In the first season, they left fans shook. With every move, every revelation, they had viewers glued to their screens.
A decade ago, one wouldn’t have guessed that something widely regarded as taboo would top TV charts.
For the first time last year, young ladies from different walks of life came together to show how their bodies put food on the table.
The This Body Works For Me cast had their stories documented in the reality series and although it was met with mixed emotions, the drama, sisterhood and raunchiness won many people’s hearts.
Now that they are back for the second season, Bubbly, Gina, Primadonna and Wandi are joined by three new faces who are oh so enthusiastic to dispel all the negativity around adult entertainment.
Drum caught up with them to find out more about them and their work.
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Boitumelo Soldaat (Dione Xanthe)
The Free State-born 22-year-old is from a family of five and was raised by both her parents. For as long as she remembers, her father has been abusive, and her mother would always shield them from it all.
When her father kicked her out from home, the nude model moved to Johannesburg where she initially started looking for a waitressing job but ended up working at a strip club and eventually became an adult content creator on Only Fans.
Speaking about the challenges she’s faced on her adult entertainment journey, she says, “Rape was one of the most common challenges I’ve encountered and to be honest, my coping mechanism has always been shoving things under the carpet.”
The lover of the camera and money says she joined the series because “I feel people got the wrong impression of me on the previous I’m not a villain I wanted to rectify the impression I gave and actually tell my story because I know for someone is looking for some motivation and I want to be that because I know what it’s like to need a saviour but people keep stoning you.”
“I wanted people to see that it’s not everyone that’s in this industry for the Gucci bags some of us we really were forced to grow [through] the circumstances and our childhood got stolen and left us broken but instead of victimising ourselves, we searched for a way. It might not be the best way but it’s still a way,” she adds.
She shares with Drum that even though her father may not be the best, she knows that him and her community back at home are proud to see her fly the Bloemfontein flag high on TV “because they already knew that Dione wants to be porn star.”
Jenny ‘Diamond’ Magongo
Born and raised in Alexandra, Johannesburg, Jenny is no stranger to the city lights. She comes from a typical township family and “a Christian home that faced struggles but not necessarily poor. We could afford necessities but not luxury.
“I have three siblings being my brother who is the oldest, my sister who follows him and then there’s me the last born but when I was growing up there was my cousin who stayed with us because my mom took her in while she was still very young when her mother passed on. I grew up with both my parents being present in my life, who stayed with us, but you know black families with the mother being the breadwinner,” she tells Drum.
The exotic dancer joined the adult entertainment industry only last year after she quit her nine-to-five job.
“The job that I had at that time was the sixth job I had, and I felt like the routine was beginning to become monotonous for me as well the money that I was earning was not enough to sustain my life and my daughter’s life. Coincidentally, I came across an advertisement for exotic dancers being wanted at some club and I thought ‘why not try something totally new and different?’.”
She adds that as a full-time exotic dancer, one loses their freedom time-wise as one gets so busy that there’s little time to oneself.
“Secondly, there is not enough sleep because of the hard work that you have to put in for shows and shifts. And lastly, you are exposed to a lot of danger. It can be in the club [or] out of the club,” she says.
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Like many of the cast members, she says she enjoys the money that comes as the fruits of her labour. But second to this is the actual dancing on stage because of the attention and focus that one gets during their routine.
This has not only taught her to be confident but to also love and appreciate herself.
For her, it was important to her to be part of the second season of the reality series “because I wanted people to know the real work that happens behind the scenes of being an exotic dancer. I wanted people to also understand that we may dance naked for money but that doesn’t mean we are less human, I want them to know that it is an actual profession that you can’t just wake up and decide to do, it takes a lot of bravery, hard work, dedication, confidence and sacrifices.”
What many could find shocking though is that Jenny sustains herself by praying.
“I am a very spiritual being who believes everything happens for a reason and everything will fall into place at the right time.”
Throughout the shooting and the release of the first episodes of the series, she says her family and friends have been very supportive because she has never hid anything from them and so nothing has come across as a surprise to them thus far.
Lebogang Matlaila
Also from a strict Christian family, Lebogang never thought she’d be part of the adult entertainment industry.
However, when the 27-year-old was kicked out by her father after she disclosed her sexuality to him, she had no other option but to find a way to fend for herself and that’s how she got into escorting and particularly private adult entertainment.
Although she’s originally from Limpopo, Lebogang was raised in Tembisa.
Nothing was as important for her as demonstrating how diverse the sex industry is and for this reason, she joined the series cast in showing the world an “an authentic and unfiltered version of myself and my story.”
“Everything is still new to me and I didn't have a lot of expectations when it came to fame so I just go with the flow but drama was something I knew was going to bring on TV.”
“My family has been supportive and understanding because they know what I went through in THE past but I've been receiving a lot of love from them and my friends,” she adds.
