THANGO NTWASA | Sonia gave us the perfect scandal for digital age

Everybody loves a good story; whether it’s fact, fiction or a complicated tale that leaves you in between the two. 

If you tell someone something in an interesting way, you are bound to have successfully entertained them.

The world stood still and listened to Nkosi Johnson when he shed light into life as a child with HIV/Aids. The world also came to a standstill when Princess Diana sat in front of a camera and detailed her difficult life in Buckingham Palace. There are still some who can’t believe that Jack from the Titanic was not in fact a real person.

This is why the tales of Matthew and Sonia Booth have shaken us all. They are a couple very few people keep tabs on, rarely catching headlines and barely in the spotlight. So when Sonia this week took to social media to reveal her husband was cheating, you would expect that it would have just gone over people’s heads.

But no, the story has spun into a major media frenzy and has left many jaws dropping over a cheesecake.

For those who may have missed the smallest crumb of this delicious scandal, Sonia caught a whiff that her husband might be cheating on her. She alleged it was with a married fitness bunny. Prior to getting a private investigator on the case, she was ticked off when one night Matthew baked a cheesecake on one of their children’s birthdays this year.

While Matthew may be a multitalented man in his own right, he is no baker which excited his family. When they went to enjoy the fruits of Matthew’s labour the following morning they were gobsmacked to find the cheesecake was gone. But to make it worse, Sonia’s Tupperware was also missing.

The cheesecake was apparently eaten by the mistress and her husband, who was quick to share this sentiment with Sonia.

Barely in the spotlight, Matthew and Sonia earn a title of perfection as a couple who barely get a bad reputation in the media. As a result, it is these many elements that make this the perfect scandal – the perfect story anyone could tell.

Firstly, it is how celebrities and fans are parasocial. It is a one-sided relationship that sees someone put in a lot of time, effort and energy into someone who is unaware of their existence. In this case, consumers of celebrity culture are those putting in a lot of effort into the lives of the famous. Matthew and Sonia being seemingly flawless makes this work. People have built the connotation that the pair are perfectly happy and would have no reason to complain.

Secondly, not that many people care about how honest you are when retelling the story until you give them the spice of it all. Sonia did not hold back in retelling the story even revealing the perfume he would often wear – Gucci Guilty – which he received as a gift from his secret lover.

The cherry on top, and this is often rare to come by, are the bizarre factors. Every great story needs a bizarre element. For Jay Z it was getting pummelled by Beyonce’s sister in a lift. For Malusi Gigaba, it was the infamous “imagine this in your mouth” video. For Sonia it was the tale of the cheesecake and Tupperware.

Heralded as the foundation that keeps the ubuntu between housewives, colleagues and bougie kids on the playground intact, Tupperware holds symbolic meaning for many people. When you throw that into a story so salacious, it not only pulls us in but it makes these relatable elements mascots for everyone gossiping about it.

It’s a human condition to enjoy gossip, spreading it and exchanging it with details but with a story like Sonia’s that is built for consumption it becomes a joke that no longer drags her husband through the mud but makes her the butt of her own joke.

What has become a conversation that throws her husband into the spotlight; it has instead made the entire circus her current brand. But perhaps the worst part of it is that it puts her children in an uncomfortable position. And with a scandal that has been drenched in hashtags and motifs that easily make them targets for mockery, just how easy will their parents’ marital woes be?

In extension, their children’s faces are plastered all over their social media. In as much as Matthew does not feature in a lot of headlines and magazine covers that establish his fame, there were still those in public constantly taking videos of him and his exploits. These videos have borne the fruits of their inquisitive efforts by affording them the opportunity to benefit from the trending topic. Who is to stop them from cashing in invasive videos of the children?

Cheesecake and Tupperware have all made us laugh, but was it all worth it at the end for the parties at play?