Lockdown’s favourite internet comedian Tyson Ngubeni, aka Bob O’Connor, will be making his TV debut as host of South Africa’s first-ever financial education family game show, the “Sanlam Moola-Money Family Game Show”.
Co-hosting the show is financial guru, author and TV host, Nicolette Mashile, who has long been on a mission to upskill South Africans’ financial literacy and confidence.
Set against the dire backdrop of SA’s current economic state, with the pandemic having prompted 2 million job losses last year, the 13-episode game show – which launches on eTV on April 3 at 18:00 – aims to improve financial literacy levels through the medium of entertainment.
By involving a combination of financial experts, well-known local personalities and real South African families, the show hopes to break down complex topics in a fun, engaging and accessible way, to help make money management relatable and appealing to a wide audience.
Speaking on his involvement in the show, Ngubeni said: “It’s always been important to me as far as my work is concerned to really connect with as wide an audience as possible and that essentially means connecting with kids as much as I do people who are my age and older than I am so that’s why this show was appealing to me in terms of the premise of the show.”
Ngubeni said while he will presenting the show, he will be his silly self.
“I come from years of live performance so this style of work is very new to me, yes I have acted in front of a camera before but TV presenting in a very detailed skillset and that was a challenge for me. I brought in my experience but also leaned on my amazing co-host.
“I learnt a lot from this show, I love consuming and watching things where I feel like I learnt something new from it and this has been that kind of show where there is something to always learn, from the questions asked on set to the answers from the financial pros,” he said.
Ngubeni said financial wellness is something that people could be doing better.
“I like to think long term so having good lessons on money from a young age is important not just because I think that way but generally because it serves you better.”
Ngubeni said he hopes that people will be entertained by the show and that they take away lessons.
“There are challenges that contestants encounter in the show and from that, I hope people take away lessons to be financially smart,” he said.