The men on Date My Family are ridiculously sexist, which sadly also makes for entertaining television. Rhodé Marshall reviews the sixth season.
Date my Family
Mzansi Magic (DStv channel 161)
Sunday, 6pm
4/5
Date My Family is back for a sixth season, aiming to come to the rescue of those who have had no luck in finding love.
The show helps singletons all over the country by sending them on dates with their potential partner’s family.
It’s up to your friends and family to convince your potential love interest that they should return and take you on a date.
But can you really trust your family to help you find love? Well, probably not. As with many of you, I’ve kept watching because of how ridiculously entertaining it all is.
The friends of the possible dates ask the best questions, take no nonsense and bring out the ugly in the person who will potentially pick their friend.
Take Kehiloe’s mother on the first episode of season six, who said: “He must come back, we’ll fix him up.” She was referring to Kabelo Masia, who was moving between three families to find a girlfriend. Kehiloe’s mom was adamant that she wanted her daughter to be picked because she wants cows.
The problem with Kabelo is that he is the worst version of a 27-year-old misogynist. At the beginning of the show he says he’s an educator and by the end of the show he’s a deejay, owns two taxis and teaches part time. At this rate anything is possible, I guess.
This young man believes women should stay at home while he enjoys his nights out; women should accept there could be another woman because there are just too many women and he’s doing our gender a favour. Women should be curvy, beautiful, wear heels and have expensive hair.
The thing about this Mr Good Time from Bloem is that his ridiculous expectations for his partner get encouraged by shows like this. The show raises his popularity and he now thinks he’s a star.
Unfortunately, he chose Thato, who had to hear that Kabelo has worked with KiD X and Sho Madjozi, and politely listens to him talk about her body as if she wasn’t in the room. “Can you stop talking about my body?” she asks, to which he responds: “No!” Kabelo, as with many of the men I’ve seen on this show, refuses to acknowledge the body language of the women they take on the date because they’re so sure of their misogynistic nonsense that they absolutely believe there is hope for a second date.
Date My Family will show you the sad reality of what it’s like to be a single woman in this world, but at least with some form of entertainment.