Exclusive: Simz Ngema and Tino Chinyani on ‘Masked Singer SA’

Actress Simphiwe “Simz” Ngema and her husband actor and TV host Tino Chinyani were unmasked as the first-ever duo on The Masked South Africa, on the latest episode, which aired on SABC2 on Saturday 19 September.

SIMZ NGEMA AND TINO CHINYANI UNMASKED ON ‘MASKED SINGER SA’

The *Masked Singer South Africa’*s first-ever duo, Sheep, charmed audiences all season with their cuddly chemistry and standout vocals. However, this week the mystery finally unravelled and the duo were unmasked. During the thrilling semi-final, J’Something correctly identified the fleecy pair as actress-singer Simz Ngema and her husband, model-turned-presenter Tino Chinyani.

Mama Sheep (Simz) is known for roles in Muvhango, Broken Vows, The Queen, Isidingo and Rockville, and also records music as Quing Simz. Papa Sheep (Tino) has worked in fashion and co-hosts e.tv’s The Morning Show, performing Afro-pop under the name Tiyani Afrika.

This week’s semi-final saw five remaining Masks, Gogga, Mosquito, Chopsticks, Spotty and Sheep deliver solo performances. The five remainign masks were judged by a panel Somizi Mhlongo, J’Something, Sithelo Shozi and Skhumba Hlopheve. This weke amapiano star Zee Nxumalo also joined the panel as a guest detective. Sheep performed a lively cover of Justin Bieber’s Beauty and a Beat.

Clues were dropped throughout the season including a toy sewing machine, a Mother Mary statue, a gold bar and an eagle statuette. This sarked wildly different guesses from the panel. Somizi and Zee leaned towards DJ Shimza and Athi Geleba, or Pabi Moloi and Focalistic. Sithelo and Skhumba were convinced it was rapper Reason and Gigi Lamayne. J’Something, however, pieced together social media clues including Simz’s own post about buying a Range Rover to land on the correct answer.

In the end, Sheep’s Mask was removed after Chopsticks and Mosquito secured their spots in next week’s final. Simz and Tino sat down with The South African for an exclusive interview on their experience. Take a look…

Q&A WITH SIMZ NGEMA AND TINO CHINYANI

How did you feel to make it so far into the competition?

“Let me tell you, to make it that far was truly groundbreaking for us, because the mixture of merves, adrenalise, anxiety and doubt. Because you’re sitting behind the scenes and you’re hearing the other masks perform and you’re hearing this amazing vocal ability and you’re wondering to yourself ‘did we bring it this week?’. Every week to go that far was the most incredible experience. I think you can see from each reaction when they told us you were safe, that was our genuine emotions. Because we were just genuinely excited to be there for one more week,” said Tino.

“I think for me it was validating because sometimes you doubt how good you are at something and making it that far in was special, it was amazing. It was a blessing. Also, we were amongst some of the most talented people. Bceause we would sit and be like oh my gosh, this person is so good. They’re singing so well and you start doubting yourself and you start being nervous. This was just validation at how good we are at performing,” said Simz.

Who are you rooting for to win?

“I didn’t want to have favourites but I don’t want to lie to you. Gogga’s voice and her vocal capacity has really captivated me. The way she hits the notes and the energy that she brings to the stage is truly infectious. I would love to find out who Gogga is because it is rattling my brain… my money is on Gogga. I want to see Gogga take it all the way,” said Tino.

“I was rooting for us but right now I am really rooting for Spotty. So I feel like she is going to take it because I feel like she is a great performer, great singing and the dancing is also amazing. She has a lot of stage presence and that’s what I love about her,” said Simz.

What was it like being TMS’s first-ever duo?

“To be The Masked Singer’s first-duo is history in the making. I feel like we came in on the biggest note. Every week we tried to like go harder, we tried to break the ceiling on what our capacity was. To do that together, to that with someone you love, it is one of those unique experiences you will carry with you for the rest of your life. And even to go back and watch one of those episodes, we couldn’t help but get emotional and let a few tears go because watching that journey, knowing what you went through, and people on the other end seeing that whole production come together to life, truly is one of those life changing moments where you can really sit back and say ‘God you really were showing off’,” said Tino.

“Making history on a show of that magnitude was uhmm special. I enjoyed it, I loved it and I loved the fact that people didn’t even know who we were. So, it was really special for me,” said Simz.

What was your favourite song that you’ve performed?

“Favourite song I performed was definitely Empire State of Mind. The chemistry was amazing, I was really feeling it. Something about the lyrics literally felt like a mirror into my life. It felt like exactly where I was in this space of my life. I just felt so liberated doing empire state of mind like one of those moments where it genuinely felt like we were in New York and it is just one of those moments where you can say, all of the passion, all of the fire, the performance matched the energy that we carried in our hearts… by far Empire State of Mind was my favourite,” said Tino.

“Empire State of Mind definitely. Because it gave me an opportunity to show my vocal ability and we were both the most comfotable with that song. Tino knew the lyrics to that song. I also knew the lyrics to that song so we felt comfortable. We were able to elevate the performance because of that,” said Simz.

Lasizwe was unmasked as sushi. Take a look at our exclusive interview with the social media star here.