes, it is.

00:27:43:18 - 00:28:09:17

Leroux Botha

And basically what we did was acquire the rights. And we went to M-Net. We said, listen, we want to do Survivor, we want to produce Survivor, but as afrOkaans and we'll do it as an IFB, as an advertising funded production. So all we want from you is a letter of intent to say, yes, we want to take it, we'll broadcast it and we'll give you the space on it, and then we'll find the money for it.

00:28:09:17 - 00:28:34:16

Leroux Botha

That's kind of how we went into it and we met with all the kind of key role players at it, and they basically came back to us and said, No, we don't want an AFP on Survivor, we want we want to produce it, so we'll commission it. But because we are taking a chance on you, you are going to have to pay off of the format fee, which is a lot of money.

00:28:34:23 - 00:28:46:02

Leroux Botha

So we ended up paying half of the format fee for season six and seven to prove ourselves as the producers of Survivor. Do you have skin in the game? Because. Because the project is so expensive.

00:28:46:09 - 00:28:46:23

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah.

00:28:46:24 - 00:29:06:20

Leroux Botha

Yeah. If anybody's interested. If you go to our website, afrOkaans that's zero zero. I did a whole blog post on on how exactly. So it's there's a little bit more detail in there, but it's quite a fun read if anybody's interested. Yeah. So that's that's how we got Survivor. South Africa is back on the screens for season six.

00:29:06:20 - 00:29:18:23

Hayley Ferguson

So you basically wanted to reach out and find out whether the format was available to be produced. Did that come from, you know, your own passion for the show and having worked on it the past?

00:29:19:09 - 00:29:42:16

Leroux Botha

Yeah, exactly that. And it was what I was talking about earlier about doing the unorthodox and kind of, you know, taking a chance here and there. It was literally my my obsession. And Handrie and other business partner, Darren Lindsay, who's the other executive producer on Survivor, South Africa, will tell you that it's the only reason why we are doing Survivor South Africa is because it's I'm obsessed with it.

00:29:42:16 - 00:29:47:08

Leroux Botha

So it's it's exactly that. It's my obsession.

00:29:48:03 - 00:29:58:06

Hayley Ferguson

Wow. That's an incredible story. And I mean, for you and your production company, when you first started making that, was that the biggest reality format you'd ever sort of taken on?

00:29:58:14 - 00:30:17:22

Leroux Botha

100%? And and I think it will kind of forever be the biggest one. Like I said, complete obsession with Survivor. So it's a big thing for us to produce. And I think it's one of the greatest accomplishments that we've ever had as a production company and personally as well.

00:30:18:08 - 00:30:38:05

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah. And when you, you know, you got the news that you'd essentially been commissioned and you were going to be creating this next season of South African Survivor. What did you want to bring to the table in your mind? How did you want to put your own stamp on the next season of Survivor, South Africa?

00:30:38:13 - 00:31:07:23

Leroux Botha

I think the biggest thing that we we brought in the video casting that we were talking about earlier for season six. That was the first time that South Africans could actually put themselves on camera and send us a video of themselves and present themselves as as the characters for us. The two big things about Survivor South Africa that is very important to us is costing and the framework that within which the cost needs to play.

00:31:07:23 - 00:31:38:13

Leroux Botha

So for us, the casting process has always been of paramount importance. We have to put the best people on cameras, the biggest characters, the ones who are going to make the best television and then give them the framework to play in and the finest framework for them to play. And I've had long conversations about why 39 days is so important and kind of the sweet spot for for us at Survivor, South Africa.

00:31:39:01 - 00:32:00:03

Leroux Botha

It gives them enough time to immerse themselves in the game without having to rush through the show like the US is doing at the moment. And the 26 day thing for me in the US at the moment is it's just too fast. We've also done a 27 day season on season three, four and five and the contestants just get exhausted.

00:32:00:03 - 00:32:24:23

Leroux Botha

So mentally and physically they did, bjt towards the end of the season there's not much happening because every moment that they can rest, they rest. So there's not a lot of game play where with 39 day season they are island days in between that you give your contestants some sort of rest and then that's where the interesting stories start happening.

