YouTube vlogger Julia Anastasopoulos, popularly known for her alter-ego Suzelle DIY, has teamed up with digital streaming service Showmax for its first original series.
Casting aside her Suzelle DIY alter-ego for a minute, Julia will star in the mockumentary series Tali’s Wedding Diary. She will play the role of Tali, a self-obsessed Sandton woman who moved to Cape Town and hired a documentary crew to film the build-up to her wedding to a property-agent, Darren (played by popular YouTuber Anton Taylor).
Speaking to TshisaLIVE, Julia said that she was excited to introduce fans to a brand new character.
"It's a comedy in every sense. Wedding preparation can be a very stressful and comedic time. So the characters and situations will be very familiar to anyone who has had to deal with that stress before. The joy is that everyone can relate to it and it's entertaining because it takes the best part of a reality show and a sitcom, and puts it into one package," Julia said.
Julia explained that she and her team came up with the idea for the show several years ago.
"We thought of this idea for a character about a stereotypical Sandton princess a while ago but really wanted to refine it and do it justice. I grew up in Joburg surrounded by people like that and even my own wedding had many moments that I thought might make for a great comedy," Julia said.
Julia became a local internet sensation in 2014 when she started her Suzelle DIY YouTube channel as a "bite-size, do-it-yourself web series".
While her role as a stereotypical Afrikaans woman hasn't been met with much negativity, she has had the odd awkward moment.
"I was sitting in a meeting with a corporate sponsor when a gentleman in the room kept anxiously looking towards the door. Eventually he burst out 'where is Suzelle?' I went with it for a while and even told him I didn't know where she was. Eventually it became too much and I had to explain to him that Suzelle was just a character. It was very awkward," she said.
Tali’s Wedding Diary is set to debut on Showmax in December.
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