On the telly; Be My Date

Anita Fabiola, the show’s host on its poster. Net photo

What you need to know:

Much as the biggest brunt of the stick has been directed at the cast, the lighting and presentation has been – by Ugandan standards – fair

No show in recent television has raised as much dust as Be My Date on NTV. Its reviews have been utterly severe since it premiered but to be fair, if there was ever a show that is loved and popular for being an outright mundane, this is it.

It features a group of girls who hop onto stage dancing to Jamaican music. They are paraded for a man (bachelor) who appears from the backstage. Anita Fabiola, the host, asks the girls to press Red if they do not like the guy or green, if they do but before that, the girls first probe the man to know more about him.

The man then has to choose one girl among those whose screens show green. The couple then wins a date at a popular hotel in Kampala, where they will spend some time getting to know each other.

I thought I was the only one cringing whenever the show started, but surprisingly, the social media space is not impressed by the entire show.

Jibes have been directed at the appearance of the girls. “Their make-up is an overkill,” noted one Facebook post
“For a station that is NTV’s calibre, the singles of Be
My Date are just subversive to the image of Ugandan women as whole,” says a tweet. Ironically, the show is doing well with ratings.

Much as the biggest brunt of the stick has been directed at the cast, the lighting and presentation has been – by Ugandan standards – fair.