Cape Town – kykNET’s fake-over home improvement show Oulap se Rooi presented by the K2 Twins from Vredendal, Charlie and Alex Kotze, has been exposed as a cheating television production, giving make-overs to the rooms and garden of the house of the show's co-producer Francois van Wyk, instead of to viewers.
kykNET boss Karen Meiring told Channel24 that M-Net’s Afrikaans language entertainment channel on DStv is investigating and that the case will be handed over to its legal department.
Rapport newspaper on Sunday exposed how kykNET’s Oulap se Rooi has been duping viewers by having friends of the show’s co-producer Francois van Wyk pretending to be viewers and making as if his property is their homes, while Charlie and Alex Kotze do room improvements.
Shamefully, rooms improved in the advertiser-supported production with Builders Warehouse as a sponsor, are supposed to be that of kykNET viewers who had to write in and request a make-over for a room in their homes.
It was all one house:
Instead, so far, six rooms in the kykNET production have been redone which are all part of the co-producer's own house in Emmarentia, Johannesburg.
This week viewers will see a garden make-over – it is also the garden of Van Wyk’s home.
Meanwhile the misleading kykNET show duped viewers by having friends of the producer pretending that various rooms in the producer's house are rooms in their own homes.
Builders Warehouse is paying for the improvements as the sponsor of kykNET's Oulap se Rooi and Charlie and Alex Kotze have been aware they're working on the co-producer’s home and went along with it.
The show, mired in scandal, was Charlie and Alex Kotze's first job as TV presenters.
Fell behind schedule:
Top Billing presenter Ursula Chikane is a co-producer of Oulap se Rooi and told Rapport that Oulap se Rooi apparently fell behind schedule and took a "production decision" to film and redo rooms at the producer's house instead of improving rooms of viewers.
"We did what we could to keep the show on the air," Ursula Chikane told Rapport.
Channel24 asked Builders Warehouse on Sunday about its involvement with the show as sponsor but didn’t get a response yet.
In response to a media enquiry, Karen Meiring, M-Net's director of Afrikaans channels, tells Channel24 that the issue "came under our attention and is currently being investigated. If this is the case we will definitely take it up with the producer and hand the case to our legal department".
It's not clear if kykNET is going to keep the show on the air.
UPDATE:
"We're very disappointed by what has transpired because it was obviously not what was supposed to happen," Zandile Manana, Builders Warehouse marketing manager, tells Channel24.
"We decided to sponsor the programme based on the fact that we are a home improvement and DIY player. We want to inspire, educate and get our customers started on DIY. So we thought the concept was a nice one where the public got involved and their homes get renovated."
"After we found out that is was the producer’s house we were very disappointed. The problem is the show is almost over. It started in July. We're having a conversation with the producers. We're taking this further to see how we can remedy this situation. But from our side we're very disappointed," says Manana.