How has your life changed since you joined Carte Blanche?
I threw away a diary, got used to boarding a plane at short notice and met some of the most remarkable (and evil) people in the world.
You are the face of the brand; do you find you are constantly on the job?
Sure. You’re often greeted by (mostly) friendly viewers when enjoying a quiet beer at the local. But I think it’s rather trite to be a TV presenter and expect to have absolute privacy off-duty. The viewers keep us in a job!
Producing a show is all about team work, yet viewers often assume you go it alone. Tell us about a typical shoot and who’s involved?
Actually, I do it all alone - present, produce, edit... sorry, that’s a joke at our offices. A typical shoot usually involves a team of four: producer, camera person, sound engineer and yes, the presenter. All vital cogs in the Carte Blanche engine. We work long hours for two days in the most exotic, humbling, terrifying and mind-blowing locations for one 10 minute story. But for producers and editors, the work has only just started!
Are there things you simply refuse to do?
I don’t think “refuse” is in the Carte Blanche dictionary. But I don’t like to do ambush interviews in my own suburb!
The show has been on-air for 26 years- the longest of any South African current affairs show. To what do you attribute its longevity?
The key ingredients for me are a grounding in CBS 60 Minutes (we shared the hour with this top investigative programme for the first decade); the bravery of M-Net in airing controversial subjects; and a team that knows no limits in their efforts(or working hours), driven by a string of competitive and creative Executive Producers over the years, from Bill Faure to George Mazarakis.
Your high profile must offer some measure of security – but what still gets you nervous on a shoot?
An ambush interview is like a military operation - a sound glitch or a dead battery and the moment is lost. So you do get nervous about the precision and the possibility of being hit over the head with a baseball bat.
Derek Watts has been a journalist for nearly 30 years, presenting on South African television since 1985 as a sports anchor. Derek has been an anchor and presenter on Carte Blanche since the programme's inception in 1988.
You can follow @DerekWatts on Twitter.