Idols Easily Distracted Pop Art Master

Gavin Wratten - Idols Director, living large in Lagos.

We call it Magic; he calls it Mike

Mike Majic - presenter of Idols West Africa. Already master of the first take, Mike delivers his lines effortlessly; much to pleasure of the director, who met him five minutes before their first link. In the background incidently, is a naval ship that was sold to Nigeria without an engine by a schemer who has since been locked away. Our pictures and filming so close to a military base caused an officer to fire warning shots into the air. Mike didn't budge.

We will, we will, rock you...

Nigerians are confident and generally have good singing voices, being well practised in gospel. The talent so far has been pretty amazing - such strong personalities mixed with rich good looks and charismatic, almost ingrown self-assumed celebrity status... this show was made for this nation!

Shooting starts

Nothing prepared the crew for the flood of people once the gates were open to a crowd of 3000 who'd been waiting since sunrise... The crowd shot was intense! A near riot was narrowly avoided by a crew who've done this drill 4 times before - and some strategically placed muscle :-)
Within minutes, civilty resumed and West africa's search for a superstar began.

A River runs through it...

The offramp from the highway creates the bottle-neck based on the condition of this part of the road - and like survival of the fittest, everyone rushes to cross this point first. Hereafter, the traffic smooths out. And this, day in, day out...

Apparently it happened on a public holiday...

True. Just collapsed, only two people were injured. This happened last year Sep/Oct.

Shopping on wheels

By the time you get home you could have decked out an entire entertainment network, kitchen and bathroom - vendors take advantage of the congestion to peddle kitchenware and wallclocks, all kinds of food, dvds (even porn), literature, anything really... Be warned, best to just close your window and refrain from eye contact - these guys are insistent beyond compare.