for my gap year.
Then, on the Friday morning of 27 June 2008, I woke up and was organising my plan for the day. I was going to the first day of the Mr Price Pro competition. My friends were going to pick me up around 10:00 and we were going to spend the whole day there.
How my day ended up, though, came nowhere close to a relaxed day on the beach. My friends phoned at around 10:30, and told me they were running a bit late, due to them waiting for their cousins.
With that, I decided I would give Denise a call to see how she was doing and to chat about our gig that Sunday night, also about what I was going to be doing in the next six months, etc. While speaking to her my sister asked if I would be around to pick her up at 12 30, as she was going out to lunch with a friend, but due to my friends picking me up sooner, I told her I was not going to be able to pick her up.
So I carried on with my phone call, which was turning into quite a lengthy conversation, when somehow we got to the topic of auditions, and Denise told me that one of their other students from the school was down at the Bat centre, auditioning for the High Shool Musical reality show which was going to air on MNet in August.
I didn’t really know anything about it, and decided I had to go look on the website for more information, where I remember clearly reading, “If you want to sing, dance and act, then this is for you”. Something sparked inside of me, and I just knew I had to go and do this. Not knowing what song to audition with or what to wear, I said goodbye to Denise, SMSed my friends to say I was not going to make it to the beach, got changed and brushed pass my father (who had just got home) with a comical “bye Dad I am off to an audition in town”.
So, eventually, I arrived at the Bat centre, and thanks to them keeping it open for people still in school, I could still sign up and audition. I was the last person to fill out a sign-up form and was told to go and wait outside audition room C. I was under the impression that I should sing a musical number, and thought “Come what may” from Moulin Rouge would have to suffice. So, because I had arrived rather late, it never took too long for me to audition, and I was told after I had quickly sung my song, that I should immediately go to where everyone was waiting, as they were waiting for the lady’s forms whom I had auditioned for, to see how many people were going to be put into the next round. Once I got there, I waited about five minutes before I heard my name called out, and due to me being the last one to audition, it was a surprise! I was the first one to be called out. It was all a bit surreal for me to know exactly what was going on, but I was excited as ever, and was one of about 50 contestants in Durban to make it through to the weekend workshop round. So I arrived home with good news for my family, who were all a bit confused as to what was going on (due to me not giving them much information before I left), but they were all so supportive and also knew this was something special.
The next day, I arrived with lots of excitement, and we had to learn a hip-hop dance routine, a high school musical song, as well as sing our audition song from the first round, this time with the adjudicator panel and several TV cameras – not so easy anymore.
I felt like I was in one of my dreams, as I had always watched shows like Idols and So you think you can dance and thought how awesome it would be to learn a dance routine and learn new songs.
We had the Saturday to learn these numbers, were put into different groups and were taught the choreography. Fortunately my group was full of spunk and willing to work hard and eager to stand out from the crowd, which was obviously very important in this competition, as the judges weren’t fooled by people who were lazy or not taking the competition seriously. So, after lots of rehearsing, we ended the day on a high and were all excited for the final day of workshop, and to see who would make it into the top 40.
The way it worked was that each group would dance for the judges, after which each one would come out and sing his or her audition song. Once that had happened, the judges would decide whether we were in or out. Out and we went home. In and we stayed for the next round which was later that afternoon to sing the song they had taught us.
It was time to shine, and our dance number seemed to sit well with them, my song did not go as well as I had planned it too. It didn’t help that I had started it about two keys too low. I just hoped that they had seen something in me. Fortunately they did, and after making it through to the final round in Durban, I sang the High School Musical song they gave us, and after about an hour of the judges deliberating once we had all sung, I found out I had made it to the top 40, which was going to be held in Cape Town.
The week in Cape town was gruelling, but I managed to make it through and was announced as one of the top 18, which meant the initial auditioning phase was now over, and we had now made it onto the show, and were going to be performing for the public, who would ultimately determine where we would come in the competition.
Apart from the show being live and dealing with real situations and people, the reality show certainly didn’t disappoint when living up to what it makes out to be.
My reality had been swept from under me and I had all these new pages that needed to be filled, all these other desires that I had hidden away, not knowing when they could become a possibility, had suddenly been handed to me all at once. Excitement kept the actuality of the situation at bay, and the Lord kept me from thinking about it too much, and therefore not allowing any form of doubt to creep in and sabotage these new opportunities that lay ahead of me.
One of these was me beginning to feel what independence felt like, as I had started to wonder at what age I would experience it, and with me being out of the home, it was definitely a start of what was to come. The obvious desire being met was that I was now singing every day, and working and growing towards something substantial, rather than just singing around the house. Another advantage was that I had also really wanted to start earning some money to support myself and, in turn, help my father out, and whether I were to win the show or get other opportunities through it, I really believed that this would be a great possibility once the show was over.
The reality show itself presented many challenges: my love for music and singing was strengthened by me leading the praise and worship at my father’s church for four years, and landing the odd corporate engagement and restaurant gig with my singing coaches, Cindy and Denise.
To go from singing in your shower, to having to pour your heart out in front of complete strangers and TV crews, is definitely not as easy as I used to think while watching these types of shows on TV.
So, here I was, having the time of my life: singing, dancing, acting and working with professionals every week, day in and day out and even though I had this constant sense of pressure that I couldn’t seem to shake, I was fully aware of the amount of experience I was gaining and the opportunities that would come from this, so it never became an issue. Every week brought new challenges, and although the stakes got higher every week that I stayed in, it also seemed more natural for me to be in the competition, and all the TV cameras seemed to make one feel at home after a while, unlike the different universe we all felt like we had landed on just a couple of months ago.
It took six weeks for the top 18 to become the top 6 and in those weeks of learning new songs and dance numbers, as well as performing to live audiences, I just knew that this was the beginning of greater things to come. It all happened so fast and to think that I came out winning the role of Troy is still too surreal for me to comprehend.
All I know is that I tried my absolute best, worked really hard and the rest was in the hands of the judges and public – and more importantly the Lord’s. Even on that final night, I really wasn’t sure who was going to win, though some people might disagree, but it was only until just before they announced my name, that I had this peace come over me. I think back at how grateful I was at winning the role of Troy and thinking how my dreams were coming true. The Lord was definitely smiling as He knew this was
