Betty Kyallo reality series to Air on Showmax

Kyallo Kulture, a new Kenyan reality series about Betty Kyallo and her sisters Mercy and Gloria, is set to premiere on Showmax on 17 June 2022.

The 13-part reality series will dive into the personal lives of Betty Kyallo, one of Kenya’s most prominent media personalities and a thriving entrepreneur, and her bold sisters, Mercy and Gloria Kyallo, like you’ve never seen before.

While being modern, unapologetic and multifaceted, the three sisters will give us a glimpse into the joys and pains of sisterhood, while also sharing more about their love lives, parenting, growing into womanhood and taking charge of their businesses. “Gloria, Mercy, and Betty represent the urban Kenyan woman,” says Eugene Mbugua, the creator of the reality series.

“They’re hard-working entrepreneurs, they like to have fun, and they are not in any way held back by what society thinks of them. They’re strong and unapologetic. These are the things that attracted our production company, D&R Studios, to them.”

While Betty is the most popular of the three sisters, for Eugene, each one of them brings something unique to Kyallo Kulture that the audience will love. “Each sister will share a key life story that they’ve never opened up about before,” says Eugene.

“These stories are very personal to them, and have made them who they are today, from Betty’s childhood accident to Mercy’s IVF experience to Gloria’s childhood growing up without a father and so much more.” The idea for the show was conceived in 2021 after Eugene met the Kyallo sisters but they “needed a bit of convincing” as Eugene puts it, to buy into it.

“We spent many days shooting test footage to see if our idea was valid,” says Eugene. “We’ve had several pilots that had to be reworked and we’ve gone through a series of different storylines before settling on the season that we have now.”

Eugene, one of the most sought-after documentary-reality filmmakers in Kenya, is also behind Kenya’s biggest docu-reality shows and Showmax favourites like the 2021 Kalasha nominee Sol Family; the 2021 Kalasha nominee and 2022 Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice (AMVCA) nominee This Love; 2018 Kalasha nominee Stori Yangu and 2019 Kalasha winner Our Perfect Wedding.

Sol Family and This Love were among the ten most-watched shows on Showmax in Kenya in 2020 and 2021 respectively but Eugene says Kyallo Kulture’s major differentiator is that it is led by an all-female lead cast. “The show has also been produced by a predominantly female crew,” he adds.

Overally, Eugene describes Kyallo Kulture as “emotional, funny, and entertaining, even as it delves deep into matters that a lot of women (and by extension, men) will relate to and empathise with.”