For years, Maya Bezalel has refused offers from any possible reality show, on any channel on the converter.
The obsessive courtship after her was understandable: a liberal young woman from Kiryat Gat, with a contagious laugh, who came to the big city at the beginning of the millennium, with the victory of her then best friend, Ninet Tayeb, in "A Star Is Born."
Add to the menu a firm opinion on any matter that Bezalel will not be afraid to say out loud - and you will have a tenant that Big Brother just wished for.
You said no to everyone, why to the brother?
"Because I wanted to get out of my comfort zone, and I got out. I want to believe they saw in me my authenticity, who I am."
And according to the responses you get, see?
"On the street I only get support, but obviously there are also less good responses, and I've heard them too. I prefer a hundred real quality responses than a hundred thousand that are not."
The negative reactions make you regret entering the house?
"I don't want to say it, but I'm glad I came out. I know how to do TV shows, and that's okay."
• • •
She is 38 years old, and for the past seven years she has been married to Roi Assis (42), a television personality, editor of "Ofira and Berkovich" with the competitors Keshet.
Together they are raising two children: Omri (5) and Ido (two years old).
"To know exactly how long Roi and I have been together, I google 'Star Born - Hagit Yasu', and get it," she says.
How is it related?
"Because there was our second date."
In recent years, she has been presenting the program "Waking the State" on Radio Lev Hamedina alongside Koti Sabag (due diligence: I have a corner with them), and is a regular panelist on "Almost Shabbat Shalom" presented by Avi as a request.
Whoever is in charge of her entry ticket into the industry is Ninet Tayeb, who was one of her good childhood friends.
"Thanks to Ninet, I actually came to Tel Aviv. We would go out together, and suddenly from someone who grew up in Kiryat Gat, I find myself sitting in a brasserie with Aviv Geffen. For me, it was science fiction."
In fact, you have been with Ninet since the beginning of its meteoric rise.
"Yes, I remember she told me she had an audition for 'A Star Is Born', so I told her, 'I will come with you for this, but then you come with me to buy shoes in Azrieli.' I did not understand the size of the matter at the time. That they were enthusiastic about her and that she did very well, and 'come on, come to Azrieli to buy the shoes' ".
Will you be in touch today?
"In recent years no. After Omri's birth she came to visit me and brought gifts, but over the years the relationship has melted."
She did not call now when you left the fireplace?
"Didn't call, and I'm not expecting."
Do you miss her
"When they put the song 'Crazy' in her house, performed by her, it did me good. Ninet is part of critical years in my life, and it doesn't matter that we are not in a relationship now. The song suddenly did me good on the heart, reminded me of beautiful moments.
"Ninet is someone through whom I saw the world of entertainment and advertising, and it put me in a lot of proportions, because through her I realized that success of this magnitude has a mental price. When you're up and you want to maintain that thing, it's not easy."
Ninet Tayeb.
"Did not call",
• • •
When Bezalel entered the Big Brother house (Network 13, Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday), no one imagined that it would soon become one of the most attractive and attractive tenants.
In view of the amount of quarrels in which she starred, and the fuse that shortened with her until she was dismissed, it is difficult to remember that her first two weeks there were conducted on who rests.
"For the first few days you don't really understand what's going on and just acclimatize. You go to the bathroom - see you chat, move to the bedroom - chat. After two days I said to myself, wait, this is the format? To chat from room to room?"
Yes, probably.
"You have to constantly find interest in people, in power. In the first days I felt like I was really working on it. I also could not lie in bed for half a day, because you are going to rest, and immediately someone sits on your bed. You beg for a quiet moment, and I am a person who must be a little alone It's disgusting to me. "
The first conflict in the house was recorded upon her entry, but in fact began much earlier.
Dana Ron, it turned out, was furious about things Bezalel said about her on the radio (during my corner on her show), about a failed pilot of Oren Hazan and Ron for a new show, which ultimately did not reach the screen.
"I actually loved Dana, and got mad when she was fired," Bezalel surprises, "when I saw her lose it on the wedding mission I took a step back because I wanted her to take care of herself.
Truth be told, an answer I did not expect.
"That's the truth. Dana is a great reality character. When I was bored at home I would sit on the sidelines and watch her. I felt like I was watching Channel 26. She was always funny. Which is religious coercion.
I was torn with laughter.
For me, it is a miss. "
What happened between you two?
"Dana was offended by me for what we said about her on the radio, but I was equally offended by her. If I promise something to the listeners, and others do not keep it - I'm upset For transmission;
I am a person of professionalism. "
She was offended by what was said on the broadcast.
"She blamed me, claiming that because of her and Oren's pilot it didn't work out. But there is no connection.
Dana Ron.
