Is Dineo Ranaka’s Reality Show Damaging Her Brand?

Dineo Ranaka has always been of the few people that I look up to in this industry. I was very excited to see her grow after she was unceremoniously fired from YFM. Her tenacity through all that turmoil was inspiring. Then came Dineo’s Diary!

The promo for the show punted the fact that Dineo had evolved as a media personality. It touted her as a “Mogul In The Making”, which is a title I thought was well suited for this hardworking multi-talented young woman. 

Given her history and the tabloid drama that had followed her in recent years, the anticipation to see her grow and conquer the world was something I was very excited about and would think most of her fans shared the same sentiments. 

Little did I know that I will be watching a trainwreck that depicts Dineo as nothing but an angry sociopathic narcissist who is rude to everyone around her, boyfriend and mother not spared. 

Episode one of the show started off  with a glimpse into her life and work. It looked promising that the show would be taking us on a journey that will hopefully inspire us to see a young South African striving against all odds to succeed. With the support of her family she seemed set for greatness. 

That feeling slowly eroded when she started getting into her now frequent (and soon to be infamous) tirades with her boyfriend. We all fight with our significant others, right? This was not a big deal, so I thought. 

For all intends and purposes the show looked ok for a local show with a shoe string budget we subjected to in this industry. Yes there were some production glitches here and there but some moments redeemed the show. 

The feeling was very short lived because 3 episodes in, it has become apparent that this show is nothing but a farce. The show is strongly built on Dineo’s erratic personality than anything else, not even her work. 

I am not going to lie. The craziness is entertaining and made for good tv. Unfortunately for someone like myself who has always looked up to Dineo I find it slowly withering my admiration for her. 

Firstly, the way she treats her boyfriend can best be described as the lowest form of disrespect from one human being to another. It’s not so much about them being an item, just as human beings it is appalling.  

Lovers bicker, that is a given but our girl takes it to another level with her constant bratty blowouts. No-one deserves the type of abuse that her boyfriend is subjected to. Yes he may be wrong but all that is lost in Dineo’s approach and need to belittle him for the cameras. 

In the first episode Dineo tells us that she is unable to pay her employees as the business is still in its infancy. Well, if they are happy with the arrangement then it is commendable that she is using her clout to give them a platform to hone their talents. 

We are introduced to a young man, Richard, who is a designer and sketcher for Dineo’s fashion label. They seem to have a good repetiore. However by the third episodes she goes on some melodramatic rant about Richard being disrespectful and hits us with a punchline;

“Dude, Im your Boss. Big difference. You dont is not spelt B-O-O-B-O-O. You spell Boss, B-O-S-S”

That was a line that got her a few LOLs and sighs on social media but it made her come across as showing off at Richard’s expense. If Rich calls her that, not even on camera, does she really need to embarrass him like that on camera. The guy works for free!

The biggest shocker came courtesy of a RANAKA FAMILY gathering in this week's episode. That is when the screeching sound of this trainwreck roared. We are black people and there are certain things that we just do not do.

Disrespecting your mother is a big NO NO and doing it on national TV is sheer madness. 

There are lot of things that are happening on the show that I cant all mention here without having to go through every scene but the gist of it all is that thus far the show has done very little to portray Dineo as a mogul in the making.  

The drama is great but there is too much of it that it has taken any sense of substance from the show or its star. This has instead become “Dineo's Diary Of Madness”

Dineo is a mother, she is a public figure and a rolemodel. Watching the show I would not blame any mother for reprimanding her child to call Dineo her rolemodel.

As a businesswoman one wonders how any client of hers can watch that show and think she is a good investment with all that schizophrenic instability. 

Celebrities talk about split personalities. That is the notion that what you are in real life and on tv should remain separate. Nothing wrong with that. 

However, when you are a public figure who is not famous for portraying a character like an actress would, that notion holds no water. If you going to say you are a different person when you are in work mode does that mean you are faking it when you interact with your fans and audience?

Hey, faking it is no crime but is that something that you want your fans to know. As a Dineo fan do I really want to know that when she is polite and courteous she is only doing it for the cameras or the moment?

In a world where we love seeing our idols crumble so we can feel better about our own inadequacies one can simply watch Dineo’s Diary and be entertained by her behaviour but this is Mzansi and we have that thing called Ubuntu. 

If you love Dineo and are inspired by the strides she has made in her career you can not simply just watch the show and not cringe a little. There are thousands of people who look up to this woman.

While some celebs have killed their brands on Twitter, it would appear that our Dineo is doing it every Wednesday on Vuzu for 30 minutes. 

Hopefully we are not seeing the distraction of yet another shining star in our industry.  

So Mam Di Di, are you really this type of person? Eish and your little boy witnessing all this!

Catch Dineo's Diary on Vuzu (Dstv channel 123) Wednesday at 20h30. Repeats Thursday at 08h30 and 16h00 also on Saturdays at 15h30