00:32:25:07 - 00:32:52:09

Leroux Botha

It's where the paranoia sinks in. It's where the cross chats happen in terms of alliances and so forth. So ideally for me and I know it's sometimes a budget thing, but that also kind of pops in in terms of how many days do you actually put on an island, but do you have that immersive game? I think 39 days is always kind of been that big thing.

00:32:52:18 - 00:32:56:11

Leroux Botha

The other thing is costing it's it's it's super important.

00:32:56:19 - 00:33:08:10

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah, I know what you mean compared to what the US is doing in terms of a shorter game. Like it's just the ability to let it breathe and give the players the time to actually play the game.

00:33:09:01 - 00:33:10:15

Leroux Botha

Exactly. Exactly.

00:33:11:05 - 00:33:22:05

Hayley Ferguson

There's a lot of love for Survivor, South Africa into nationally. People really love what you're doing. What do you think it is that resonates so well with the fans?

00:33:22:12 - 00:33:45:12

Leroux Botha

I think it has a lot to do with it with kind of almost in, I want to say purity of the game that the O.G. player of the game. I think that that has a lot to do with it. I think people do love the characters that because I think the storytelling is authentic. We don't try and surprise the audience always.

00:33:45:18 - 00:34:26:07

Leroux Botha

It's the stories they're that you have to kind of you have to kind of create some sort of a story to surprise the audience at the end as sometimes that feels inauthentic. And and we wanted to try and keep it as authentic and as real as it happened on the island as possible. And that being said, there has been so many wonderful changes in terms of how you approach storylines, specifically with Survivor, South Africa, that it is changing in a sense of you are you are giving that, that authentic storyline, but with a little bit of a twist to it.

00:34:26:13 - 00:34:57:17

Leroux Botha

I think the big thing about Survivor in South Africa is the fact that we we don't try and overproduce the contestants. It's the editors is fairly fair towards everybody. If you are looking at gameplay, you sort of know exactly where everybody's sitting at. And I think that has a lot to do with with the authentic ness of of of what we are trying to do with the show, which is very important for me as well.

00:34:58:08 - 00:35:02:22

Leroux Botha

We have to be authentic not only in the show, but in life as well.

00:35:03:15 - 00:35:37:04

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah, definitely. And I think that's one of the best things about Survivor is that it is very authentic and people still ask me like, Oh, is this show scripted? And it's not! Like and that's the best thing about it. I think always the best moments are always the things that you never expect. And if we as producers sitting in the control room and, you know, we're shocked, all our hearts are racing, then you know that like when the audience sees that they're going to have that same feeling.

00:35:37:04 - 00:35:56:16

Hayley Ferguson

And that's what's so special about it, I think, is the unpredictable nature. You know, as much planning that goes into making these kind of shows, at the end of the day, you don't know if someone is going to play an idol. You don't know who's going to find that idol. You don't know what's going to happen. And it's always like those are the most exciting moments on set.

00:35:56:19 - 00:36:01:06

Hayley Ferguson

And it it's definitely one of those things that does translate on television.

00:36:01:06 - 00:36:24:19

Leroux Botha

And it's giving the castaways that you have cost the freedom to actually make those moments for television, which is so important because they need to be creative with a game within that structure that you've put out there. And, and you are 100 per saying, it's, it's those moments of are they going to play this idol.

00:36:25:09 - 00:36:38:01

Leroux Botha

What is going to happen if they don't what is going to happen if they do? And those jaw drop moments that that made us fall in love with the format from the start. So it's, it's, it's it's wonderful.

00:36:38:08 - 00:36:58:09

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah. And I think, you know, you're right. I think something that South African Survivor does very well is, is the casting. And my husband, we've been watching some of the seasons and my husband he's he wanted me to tell you that he loves Chappies. So we're very sad with I don't want to spoil it for it. Well, it was it's been on air for long enough now.

00:36:58:09 - 00:37:04:08

Hayley Ferguson

But obviously when Chappies went home in the second episode of the latest season, he was very disappointed.

