What is it with television people and big fat egos? Well of course television is about pretty people and watching pretty people, you would be hard pressed to even find a newsreader that looks anything like Cruella Deville; after all nobody wants to spend hours staring at unappealing persons. What about Big Brother you ask? Well...We’ll get to that in a paragraph or two.

I still want to rant about directors and their ego’s and production assistants who completely irk me with their intoxicating sense of self importance; as if counting backwards and handing out scripts is a sacred art.

One would think that once you enter the behind-the-scenes world, things would be slightly different from the superficial front of camera world; you might be duped into thinking people would appreciate each other more because back there nothing is as important as fantastic communication and great team work for the good of the show. It’s kind of like a sport of sorts I thought, I will play my part, the next guy will play his and voila! Television heaven.

Boy oh boy was I wrong! The freaking car guard at any TV studio thinks he is the life of the show, the security dude at the door will not let you in unless you kiss his ass and tell him how much you absolutely understand how highly important his job is but could he please just sign you in as you have an interview.

That was before I got hired and was labeled with the bittersweet label of vision mixer. Now everybody knows me, I don’t have to announce myself any longer, I don’t even have to make nice anymore; I have been awarded the license to be as important as the rest of them. It’s a sad existence, one I choose not to indulge in.

The studio environment is one that is meant to nourish team work so as inspire creativity and as much involvement and focus as possible. The director needs the production assistant who needs the vision controller who needs the vision mixer who needs the camera people who need the graphics operator who needs the audio operator and so on. The point here is one cannot happen without the other and success is never achieved by just one, except of course the director because when things go perfectly, he is the star of the show, forget the presenter and all the backroom buggers!

Should it go pear-shaped however it is the individual who will get it. To the producers of course it would still be the director who bears the brunt but not in his mind. It is impossible in his mind that he could have given better direction, communicated better or any such things, it is simply the operator’s fault.

This is usually the case except for special individuals who truly earn the titles director and producer; these individuals can accept their own flaws, they know they are not perfect although they still strive for that perfect show every time. They know what they want and they communicate well and effectively. I have had the privilege of working with many of those: Mr John Clingen of Supersport. He directs but more often now produces your English Premiership League build-ups and wraps of the games and another simply known as Riana, pleasant lady of note, rules with an iron fist and brings you all your Premier Soccer League (PSL) action build-ups, half-time and wraps. There are many others but these two have helped me excel in my trade. Directors are not all bad and they are not all good either. Although I must admit of course it is possible for the operator to cock it up once in a while, we are human after all and so are they, communication is key. The studio hierarchy says my next step is directing, I hope to remember this column if that day comes along, I say if because I am not entirely sure if I want to dive in that pool and become “they”.

Now for some reality TV: Lazy good-for-nothing-days are here again for South African house executives and workers who are blessed with TV’s in their offices, Big Brother All Stars has launched with a Bang; pretty boy Sean Paul officially launched the party and there was no turning back after that.

Munya is back to his old ways and so is Tatiana, the rest of the housemates seem to be on guard for now but we’ll see.

I was having a chat with a friend of mine Robyn about Big Brother All Stars, as we do every day, and we were discussing the happenings so far: how hot we think Mwisho is and just how vulnerable, deep, dark and hurt he is. My buddy seems to think that he needs to be protected and mothered; I can’t argue with that, he does seem to be afraid of something.

We then branched out into the important discussion of who we think will be the first to go, Robyn seems to think the “unappealing persons” I referred to earlier will be the first to go, again I can’t argue with that. At this point you must thinking that Robyn must be holding a gun to my head, I can assure you; she is doing nothing of the sort. I have just found a kindred spirit in her and so, we both agree that Sammi will most probably be the first to go. He is the most unappealing in the house, not so?

Unfortunate these TV things.

But hey somebody’s got to go and somebody’s got to vote.

One thing is for sure; wherever you go you are sure to see television and egos getting on like a house on fire. The likes of Darren Scott (So not "Flaming Hot") are all over the world i.e. The ones who tend to suddenly forget who they are when in public and walk around trying to identify themselves asking: “Do you know who I am?”