Shaw Family Values. Shaheen Shaw and wife Rasheeda
Tellytrack presenter Shaheen Shaw is still on the Phumelela payroll. This was confirmed today after a tirade of speculation on one of our leading racing chat forums.
The furore that has erupted following the studio walkout of the popular racing television presenter and former commentator has been fired by much speculation and baying for blood on the African Betting Clan website.
The post entitled simply ‘Shaheen Shaw’ has had over 3000 views and 116 comments since going live on 29 December at 19h49.
The 42yo Cape born Shaw, who has built something of a cult following amongst the local punting fraternity for his energetic and uniquely eccentric studio manner, walked out of the Tellytrack studio during a live broadcast on 27 December.
His stock phrase ‘ let’s hit them hard, sunshine’ has had enthusiastic punters reaching for their wallets and telephones to boost betting turnovers.
It has been suggested that Shaw’s walkout was related to his apparent dissatisfaction with certain aspects of working conditions at the Rivonia studio.
The man, known to some as Chainsaw, is a character alright. His rather bizarre and seemingly comical rantings about production issues, air-conditioning and internet connectivity problems are items that spring to mind from our personal experiences over the past few months.
While professional working conditions are an obvious minimum requirement in the fast paced highly stressed world of broadcasting, Shaw’s walkout action cannot be easily condoned as professional. Imagine the chaos if everybody behaved in a similar manner?
There is no denying his tremendous contribution and popularity and Shaw’s entrance at tote outlets has been compared to something akin to David Beckham’s arrival in Japan. This elevated status and popularity of a rising star of the Tellytrack show are no doubt presenting their own new challenges to Phumelela’s management.
Phumelela CEO Rian Du Plessis is on leave but a reliable source within Phumelela confirmed that Shaw was still employed by the company and refuted suggestions that he had been dismissed or had resigned.
So let’s wait for the new year before jumping the gun.