00:37:04:12 - 00:37:39:13

Leroux Botha

It broke my heart and he he is is such a showman and he's such a gentleman as well. And he was such a trooper when he really actually was voted out in and came out. Yeah. It also broke our heart because you don't want to lose that big a character that early in a season. And, you know, it's terrible to kind of lose one of one of your stars, but just to kind of open up the game in terms of other players playing it was a wonderful first in that regard is sad wonderful.

00:37:39:17 - 00:37:40:03

Leroux Botha

Yeah.

00:37:40:03 - 00:38:01:09

Hayley Ferguson

And it's definitely one of those things like, you know, you are really sad when you lose someone that you had high hopes for or you know, they're an amazing character. But that's what happens. It opens the game. For someone else to shine and Survivor is such a good format that yeah, other people will shine and there's so many opportunities for other people to do amazing things in the game.

00:38:01:23 - 00:38:05:08

Leroux Botha

Absolutely. And that's why we love the show.

00:38:05:22 - 00:38:33:10

Hayley Ferguson

Now, Jeff Probst has recently come out on his new podcast, he's been talking about the fact that for him, he doesn't like to watch similar shows to Survivor. And I'm assuming that counts, as, you know, international formats as well. So Australian Survivor and Survivor, South Africa, he's not watching and that's for his own creative process because when he's making editorial decisions, he doesn't want that to interfere with his creative process, I guess.

00:38:33:10 - 00:38:35:07

Hayley Ferguson

What's your stance on that?

00:38:35:16 - 00:39:00:14

Leroux Botha

I watch and I taking as much as I can specifically on Survivor, and they say imitation is the highest form of compliment. So for me, I feel that. And it's it's also where creativity stems from. So they are no new ideas. There's just new forms of executing old ideas. And that's very true for me specifically with Survivor. I watch everything.

00:39:00:14 - 00:39:33:15

Leroux Botha

I, I watch Mexican Survivor. I watch Koh-Lanta, which is the French version. I watch all that. The Australian Survivor, the US survivor. I take taking as much of it as possible because it's watching those other iterations that just sparks an idea that that you can put into your season and make the season great. It's taking from other iterations of the show and using that to to your own advantage.

00:39:33:16 - 00:39:58:02

Leroux Botha

Like, for instance with season nine of Survivor South Africa, we use the outpost which was from the New Zealand season iteration, and it worked so well for us just to have that other part of the universe that is unique and different. And if we were closed off to all of the others, we would not have that freedom of playing around and coming up with new ideas.

00:39:58:11 - 00:40:18:04

Leroux Botha

That being said, I do think that at some point new ideas will be flighted to the US. That would come from other other iterations of the show. It might not come from Jeff himself, but I do believe that there's other people in the room that that do watch the other iterations and kind of go, ooh, that could be nice.

00:40:18:04 - 00:40:54:15

Leroux Botha

Maybe if we tweak it like that and then I can predict if it'll happen. But I mean, why? Why not the casual viewers of, us survivor is never going to watch international versions. So if they get a great idea from South Africa or from Thailand, the French version or Sweden's Expedition Robinson or any of the other iterations and they work it in, it's going to look like an original idea to us, and it's only the fans who are going to know that it is a different idea that that kind of came through.

00:40:54:15 - 00:41:18:17

Leroux Botha

So yeah, I mean like for instance, that concept of tied destinies that we had in Survivor. So that for season eight we're at ten, we paired the contestants up, they were five pairs. And for the rest of that cycle, they played together, they won reward together, and they were up for elimination together. And if the one partner got voted out, the other partner got voted out as well.

00:41:19:02 - 00:41:19:22

Hayley Ferguson

So brutal.

00:41:20:18 - 00:41:50:08

Leroux Botha

It's brutal. But that is that has been a staple on on the French version of Survivor since the 22nd season. And they're now at season 29. And that's that's where I got the idea. They do it every season. It's I've had ten or 12 that there's tied destiny's and it's for me yes it didn't work great in season eight but that you know if there's some other iteration on that, it makes for great gameplay, it makes for interesting viewing.

00:41:50:08 - 00:42:18:00

Leroux Botha

And I think using other's iterations of the show as a basis for your creativity or coming up with new ideas or recreating ideas. And I'm all for it. And yeah, the other thing that I also want to just add here is that my DMS are open to people. In fact, if people have ideas, I would love to hear from other people about ideas.

