<<Print>>

Widespread reports in Nollywood indicate that actor and TV host Joseph Benjamin is romancing sultry actress Adora Oleh, his co-host on popular TV programme Project Fame. However, the young man has denied it all, saying that the rumuors were baseless and lacked merit. The handsome man told nigeriafilms.com that his relationship with Adora Olehi was strictly on professional basis with no romance at all. �Therefore, I would want the public to understand that my relationship with my co-host Adora is platonic and it ends there,� he stated. Fielding questions on what might have prompted the rumour, he said, �I don�t know exactly what may have prompted such an embarrassing rumour. People just talk with reckless abandon. Must I romance her just because she is my co-host? That was the same thing jobless and frivolous rumour mongers said about Monalisa Chinda and I.� Benjamin was last in the news for saying he wasn�t intimidated by acting with Genevieve Nnaji for the first time in a movie titled �Tango With Me�, produced by Mamood Ali-Balogun. He reportedly said that he least anticipated a role with Genevieve, as that came as surprise to him. However, he was able to play alongside the star actress and was not bullied by her celebrity status. �She is someone whose career I have admired and respected over the years because she is quite thorough and professional. I have followed her career and she is one of the very few who I like and applaud. When I first met her, she was quite pleasant, unlike how people think she is a snub. I also respect Stella Damasus, Kate Henshaw, Rita Domnic and Nse Ikpe Etim. People ask me if I felt intimidated working with Genevieve. Trust me, I was not intimidated working with Genevieve. We are both professionals and if Mamood Ali-Balogun didn�t feel I was capable enough to do the job, I would not be called or even considered,� he told nigeriafilms.com. Joseph Benjamin started as model for Fanta Chapman, a popular soft drink in the 90s, and was a child actor in the popular TV series �Tales By Moonlight�. He was the host of Project Fame and now the lead actor in Mahmood Ali-Balogun�s new film, �Tango with Me�. His appearance in two episodes of �Tales by Moonlight� was his first experience in acting. Subsequently, he played one of the extras for the movie �Crossroads� in 1991, which happened to be his first movie featuring Ejike Asiegbu, the past President of Actors Guild of Nigeria and Victoria Inyama. Since then, he has featured in a number of movies and series. Among them are �Deadly Mission� with Zeb Ejiro, Robert Peters and Kate Henshaw, Mnet�s �Edge of Paradise�, �Super Story�, �Tinsel� among others.