"I was hurt by her," Photo: Micha Loveton
Ron was the second evictee of the season, and upon her departure Bezalel discovered a new opponent at home: former MK Oren Hazan. , And I to him, and there was a completely revolving relationship.
Until the moment he told me 'go around and make tools' - and that upset me. "
Very upset. Really saw about you.
"It's a conflict I live with on a daily basis. I have responded to it both from my own pain and the pain of others. Where I am today, there is no place for such statements. When women start a family and have a career and social life - and we are at their peak and just evolving - he can say nothing such a.
"Oren and I had conversations and political discussions and depth, and he also saw me washing and making dishes, and I have no problem with that. But when he told me about the dishes - I was upset. Is that what you see in me? Tools? I could not stop myself. It was a red line. "Because to me, and to every woman, people don't talk like that. If he had apologized five minutes later, maybe the relationship would have been different. In the end, he really apologized."
Your response to him, "Tell that to your wife, Rinat, and your mother," was also unsuccessful, to say the least.
"You are absolutely right, but I was so hurt that I said everything I could. At that moment he hit me, and I wanted to hit him back. It was instinct, and certainly when in a pressure cooker like that. At that moment it hit me at the most sensitive point. If there's one thing I I regret it at home and that I would have done differently, that is not to say this sentence. "
Why did you not apologize to him?
"I apologized for it, and I was sorry the apology was not broadcast. I slept with it, I thought about it, and I came to him and told him."
With Oren Hazan at the Big Brother house.
"I preferred to stay away from him, because he took out less good sides of me," Photo: From the show
In your twisted relationship, I have often felt that you fall into Hazan's traps.
"That's what everyone saw in a 40 minute episode, but you did not see another 5,000 traps that I did not fall into. Probably will always see the places where I did fall. It got to a point where even Tzipi told him to get off me. He would talk to me without saying the My name. It could have been stupid. "
You could just ignore.
"That's what I tried to do, but how can you escape a human being. I make borax, he tells me 'oh, here she sees the camera.' “Life is beautiful with little people.” I did not understand what I did to him and what he wanted from me.
"When he's having a discussion he just wants to be heard and not heard. I love discussions, and I make a living from it, but I also ask that you give me your listening, and do not use all kinds of headlines - exactly what he did.
"For example, we had an argument about Lucy Aharish and her husband Tzachi Halevi, and he did not stop saying that it was assimilation. I explained to him that when I saw the TV meal of the two families on TV, I saw love and peace. He felt he did not convey the message of assimilation enough. Push it everywhere, because he's a provocateur.
Omar replied that he did not know what it was, so Oren told him 'Noga Erez'.
Oh really, the person is telling you he does not know what BDS is, and you're trying to make a round of it by force?
"The highlight was the circus speech. Oren chose to talk about me as part of the mission in front of everyone, and there is nothing he did not say about me. It is a speech that I thank God was not broadcast, but if it was broadcast the viewers would understand why I react like that."
What did he say in this dramatic speech?
"Maya, you are a hypocritical, two-faced man, no one believes you, who do you think you are, using the status of a woman to move forward in life." What did he not say? "I woke up imagining my husband Roy watching what was said about his wife. Say, what did I do to you? All because I do not want to be your girlfriend? Do you have no restraints? Where are your boundaries? Do you have no compassion?"
Did he apologize to you for that too?
"Yes, he turned to me after the speech and apologized. We sat in the living room and he said to me, 'I love you, the most special person I have ever met, and you are stunning.' You said for minutes that you love me. "
Until now I did not understand what the main dispute between you is.
"He was disappointed that I did not want to continue to be his girlfriend. I preferred to stay away from the person because he took out less good sides of me."
And to think that in the early days you were still a "bride and groom," and you even won the mission together.
"Sad to say, but no one else on the mission chose me as a partner. I saw how everyone divided between them, and it was harder for me to find my bestie. Suddenly Oren offered me, so I went with him. He closed the corner for me, so I would not be publicly embarrassed because That no one chose me. "
You describe unpleasant feelings, but at no point in the house have you been seen falling apart or breaking down.
"I was afraid that my family would see these things. I am always a person who cares about others more than himself. In general, I admit I could not completely disconnect from the world and be completely focused on the fireplace. I had Ido and Omri's rings, my mother's wedding ring and earrings, so These signs kept bringing me back to my thoughts. "
Were you surprised you didn't have the "one" you could lean on?
.
You also had a connection with Miri Cohen.
"For quite a few moments Miri was for me just the one I needed. To sit with her in the kitchen, for a coffee miracle, to see the mothers she has. She supported me, and I supported her. Listen, because she told me I needed more children I was afraid I would be absorbed in the fireplace. "Without Roy being next to me ... only when I went out did I hear some criticism of her, but that's not something I felt at home."
