Our favorite group of over-the-top African are back once again. Here’s Kevin Bourne with his Young Famous & African Season 3 review.
Last week, Netflix returned with one its most drama filled reality series to date—Young Famous & African. First introduced in 2022, Young Famous & African features friends, who also happen to be some of Africa’s leading socialites, entrepreneurs, and recording artists. They descend on Johannesburg, South Africa from across the continent to enjoy the finer things in life—parties, high teas, lunch dates, basketball runs, and this season, a wedding. But the drama begins when their dirty laundry and personal dramas are brought to light.
If you think Black folk in North American had a monopoly on drama, you were wrong. The show has cussing and tongue lashings galore, but with their accents, they find a way to make their soul shattering insults so beautiful and poetic.
As in previous seasons, the series highlights the vibrant and lush landscapes of South Africa, from the downtown streets of Johannesburg to a safari with elephants and giraffes, at the same time dispelling common misconceptions about Africa. As with many Netflix docusoaps, Young Famous & African is aspirational; despite the drama, it’s the lavish lifestyle that viewers can only dream of. But the show is also similar to other docusoaps, like Selling Sunset and newcomer Selling The City, in that it draws from the personal lives of stars, covering real life topics like infertility, infidelity, and other relationship issues, that the average person can relate to.
Aside from the wedding between the “Boss Lady” Zari Hassan and her much younger husband, Shakib Lutaaya, the main change in season two is the cast. While season one cast member, Khanyi Mbau, only makes two sporadic appearances due to personal reasons, including burn out and possibly relationship issues, added to the cast are business woman, Kefilwe Mabote, actress and producer, Ini Edo, and businessman, boxer, and Hassan’s previously mentioned husband, Shakib Lutaaya. If there were any concerns that the show wouldn’t be the same without Mbau, the kind of mother of the group who is a calming voice yet the source of a lot of drama in her own right, those fall to the wayside very quickly.
Among the standout cast members this season are Annie Macaulay-Idibia, who often finds herself at the centre of the drama, especially with her former bestie, Spanky, and her arch nemesis Nadia Nakai, who is mourning the loss of her real life recording artist boyfriend, Kiernan “AKA” Forbes. But for some reason, Annie is so likeable. It’s so easy to be on her side.
Recording artist and resident f*&% boy, Diamond Platnumz, is back to his womanizing ways, hitting on anything that walks. The king of style, Spanky, in all his extravagant, over-the-top, extraness, brings his fair share of drama, almost coming to blows with one of his fellow cast members. Meanwhile, Luis Munana is the big teddy bear who is often misunderstood and easy to feel sorry for.
While it would’ve made sense to most people to build up to the wedding between Zari and Shakib over the course of the season, saving the nuptials for the finale, having the wedding at the beginning was a good way of introducing new characters and starting the season with some drama right away.
While it’s hard to say whether this season is better than previous seasons, the new cast members add layers to the storylines, as well as new friendship dynamics. This season also sees some unlikely friends and allies arise and storylines that started in season one come full circle as we see the stars grow and evolve.
Overall, this was a highly entertaining season that will leave viewers on the edge of their seats and waiting for season four. It may not everyone’s cup of tea, but if it is, there’s a lot of tea to go around.
Kevin Bourne is SHIFTER’s Toronto-based editor and Senior Entertainment Reporter focusing on Black music and film & TV. He was named one of 300 international voters for the 81st and 8nd Golden Globe Awards and a Tomatometer-Approved Critic by Rotten Tomatoes.
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