00:42:18:00 - 00:43:00:15

Leroux Botha

And there's one chap and he has been sending me new challenge ideas almost nonstop since the end of season nine. And that's amazing because he that's his passion. He's he wants to come up with great challenge idea which are fresh and new and I, I will give him an end credit if I use one of these challenges. And that's kind of the deal that I've done and something like diplomatic immunity, which is one of our things, was an idea from a Twitter follower that kind of reached out AJ Max and he said, What about this?

00:43:00:21 - 00:43:07:09

Leroux Botha

And we used it. And he created at the end of that episode, which it is introduced in.

00:43:07:15 - 00:43:17:17

Hayley Ferguson

So that's actually really funny because I was actually just watching that episode the other day. I have been pitching a similar concept called Diplomatic Immunity on Australian Survivor for years.

00:43:18:16 - 00:43:39:03

Leroux Botha

Oh my word. That's a nice. Yeah, and diplomatic immunity works like a charm. It said it's a it's now a kind of staple in survivor South Africa for the past three seasons. So yeah and we'll definitely be using that again. And there's no reason why something like that couldn't be introduced in Australian Survivor or in US survivor for that matter.

00:43:39:12 - 00:43:53:24

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah. And I mean you were talking about, you know, how different twists make their way around. Even if someone like Jeff Probst isn't watching The Birdcage twist is actually similar to something we had Pandora's Box in 5. Yeah.

00:43:54:13 - 00:44:07:22

Leroux Botha

And Nick opened up and I loved that. I really thought that was such a clever idea and such a clever way of doing it. And yeah, and now that we have The Birdcage, I.

00:44:07:22 - 00:44:29:13

Hayley Ferguson

The Survivor community, the fans, they're like no other show. Like, I've never seen the passion that Survivor fans have for any other show. You've already mentioned that your DMS are open. You listen to other people's ideas, which is amazing and as I'm assuming you do, but as the show is going to air, are you following what the fans are saying?

00:44:29:19 - 00:44:52:00

Leroux Botha

Yes, I follow what the fans are saying. It's it's very hard to be objective when they're watching their favorite show and they don't agree with something that was said. So people are mean sometimes. But I would rather get constructive criticism about something that we do on the show. People shouldn't just hate it. And you give me a solution on how you how you want to fix something that you don't like.

00:44:52:09 - 00:45:20:20

Leroux Botha

Don't just criticize. Don't just say, I can hate this or what, whatever. Excuse my language. But rather than just say I hate this, how about if you change it like this? But when somebody says to me to hide something and I kind of switch off if there's nothing constructive coming out of it. So as much as I listen to that, to what's going on and and follow what is going on, I'm also a little bit of a duck.

00:45:20:20 - 00:45:25:18

Leroux Botha

If if something is too bad, I'm just going to let it roll off.

00:45:25:19 - 00:45:46:06

Hayley Ferguson

So you might not have an answer to this, but has there been a time where you've shot a season of Survivor, South Africa? You've had this twist that you've thought was amazing and you really liked and it's just been panned online or, you know, the feedback has been really negative towards.

00:45:46:14 - 00:46:13:10

Leroux Botha

That specifically Tied Destinies We got so much flack at the time. - because it's unfair and it's so wrong to Amy and it's and they couldn't there was no way for them to play out of that. And that's it's not true. If you are a savvy Survivor player, you will take something like that. But that comes to you and take it and make the best out of it.

00:46:13:11 - 00:46:35:24

Leroux Botha

There's always a way of looking at whatever is thrown in your direction as part of the framework of the game and making it work for you. It's it's the same thing that happened with season nine and where, Spoiler alert. Shona and Seamus made their own idols and hid it at Tribal Council. Never Seen it before, never seen it before.

00:46:36:00 - 00:46:51:22

Leroux Botha

And all that Shona needs to do is go go to the front. She doesn't need to open it. She just needs to take out that little bag and go and sit down. It's implicit immunity and that's her creativity that actually came up with that. The same as Seamus. Oh, he needed to do was walk and go and vote.

