Latey: In search of love – How the response of Ethiopia to the bachelor triggered the controversy

The boy meets the girl. Girl falls in love with a boy. The girl repels the rivals of love and the boy – finally – declares her affection for her.

If you are a fan of reality TV meetings, you will have seen several variations in this intrigue – it is a well -used scenario that has played on Love Island, Love is Blind and the Bachelor.

But in Ethiopia, this romantic scenario broke the Convention.

Content creator Bethel Getahun conquered the Messiah Haileskel insurance agent in Latey: looking for love – a reality TV show that has triggered debates on meetings in the conservative country of East Africa.

The premise of Latey reflected that of the Hit US program aforementioned, The Bachelor (in fact, Latey is amharical for the baccalaureate / single).

Ten women had to compete for the affection of Mr. Messiah, a 38-year-old Ethiopian-American who grew up and lives in Dallas.

Throughout the series, the women fought in boxing matches, basketball competitions and even a bizarre competition where they had to design a television announcement for a mattress, to the apprentice.

The broadcast on YouTube is recently a rare meeting program in a country where the nuptial parade is traditionally a private matter.

Winning such a revolutionary program was “surreal”, Ms. Bethel, 25, told Podcast Focus On Africa de la BBC. Weeks of the final, which have accumulated more than 620,000 views, his victory “still looks like a badge of honor”.

Of course, not everyone feels the same thing.

“The concept of a meeting show is entirely (a) the western idea”, explains the Ethiopian Vlogger Semere Kassaye.

“Dating in Ethiopia has always been a private matter, something that is carefully nourished and has only paid attention to the family or society when it reaches a level of maturity.”

Mr. Semere, 41, also estimates that the show devalues ​​women, treating them as objects to acquire.

Several viewers have expressed the same opinion – a commentator on YouTube wrote: “Ladies, you are not an object that that with money can easily look for you.”

Another asked: “Much creativity on production but if it is against culture, what is the point?”

Ms. Bethel agrees that the concept of women in competition openly for a man comes up against Ethiopian traditions, but insists that the spectacle is more than his central premise.

“The interest of the show is to represent different types of women,” she says.

“If you have seen the episodes, you can see that every woman in this episode has many difficulties, horizons and all kinds of things that have not really been expressed or represented in the media in Ethiopia.”

We can say that latey succeeds in this regard. Women – who include hotel directors, on -board agents and accountants – quickly bind, sharing their personal stories between them and viewers.

In one of the most heartbreaking scenes, actress Vivian discloses that she fled to Eritrea Ethiopia, a neighboring country that applies an indefinite military conscription for all valid citizens. He was also largely accused of human rights violations.

Vivian has traveled alone in Ethiopia and has not seen his mother for five years.

“I miss her so much,” she said in tears.

Elsewhere, Rahel, a model, explains that she abandoned the school to take several jobs and provide for her brothers and sisters, while other women have emotional conversations on sorrow and their veneration for those who raised them.

Has won the realities of these women – and their romantic desires – Latey cemented her place of “content of her time,” said producer Metasebia Yoseph to the BBC.

Ms. Metasebia, co-founder of D! NKTV, the latey production company, said that the show “rocked the boat”, but is far from an affront to Ethiopian culture.

“Number-it’s not hyper-sexualized,” she says.

“We leave it on the most innocent and learned stages, dates.”

She says that the show also asks her viewers to question the concept of culture “arouse dialogue on” What is our culture? Are we a monolith? “”

The adaptation of a universal reality TV formula to Ethiopia has delighted a lot, with a fan commenting: “I completely take risk, taking into account the reserve that we are as a company … I always wanted to see other programs in the Ethiopian version. It is a revolutionary moment.”

A second spectator wrote: “I never imagined watching the baccalaureate in Ethiopia, but you did a great job by giving it life.”

At the back of this success, D! NK TV provides a second series.

This time, Ms. Metasebia says, a single woman could be the one who chooses her match of 10 male hopes.

“We receive a lot of public comments, people want to see inverted roles,” she explains.

As for Mrs. Bethel and M. Messiah? Unfortunately, their love story has stopped.

“It’s long distance because he’s in America right now with his son. So it’s really difficult … I don’t know where it’s going to go, basically,” she said.

But Ms. Bethel is still close to some of her competitive colleagues, which she affectionately calls her “sorority”.

She is proud that Latey presented “the romantic side of Ethiopia” and thinks that the show will lead to better representations of women in the Ethiopian media.

“It’s a new way to present women and how they express themselves,” she said.

“It’s a new way of seeing.”