THANGO NTWASA | Is ‘The Ultimatum’ star Khanya reality TV gold or fall of the genre?

If you've ever been a fan or casual viewer of soaps then you will have come across household names such as The Bold and the Beautiful's Brooke Logan, Days of our Lives' Stefano DiMera or Generations' Ntsiki Lukhele. The villains from these programmes shook up prime time viewing and instilled fear into the lives of those who dared cross them.

From generational cheating scandals to islands of dead enemies, the one thing they did well was entertain. The genre offers a light watch built for comfort. It's a genre filled with familiarity akin to soccer fans who look forward to berating Kaizer Chiefs after another thrashing.

While soapie numbers are still high, reality TV is slowly becoming the modern-day soap for millennials and Gen Z looking for different comfort-watching preferences. From The Real Housewives franchise to the Love Island iterations, there are thousands of reality TV shows that tackle love, glamour and relationships in their unique ways.

One such show is recent viral success The Ultimatum: South Africa, which puts six couples in a social experiment that forces them to swap romantic partners to see if they are willing to marry their respective lovers or move on with another.

This became a taxing question for one of the couples who caught the attention of viewers — Khanya and Nkateko — with the former going viral for her raging outbursts and problematic communication. As reality TV stars slowly eclipse soap opera characters, cast mates like Khanya fill the gap that many villains just haven't, she is not afraid of social media.

A significant change has seen “villains” of reality shows backtrack on how they are portrayed, especially when previous cast mates have been burnt by acerbic fans. In shows such as RuPaul's Drag Race, the likes of Jaremi Carey have resorted to quitting their art forms and rebranding due to the tremendous stress of being portrayed in this light. Especially since production took liberties with editing his reactions and comments to fan-favourite cast mates, which prompted beloved contestants on the show such as Marcia Marcia Marcia to issue statements to stop fans from bullying detractors who offend them on the series.

On America's Next Top Model, Angelea Preston, who played a villain in two seasons, was rewarded with a last-minute disqualification when she snagged the prize in her final appearance. This was blamed on her work as an escort, albeit other cast mates making multiple appearances after doing sex work. Though Carey and Preston are just two of many who have exemplified the affect one can have in the genre, the fear of upsetting viewers has seen villains become docile and meddlesome instead.

A villain in a comfort watch breaks boundaries and challenges norms but can also be a conversation starter on problematic issues that can be condensed over a series of episodes or seasons. Eastenders tackled the harsh reality of domestic violence during lockdown by killing off one of their main characters. During the rise of date rape drugs, Isidingo dedicated a story arc to the topic in 2005.

While villains such as Carey and Preston have brought about topics such as childhood abandonment in The Real Housewives of Atlanta, gender transitioning in Keeping Up With the Kardashians and sobriety in Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, when these villains are not held accountable, we run the risk of glamorising their behaviour.

In The Ultimatum, Khanya was allowed to run amok to the extent of physically assaulting Nkateko. The show only allows its cast assistance through media moguls Salamina and Tshepo Mosese, who are more than equipped to offer the cast solace, but did not facilitate psychological assistance for each couple as was the case on shows such as Marriage Bootcamp or local production Saving Our Marriage from SABC3.

While many might be calling for Khanya's head, I think she needs more investment as South Africa's answer to the perfect reality TV villain. I hope we can see her brand of brash communication being met with the necessary accountability during her upcoming reunion, or even in the realm of The Real Housewives. South Africa needs to talk about the issues women like Khanya can inflict on others, the question now is where that can be executed.