00:46:52:02 - 00:47:12:02

Leroux Botha

Come back, grab the bag go and sit down with the bag in front of him and he has implicit immunity and he went up first to go and vote that day. So there's this clever ways of the contestants to take whatever is given in the framework by production for them to use and and turn it on on themselves.

00:47:12:09 - 00:47:29:11

Leroux Botha

It's thinking out of the box and how am I going to make this thing work for me? So yeah, it's, it's, I always want to let the players do the playing and, and have as little interruption from production as possible.

00:47:29:13 - 00:47:54:06

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah. No. And I think sometimes the negative feedback online is based on the outcome that someone didn't like versus the actual twist. It's like if a twist happens and that, you know, that particular person that's tweeting online liked what happened, like to went home or how it affected someone's game, then it becomes their positive about the twist and then, you know, vise versa.

00:47:54:06 - 00:47:58:22

Hayley Ferguson

I think that's sometimes where some of the negative feedback comes.

00:48:00:19 - 00:48:27:14

Leroux Botha

I mean, social media has changed how we produce television nowadays. It's it really has such a huge influence in what we put on screen and how we are how we perceive what people would say about it and and so forth. So yeah, it's it's a it's a yin yang moment between you need it and do you want it?

00:48:28:02 - 00:48:50:01

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah. And I've heard you speak before about the budget constraint of Survivor South Africa in direct comparison to, I guess US Survivor and then to some extent Australian survivor as well. If South African survivor had a larger budget to play with as an executive producer, like what would you want to do with that additional budget?

00:48:50:10 - 00:49:15:11

Leroux Botha

For us, it's it's as Afrikaans as the production company. It's it's super important that whatever the whatever money we have, we put on screen, it's kind of one of our mottos is put the money on screen. So you want to use as much of of the budget and give the best product to to the broadcaster or that the funder.

00:49:15:16 - 00:49:47:22

Leroux Botha

And so as we've been shooting on WS for however long on Survivor and I would I would love to kind of put some of that budget into going a little bit more high end with with the cameras go. So it's only if it's Nine's maybe for reality cameras and trying to find out if if the technical part of it can be upgraded to like 4K and slo mo cameras on the beach so that, you know, you can literally then you don't need specialty cameras to kind of go around.

00:49:48:17 - 00:50:13:16

Leroux Botha

I think if there's more budget, it would probably go into something that would that the end product would benefit from. For us, South Africans worked extremely hard. We have a crew of 140 on season nine for Survivor. South Africa with the US is usually about 440. I don't know Australia. How many crew members do you guys sit on?

00:50:13:21 - 00:50:16:02

Leroux Botha

Usually 300, 300.

00:50:16:23 - 00:50:18:21

Hayley Ferguson

300 ish? Yeah.

00:50:19:15 - 00:50:46:11

Leroux Botha

Yeah. So, so compact, comparatively speaking, 140 is is much different. So there's a lot of people that do more than one person's job like instance I'm responsible for to do the content development. So the rollout of how the season the framework that that we were talking about I'm responsible for that. I'm responsible for coming up with the twists, what games go in and what the theme is for each season.

00:50:46:11 - 00:50:54:09

Leroux Botha

I'm also design all the buffs I do. I design all the flags. I'm part of our department in that regard.

00:50:54:09 - 00:51:00:02

Hayley Ferguson

We literally design the buffs like as in graphic design.

00:51:00:02 - 00:51:00:11

Leroux Botha

Yes.

00:51:01:00 - 00:51:01:22

Hayley Ferguson

Well, and.

00:51:01:22 - 00:51:26:16

Leroux Botha

The flags I have major insight in the production design of the season. In post-production, I do the painting shot. So if there's a camera in shot, I paint that I, I go into After Effectws and I paint out the cameraman. If it's in shot, I do all of the graphic elements for the show. I write all this challenge scripts for Nico, and the same goes for Handrie and Darren as EP's, and that's just the EP team.

00:51:27:01 - 00:51:54:15

Leroux Botha

Darren is responsible for all crew or catering. He oversees all the technical departments. Handrie is literally in Nico's ear at every Tribal Council, so he's part of the content team. He runs the content department on that side. So this as an EP team, we do a whole lot of other people's jobs in terms of the production. And I suppose if there's more money then you know, you can you can let some of that.

