By Nomali Cele
Swanky Jerry came to cause chaos on season two of Netflix’s hit, African reality show.
It takes some doing for the viewers of a show like ‘Young, African & Famous’ to assign somebody else villain status. 2Baba aka 2Face – real name Innocent Idibia – is right there.
Try as 2Baba did to retain clear ownership of his villain belt, most viewers saw Swanky as a suitable successor. Even after what 2Baba said about making love to the one you love but still going after others.
For season two of ‘Young, African & Famous’, however, Swanky Jerry decided he would give it his best shot. And he succeeded.
Swanky was introduced in season one as the superhero stylist to the stars. From Cape to Cairo. Outside of the show, many South Africans knew him from his work with Pearl Thusi who was entering her West African era.
Above it all, on the show, Swanky was Nollywood star, Annie Idibia’s bestie. Not this season. The pair of them, plus Annie’s 2Faced music superstar husband, represented Naij in the cast.
Viewers learnt that Swanky and Annie were estranged. In an interview preceding the new season, he told GQ South Africa that he was closest to Bonang, Fantana and Zari The Boss Lady this season.
After he introduced Bonang to the “friends”, OG cast members, Khanyi Mbau and Nadia Nakai turned lukewarm to him. Then came the big misunderstanding: What happened in Windhoek?
Luis told Swanky he booked Bonang for one of his early Namibia Fashion Week events. Luis messed up and forgot to secure Bonang’s accommodation. Bonang didn’t do the event.
Swanky told Bonang that Luis says he once booked her for an event in Windhoek, which she left in a huff upon not finding flowers in her room.
Luis explained his original, no-accommodation story and apologised to Bonang after the fact. Bonang, however, held on to what her friend told her and went on a defense of her work reputation against Luis.
That spiraled into a bigger blowout, which led to Bonang leaving the show on episode four. Swanky has been involved in other drama involving new cast members, Luis and Fantana.
So vele, who is Swanky Jerry?
He’s an internationally recognised stylist that won 2014 Stylist of the Year Award, 2016 Male Entrepreneur of the Year Award both at the Lagos Fashion Awards. He’s been featured by Forbes Africa and has worked with clients that include Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade, Davido and more.
