Nollywood actors Daniel Etim Effiong, Efa Iwara, Kunle Remi, Ian Wordi, and Mofe Duncan are set to anchor the forthcoming Africa Magic limited series, ‘Stripped.’ The six-part drama built around five friends, who turn to stripping to rescue their financial lives from ruin, premieres on AM Showcase on Sunday, April 19.
Created to explore the complicated lives of Nigerian men, Stripped follows five friends whose worlds are quietly falling apart. Etim Effiong plays Kelechi “Kel” Okere, an out-of-work marketing executive now driving Uber to support his family. Mofe Duncan plays Bolaji “The Bear” Babalola, a charismatic café owner watching his dream business slide toward bankruptcy.
Efa Iwara plays Damien Damina, a music video director whose carefully guarded bachelorhood is upended when his pregnant ex moves in. Ian Wordi plays Mensah Makinde, a Ghanaian-Nigerian architect doubling as a youth pastor caught between a manipulative fiancée and a liberating new colleague.
Kunle Remi plays Voke Ovire, a principled conman racing against the clock to free his imprisoned father. When the seductive and savvy lounge owner Yvonne spots them at a birthday party and hires them as strippers for her upmarket club Trabaye, all five men find themselves on a collision course with everything they have been running from.
Etim Effiong, who leads the cast as Kel and serves as executive producer, was drawn to the project for what it says about the unspoken emotional labour of men. “Men need to catch a break,” he said.
“We are being flogged and perfected left, right and centre just for being men. I was watching a video on social media about a sex worker that men go to and what they ask from her is, ‘Can you just tell me that I’m doing well?’ She charges a hundred dollars, and he breaks down crying when she says it. There is a long queue of men waiting to hear something nice. It’s a really tough world for men, and we deserve some credit.”
He has expressed his hope that audiences will use the show as a window into just how much men sacrifice for the people they love.
Atinuke Babatunde, Executive Head, Content & Channels, West Africa, MultiChoice weighs in on the fact “stories like Stripped are exactly the kind of bold, character-driven narratives that African audiences have been waiting to see themselves in.” Adding that MultiChoice is committed to reflecting the complexities of our immediate society with the array of commissioned shows coming to Africa Magic.
The series is designed as an ensemble piece in the truest sense, with no single star carrying the show alone. The five leads are supported by a compelling range of female characters who are every bit as layered: a loan officer weaponising heartbreak, a South African tech architect who reawakens a man’s buried joy, a pregnant ex using her condition as leverage, a pastor’s wife with a very secret life, and the cool, unflappable Yvonne, who sets the whole thing in motion.
Ultimately, the series intends to show that stripping is never merely a spectacle. For Etim Effiong’s character Kel, it funds a certification he hopes will restore his dignity before his wife finds out. For Duncan’s character Bolaji, performing before screaming women becomes an unlikely path to self-acceptance after post-lockdown weight gain ravaged his confidence. For Wordi’s character Mensah, the stage is where he finally sheds the persona of a manipulative relationship built around him. The show earns its laughs and its tears in equal measure across six tightly structured episodes that build toward a finale where the friendships themselves are placed under impossible strain.
Stripped premieres on Africa Magic Showcase (DStv Channel 151 and GOtv Channel 8) on Sunday, April 19, and subsequent episodes will air on Sundays at 8PM.
