Shoppers will now be the final arbiter when a product chosen as the best invention in a reality TV show hits the shelves.

Klerksdorp’s Christo Rossouw was named the winner of the Hangman show on Sunday night‚ earning R1-million in prize money. Rossouw also has a distribution deal with Fever Tree‚ who will be testing his products in the market in three big supermarket chains.

The 35-year-old impressed the judges and viewers with his innovative mosquito repellent lamp to beat off the remaining two finalists — Bonex Mwakikunga with his diabetes breathalyser and Claire Reid‚ inventor of Reel Gardening‚ a pre-fertilised‚ pre-spaced colour-coded seed tape.

An elated Rossouw said: “I always focus on social innovations when entering competitions. There is a huge need to provide the underprivileged with affordable and effective solutions to problems that they are facing.”

“One of the biggest issues in the world that poor people face is malaria. Mosquito-borne diseases are responsible for close to a million deaths annually‚ infecting around a billion people every year. I was looking to design a product that would be more effective and more affordable than products already on the market. Something that would act as a social innovation‚ but also have market potential.

“My mosquito diffuser is three times cheaper than the cheapest electric heater on the market. It does not use additional electricity to work and is compatible with refills from all major brands.”

He was appreciative that the TV show gave contestants a rare opportunity to showcase their innovations.

“Most of us that are working a day job and innovating at night while the rest are dreaming. Because a dream is what innovation is to us‚” he said.

The Hangman ‘backers’ (judges) were economist Iraj Abedian‚ self-made billionaire Quinton van der Burgh‚ Bonang Mohale‚ CEO of Business Leadership South Africa‚ and businesswoman and entrepreneur Connie Mashaba. The show was hosted by Maps Maponyane.

See the top five finalists here.