00:51:54:18 - 00:52:22:16

Leroux Botha

I lighten the load in terms of putting more people on the ground. But essentially what I think if we had a little bit more money, we would probably put it into something like like the technical gear and so forth to just to make the show look better and give our department a little bit more money because they they're always running out of money and and give them a little bit more money because their stuff gets on screen.

00:52:22:22 - 00:52:32:04

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah. I mean, the art department is a very hardworking department. I mean, everyone is on Survivor, but I feel like the art department, they have a massive job on survival.

00:52:32:04 - 00:52:40:20

Leroux Botha

So they do. Yeah. No, they they they are the superheroes of of each season to just make everything come together.

00:52:41:09 - 00:52:58:19

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah, definitely. So obviously, you know, we've talked a lot about Survivor, but you've obviously got experience across a number of other shows just in general. Like what is the biggest challenge that you've faced in television? Can you think of a time when you know something's gone wrong and you've had two sort of problem solve your way out of it?

00:52:58:22 - 00:53:20:05

Leroux Botha

One of the biggest things was in season six. We had a quits at a double tribal council, so on the spot we had to kind of come up with an idea of where is this going to be? We had an inkling that that the person was going to quit. So we had brainstorm some ideas in terms of how are we going to fix this quit?

00:53:20:09 - 00:53:38:24

Leroux Botha

And what we what we basically did was each of the two tribes that were at the Tribal Council had to vote somebody out and they basically swapped tribes and they could bring in somebody from their own tribe over to the. So it's a mini tribe swap that we did that we actually kind of did as a non-album for that season.

00:53:38:24 - 00:54:08:19

Leroux Botha

But that was only because we were losing somebody at that tribal council. I think in terms of creatively thinking about doing changes like that, those are some of the problem solving issues that you sit with on a season of Survivor and any other production that you that you do. But the best advice that I ever got with regards to a job in television was when I was training as multicam drama director.

00:54:09:10 - 00:54:34:00

Leroux Botha

At Egoli, the executive producer and my mentor, Lawrence Leary, once said to me, All you need to remember about directing is to make a decision. Everybody here is waiting for you to make a decision. Even if it's the wrong decision, just make a decision and go with it. You can always in hindsight say guys made a mistake. Let's try it this way rather than when you've had more time to think.

00:54:34:08 - 00:55:01:20

Leroux Botha

But everybody, the production basically stops dead if if the director can't make a decision and I take that into my life even, always as and I'm I'm the first one on a set when you arrived and there's something to be decided and I will have two options of a reward for me. And I would go at this one and, and we would go with that one.

00:55:01:21 - 00:55:16:13

Leroux Botha

And because everybody else is waiting for art to come in place, that reward on the podium. So there's there's always that implication. And as a director, my biggest advice is to just make a decision.

00:55:16:22 - 00:55:20:15

Hayley Ferguson

Yeah, I think that's really, really good advice. It's so true.

00:55:21:21 - 00:55:32:10

Leroux Botha

Mm. Because if you make a decision everybody else get on with what they need to do. So and it's stuck with me since 2003. So yeah. Yeah.

00:55:33:00 - 00:55:39:23

Hayley Ferguson

And on the note of advice, like what advice would you give someone who is starting out in television and wants to become a producer?

00:55:40:08 - 00:56:06:06

Leroux Botha

My other guiding advice and principle in my TV career has been to listen to my gut. Your gut is seldom wrong. If you get into the industry, don't expect to start as a director. You have to start at the bottom. But if there's opportunities that present themselves, your gut will tell you which opportunity is the correct one. And you just have to learn to trust your intuition on that.

00:56:06:06 - 00:56:22:12

Leroux Botha

On that. So, yeah, trust your gut. That's it's my that that would be my biggest advice in terms of getting into the industry and starting out and, and start at the bottom, learn as much as you can from as many people as you can.

00:56:22:12 - 00:56:29:06

Hayley Ferguson

You've definitely you've definitely done that in terms of like going through so many different roles to get to where you are.

