By Matṧeliso Phulane
One of the most loved online television shows, Take Me To My Crush (TMTMC), which was quite a hit with netizens a few years back, will make its much-anticipated return on Monday next week.
TMTMC is a brand that connects someone to their crush. The courtship begins with the prospective couple going out on a date to get to know each other better over a meal at a supporting diner.
The show was founded by former lovebirds Tṧepang Maboee and Mohlokaqala Mofundisi, popularly known as Ntate Mizo in 2020.
However, after their breakup in 2021, Ntate Mizo gave Tṧepang full control of the show.
The main objective of the show was to embrace and celebrate love, especially in this era where social media platforms are full of negativities. Tṧepang and her team wanted to bring about something positive that may lead to celebrating love.
“But immediately after we separated, production stopped because I no longer had equipment for production since the ones we used belonged to him. Apart from that, production had already stopped due to lack of funds; that was in December 2020, while we separated early 2021,” she recalled.
She later teamed up with a new business partner who promised to pump money into the show. They worked harmoniously for some time, but instead of bringing in the promised funds, he saw an opportunity to advertise his companies on the show and seemed hell-bent on hijacking it, she claims.
“We had an argument when he wanted to take full control of TMTMC, and we parted ways.
“Production stopped at the end of 2022, with the last episode that we aired in November that year. That was the second phase of TMTMC after the first one we had with Ntate Mizo,” Tṧepang said.
She added that the reason she decided to bring the show back is that she will be working alone this time around.
She has not yet secured funds and is actually sceptical about it because she claims some sponsors tend to want to manipulate and control her.
According to Tṧepang, the major culprits are people who are not in the entertainment industry and are totally clueless about the dynamics of the sector but look at their own interests without really understanding their vision and goal.
Some of the changes that people can expect in this third phase include logistics and strategies that are different.
Tṧepang noted that there are sponsors that she is confident will come on board and cater for their clients in a more unique and improved way, which will make people want to come back to the show.
“To u,s TMTMC is more than just a reality show that is entertainment-oriented; we are looking at building strong relationships that will actually last.
“In terms of keeping consistency, our aim is to air at least one episode a week, but we really can’t achieve that if people do not come to the show. Therefore, we are very much determined to maintain the consistency,” she emphasised.
She said their target market is young people aged 18 and above, but not married people unless they come to the show to express their crush for their spouse.
In conclusion, Tṧepang appealed for support from Basotho now that the matchmaking show is back.
“We would appreciate any form of support. We cannot do that on our own and TMTMC can only survive and sustain much longer through their support.”
