Boer Soek ‘n vrOU…
It took one of the largest and possibly oldest Afrikaans focused series in South Africa, 7 De Laan, 17 years to air their first gay interaction.
A kiss between cast male members Logan and Divan.
Expectedly, the considerably conservative audience that this 7DeLaan plays to were not very happy with such a bold move from the producers of the show.
With this in mind, I didn’t hesitate to question would a similar backlash face Boer Soek ‘n Vrou, when i heard of their first openly gay farmer hoping to find love on this “reality” romance show being cast.
On Boer Soek a vrou, ten entrants are offered to the public as a pen pal. The five farmers with the most amount of letters then form part of a “Bachelor” styled reality show in search of love. This is due to air in October 2019.
When Time’s Live chatted to the Afrikaans focused network for Boer Soek a Vrou, KYKnet they said “while there have been some predictably negative comments, KykNet says the reaction has been largely positive – on its own platforms.”
The brave contestant is Damien a 38-year-old cattle and sheep farmer from Bapsfontein who is bravely putting himself out there in a tv show that commands a mostly conservative Afrikaans following.
Damien tells us: “I think things are getting easier for gay farmers but it’s not something that’s very easy. There are still people here and there who raise their eyebrows but there is also a lot of acceptance. We are all just people looking for love.”
Many have taken to social media to express their support and move in a less conservative direction for the Boer Soek ‘n Vrou franchise. However, at the time of writing this post it was clear that the social media team of this KYKnet show were furiously muting, blocking and deleting hate comments from many of it’s 208 000 followers on Facebook.
Many took to vocalise that this was all a marketing ploy for hype and higher ratings of a show that was “busy losing viewers “
Werner Basson Dis brilliant bemarking vir die program, kyk na Nando’s, Virgin Money en ander groot brands, hulle gebruik content wat weet gaan teenskop bring van die publiek. Almal wat comment en share dra by tot die sukses van die bemarkings veldtog en speel reg in hulle hande in. In my opinie was die program besig om kykers te verloor en hoe anders om kykers weer terug te wen met n helemal controversial subject en al is jou opinie negatief, gaan jy nogsteeds kyk want jy kan dit nie help om nuuskierig te wees nie. As jy dink die rede was gedoen om ondersteuning te wys vir die LGBT gemeente is jy verkeerd, dis gedoen om die program weer terug te sit in die “limelight”. Op die ou end whatever liefde wen.
More Comments that are not “being censored” can be seen on social media here:
Those who want to contact the farmers need to be older than 21 and be unmarried. If you’d like to reach out to Damian, you can write to him (before midnight on 30 May) through the following channels:
• Call 079 335 5137 or
• E-mail boer@marche.media