00:56:30:01 - 00:56:57:00

Leroux Botha

Yeah. And, and then learn to keep on learning. I to this day I, I try and learn as much as possible about a subject as I can, you know, and the internet is, has got such a vast array of stuff that you can learn, even if you just go on to YouTube and you want to start learning how often things works and how, how to paint out a cameraman in a in a shot.

00:56:57:10 - 00:57:20:19

Leroux Botha

There's tutorials on everything. I'm self-taught. I never did a course on anything, so I taught myself premia. I taught myself. I've often things I taught myself illustrated. Just because I have that hunger and that need to learn more. So it's, it's, it's super important just to apply your brain to learning more.

00:57:21:12 - 00:57:27:13

Hayley Ferguson

Amazing. I'm conscious of time. I would love to get some quickfire questions. Do you have time for the quick fire questions?

00:57:27:15 - 00:57:29:19

Leroux Botha

Yes. Yes, absolutely.

00:57:29:19 - 00:57:36:07

Hayley Ferguson

All right. Let's get it done. Your time starts now. What is your favorite reality TV show to watch?

00:57:36:09 - 00:57:36:21

Leroux Botha

It's a moment.

00:57:37:01 - 00:57:39:10

Hayley Ferguson

What was the last TV show you watched?

00:57:39:15 - 00:57:41:13

Leroux Botha

The night agent on Netflix?

00:57:41:17 - 00:57:45:00

Hayley Ferguson

Who is the most famous person you've met through working in TV?

00:57:45:00 - 00:57:45:17

Leroux Botha

Jeff Probst.

00:57:45:22 - 00:57:47:04

Hayley Ferguson

That's a bucket list item.

00:57:47:10 - 00:57:48:02

Leroux Botha

Absolutely.

00:57:49:05 - 00:57:52:23

Hayley Ferguson

What is your dream show to work on that you haven't already worked on?

00:57:54:09 - 00:57:55:03

Leroux Botha

Next level? Chef.

00:57:55:14 - 00:58:01:23

Hayley Ferguson

This location you've been to for work Maldives. What canceled TV show needs to make a comeback.

00:58:01:23 - 00:58:02:13

Leroux Botha

Oh, couple.

00:58:02:24 - 00:58:15:14

Hayley Ferguson

Have you ever been on TV? Yes. If you could be on any reality TV show, what would you be on Survivor? If you could have dinner with any celebrity, dead or alive, who would it be?

00:58:15:15 - 00:58:19:14

Leroux Botha

And only one, right? JLP.

00:58:19:24 - 00:58:23:15

Hayley Ferguson

Oh, okay I feel like that could happen.

00:58:24:00 - 00:58:26:13

Leroux Botha

Yeah, yeah, I think it could.

00:58:28:03 - 00:58:41:22

Hayley Ferguson

Well, you bet. It's the end of the quickfire question. So thank you so much for chatting to me. Your story is incredible and I love the passion that you have for Survivor, and I think it's really evident in the products that you make as well.

00:58:42:09 - 00:59:00:00

Leroux Botha

Thank you, Heidi. Thank you so much for having me on. I really admire what you do with this podcast. It's it really is incredible to do shine the light on industry professionals and what they do and what they bring to the party. And I think you've got a very unique podcast. Yeah. And I wish you all the best for it, for the future.

00:59:00:09 - 00:59:25:20

Hayley Ferguson

Thank you so much. You know, it's quite interesting because the executive producer of Australian Survivor now, David Forster, there's quite a lot of parallels between, both of you. He is also the executive producer of MasterChef. And he sort of came up the ranks through through MasterChef. He oh, wow. Yeah. His husband is also in television. So they're a sort of TV power couple as well.

00:59:25:20 - 00:59:45:16

Hayley Ferguson

Wow. Yeah. Yeah. You both work and love Survivor. He's a super fan as well, so. Yeah. Anyways, I just thought that was quite funny. It seems like. Yeah. There's something in the water with Survivor executive probably. Thanks so much, sir. Really appreciate your time. Bye.

00:59:46:05 - 01:00:05:06

Speaker 3

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