Bothasig’s Berry wins Idols SA
Bothasig singer and mom of four Berenike Rae Trytsman, also known as Berry, has become an instant millionaire after being crowned the winner of Idols SA season 17 at the weekend.
The 31-year-old received 12.5 million votes and walked away with a slew of other prizes including: a Renault Kiger valued at over R269 000, R100 000 in Truworths fashion vouchers, a Bachelor of Business Administration bursary valued at over R260 000 and R85 000 worth of musical equipment from Yamaha, as well as a Samsung Galaxy Fold 3 and R1 million in cash.
Berry thanked all her supporters and people from her community who had voted for her during the competition. She said being a winner “hasn’t sunk in yet”, but she was relieved to see her family for the first time this week, after four months of being away from them.
“I feel so blessed to have won this competition because it has taken a lot of hard work and sacrifices to get to this point,” she said.
Berry said she would invest her money for a few years and then buy her dream home.
Berry said she would be working on an album with Kalawa Jazmee Records and asked her husband, Renier, to help her write and produce songs in the meantime.
Tabletalk spoke to Berry when she made it to the top 16 of Idols SA season 17, earlier this year (“Bothasig mom in top 16 of Idols SA,” Tabletalk, August 19).
She told us that she had entered Idols SA at the age of 30 - the cut-off age for the competition - and wanted to encourage people that there was “no age limit to success and living out a dream”.
This was not Berry’s first time standing on the Idols SA stage – in season 6, in 2010, she reached the top-30 before being eliminated.
Berry said being part of the competition was an “emotional rollercoaster,” because she enjoyed meeting new people and grew close with them until they were eliminated.
But the competition had taught her to handle every situation “confidently and carefully”, which is something that would stick with her for the rest of her life.