And Tamir Vardi?
"Tamir is a very cute, funny, fun person, but I was less connected to him. In the fireplace house there are people who take humor or emotion out of you, and that did not happen with Tamir."
He claimed you talked about it with Kuti before entering the house. Was or was not?
"Anyone who knows me knows that this is not my style. That I should go and ask Kuti how you will convert? Oh really, I have nothing to do in life?"
Did you watch the parting words of the tenants from you?
"No, I did not watch anything, nor will I watch. I do not like to see myself. Always looking for where the problems in makeup and lighting. Really do not like."
• • •
Bezalel stayed at the house for 33 days, and was considered one of the most prominent tenants this season, if not the most prominent - even though she did not reach the finish line.
Anyone who knows her and anyone who listens to her on the morning show can notice her comic side, which is less pronounced on screen.
"Why do you think the tenants did not give me much time to evict? Because they saw all my other sides and got a supportive and funny tenant. I filled their time. I was one who always has something to talk about, but what they chose to show viewers is not necessarily that. To do, it's TV. "
Maybe you came to seek justice in the wrong place?
"One of my roles on the radio is to open a microphone and expose injustice and injustice, to come out against. The pursuit of justice is part of me. For example, there was the discussion at home about the Pride Parade, where Tzipi Romano and Roi Lulu went out against the naked clothes and sexuality. Roi Lulu, who understands the importance of Pride Day, comes and claims that it is a sexual parade? He forgets all the parents and children who hang out there? And what about the importance of this day? What does it mean?
"Then suddenly I find myself fighting with him and Tzipi, two who are supposed to protect the proud community, and I do not believe it. They presented it as if the parade is the Dungeon Club. Tamir also upset me in this discussion. The conservative side.
"It's okay for him to be conservative, but he said himself that he was never in the parade, so why just go out against the community you are part of. I connect to my truth, and I could not keep quiet about them."
The one who did not snatch from you is Jacko. It was obvious that there was an excellent connection between you two.
“With Jacko it was kind of closing the circle for me because we used to be members of the same gang, and suddenly seeing him, I felt like it hadn’t been 15 years since.
"He reminded me of the days when I was young and cool, and he also sang to me full. And you know that at home every hymn is a party. Jacko is authentic, and he is not afraid to express his opinion. And only that Rumi Gior will not touch him in milk."
What, really, was her problem with giving him milk?
"He can't drink regular milk. One day he drank regular milk - and didn't move from the toilet for two days."
Jacko.
"Closure",
Apropos, how did you react when Titi felt unwell?
"I took care of her a lot, and then I went into the fireplace room and started crying."
Why?
"I, when I'm sick, the first thing I do is call my mom. When I was caring for Titi I was reminded of the fact that she has no mother, and it flooded me a lot. Titi is a cute and sweet girl."
At the gas station near the Lev Radio studios, the state asks me anonymously to give Bezalel a message.
"Tell her that even when we seem to be approaching equality, there is still a long way to go. In practice men can say what they want, and women still do not, and what is sad is that women think the same about other women."
Maya, I'm getting you the message.
"I agree with her. I constantly experience what she says, and it sucks. People have a hard time digesting a woman who is opinionated, and I am opinionated. I'm not afraid to say my opinion, and I'm not afraid she will be different. I do not steal public opinion, and I say Just things I connect to.
"It was easiest for me to say what the audience wanted to hear, and I know what they want to hear. But it is not worth it that I will not sleep with myself well later in the night. Even in the discussion about the Pride Parade there was a moment I hesitated. What are you trying to fight their struggle? "It's better you shut up. But luckily, I went very fast with my truth."
And there are no filters?
"My metric was what I would say on the radio, because on the radio I talk about everything freely. It was my metric. I can't say anything to please someone."
Your free speech is also evident in the nut quarrel.
"I did not think that the section with the nuts (Bezalel asked for nuts to make a cake for her birthday, and later claimed that Tzipi ate them - something that ignited a confrontation; A.S.) would be so large and significant and move the plot and influence forward."
How many nuts were these?
"She ate seven, but my anger was principled."
Were you disappointed when you were fired?
"I knew that evening I was going out. I especially wore a look I kept for this moment, because I knew that when I went up the stairs with him - he would look like a shell. For the last three days I have been praying to God to get me out. I exhaust quickly."
With her husband Roi Assis and children Omri and Ido.
"Which one is rich? Happy in part", Photo: From the family album
Are you glad you're back to normal outside?
"I have a husband at home that I love, children, a career. Which one is rich? Happy in part. And there is not a day that I do not say this to myself."
Who will be your winner?
"Jacko. It will be a beautiful closing circle. And I would also be happy for Titi if she wins."
erans@israelhayom.co.il