Shozi guesses who celebrities behind the masks are

The guessing game continues on the The Masked Singer SA with viewers trying to figure out the identities of the celebrities behind the avant-garde costumes every Saturday.

These include the Elephant, Tree, Rhino, Watermelon, Sunflower and Hippo. 

In the past four weeks, the show’s detectives – J’Something, Somizi Mhlongo, Sithelo Shozi and Skhumba Hlope – have witnessed the unmasking of the Football (Doctor Khumalo), Zebra (The Lazy Makoti), Rooster (Victor Matfield) and last Saturday, Banana (Bongani Bingwa). 

“I think the Hippo is motorsport champion Tschops Sipuka, Watermelon is radio broadcaster Verashni Pillay and the Sunflower is media personality Nandi Madida,”  Shozi said as she made her guesses. 

“The reason why I say the Hippo is Tschops is because of the clues he gave. The setting of a home and him being a typical homebody. The golf clubs could mean he is a part-time golfer. The driver’s wheel and hourglass symbol made me think of The Kyalami 9 Hour race which Tschops is renowned for: an international racer.

“The Watermelon, on the other hand, has made emphasis on education. The book clues tell me it’s Verashni who is a literature freak, career driven, an incredible editor and investigative journalist who is a radio personality at Power 98.7” 

Shozi added that the clues for the Sunflower shows that she is either dating or married to someone in the industry.

“Nandi is married to Zakes [Bantwini], she’s had acting roles, she is also best friends with a dancer, Takkies, but her husband is also known to be a good dancer,” she said.

Heidi du Toit, head of costume and design on the show, gave some insight on the production process of making three of the six costumes.

Du Toit said that making Hippo’s costume was a tough task as the celebrity behind the mask wasn’t a “big guy”.

“We didn’t want to make him look like a school or sport mascot because in essence he is a fun character that showcases the person inside of the Hippo,” Du Toit said.

In terms of Sunflower, Du Toit revealed that her main focus was matching the costume with the celebrity’s appearance. 

“The first time we showed the costume to everyone, they thought it looked a little scary because of the eyes on the Sunflower – so the team and I then thought we should put some glasses on the Sunflower which actually gave it more character and personality," Du Toit said.

“The person in the Sunflower mask was very claustrophobic but such an amazing person who I’ve worked with before.”

As for Watermelon, Du Toit said it was the biggest and most costume she had to produce as the celebrity inside was not “quite tiny”. 

“The Watermelon was much like the Doughnut, it was challenging to make because of its structure. We had to put a waist belt in order for the costume not to move around too much. Seeing that the person inside the costume was fun to work with, it was easy for us to execute it,” Du Toit said.