Meral Izabelle Tasbas (born 4 April 1979) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

television personality, singer, actress and television host. Tasbas is known for appearing as a contestant on all five seasons of the reality show '' The Bar'' between 2000 and 2004 on TV3 and for hosting her own television show on TV3 called ''Meral-TV''. She has appeared in some films and released a bilingual Turkish/English language single "Versene" with Marcus Öhrn.

Career

Appearance in ''The Bar''

Meral Tasbas became a household name when she participated in all five seasons of the reality show '' The Bar'' between 2000 and 2004 on Swedish station TV3. Tasbas has also appeared on the Turkish version of ''The Bar''. On the show Tasbas became a fan favourite and was mentioned in the tabloids for her behaviour at many occasions. She received death threats during the second season after an incident in her private life when she was ejected from a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

for wearing inappropriate clothing. Tasbas also received headlines in 2000 when she became hysterical during a

hot air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries p ...

ride along with Norwegian pastor

Runar Søgaard Runar Søgaard (born 27 June 1967 in Kongsvinger, Hedmark, Norway) is a Norwegian leadership trainer, life-coach, motivational speaker and former preacher. He was earlier married to singer Carola Häggkvist. In 2012 his business Vinger Consulting A ...

and the duo almost crashed into a powerline; she had won the ride after completing tasks at ''The Bar''.

Other reality shows

Tasbas has also participated in '' Club Goa'' broadcast on Strix Television, and spent one night inside the '' Big Brother'' house in 2003 as a celebrity guest. She has also taken part in the Swedish version of ''

101 Ways to Leave a Gameshow ''101 Ways to Leave a Gameshow'' is a British game show produced by Initial (a subsidiary of Endemol UK) for the BBC hosted by Steve Jones and Nemone. On each episode, eight contestants compete for a £10,000 prize by picking the correct answ ...

'' on Kanal 5. During 2002 Tasbas hosted her own talk show on TV3 called ''Meral-TV''. In 2011 she appeared on the Turkish talk show ''Arim Balim Petegim''. In 2016, she participated in Realitystjärnorna på godset which was broadcast on TV3, alongside amongst others

Victoria Silvstedt Karin Victoria Silvstedt (born 19 September 1974)''Expressen'', 29 October 2004. is a Swedish model, actress, singer, and television personality.Victoria Silvstedt Official Homepage, victoriasilvstedt.com, 8 May 2010. Early life Born in Skellef ...

and

Qristina Ribohn Theresa Qristina Ribohn Plückthun (2 October 1955 – 7 February 2024), better known as Farmen-Qristina, was a Swedish reality television contestant, Drug rehabilitation, drug counselor, and local politician for the Swedish Social Democratic Pa ...

Music

In 2000, Tasbas released her first music single "Versene" which she performed along with singer Marcus Öhrn from the reality show '' Villa Medusa'' and ''

Fame Factory {{italics title Fame Factory was a Swedish reality television show structured in the form of '' Star Academy'' series also known under that name (Star Academy) in ''France'' or various names like '' Fame Academy'' in the UK, ''Operación Triunfo'' ...

''. Tasbas sang the

Turkish language Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant sma ...

lyrics with Öhrn rendering the English language verses.

Films

During 2000, she appeared in a small role in the Swedish movie ''

The Dog Trick ''The Dog Trick'' (Swedish language, Swedish: ''Hundtricket – The Movie'') is a 2002 Swedish romantic comedy film directed by Christian Eklöw and Christopher Panov. It stars Linus Wahlgren, Alexander Skarsgård and Josephine Bornebusch in the l ...

'' alongside

Alexander Skarsgård Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård (; born August 25, 1976) is a Swedish actor. Born in Stockholm, he began acting at age seven but quit at 13. After serving in the Swedish military, Skarsgård returned to acting and gained his first role in th ...

. In 2011, Tasbas continued her acting career by playing herself in the reality show spoof series called '' Den Sista Dokusåpan'' (''The last reality show'') in which some of Sweden's best-known reality show stars took part and acted as

zombies A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whic ...

on TV6.

Personal life

Tasbas was born into a Turkish family living in Gothenburg. Tasbas married Emil Kokot on 14 April 2004. She participated in the reality show Club Goa which was filmed on location in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in 2005 but had to leave the show for personal reasons, she divorced Emil Kokot not long after. Tasbas has admitted that she has undergone at least three plastic surgeries since the age of nineteen: one

liposuction Liposuction, or simply lipo, is a type of fat-removal procedure used in plastic surgery. Evidence does not support an effect on weight beyond a couple of months and does not appear to affect obesity-related problems. In the United States, lipo ...

on her stomach, one separate surgery on her nose and one on her lips. In 2009, Tasbas appeared in an episode of ''Plastikkirurgerna'' (''The Plastic Surgeons'') on

TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to: *TV4 (Poland), a private Polish television station *TV4 (Sweden), a Swedish television network **TV4 Group, owners of the Swedish television station *South African Broadcasting Corporation TV4, a channel operated by the st ...

to discuss her surgeries. In 2011, Tasbas gained world attention after being seen with American actor

John Cusack John Paul Cusack (; born June 28, 1966)(28 June 1996)Today's birthdays ''Santa Cruz Sentinel'', ("Actors John Cusack is 30") is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and political activist. He is a son of filmmaker Dick Cusack, and his ol ...

and revealing they had shown interest in each other.

Discography

;Singles *2000: "Versene" (with Marcus Öhrn)

Filmography

*2002 - ''

'' (''Hundtricket – The Movie'') *2012 - ''

The Last Reality Show ''The Last Reality Show'' ( sv, Den Sista Dokusåpan) is a Swedish TV series that aired on TV 6 in Sweden the spring of 2012. The show portrays a zombie apocalypse as seen through the eyes of the cast and crew of a reality show. The title of th ...

'' (''Den Sista Dokusåpan'')

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tasbas, Meral 1979 births Living people 21st-century Swedish actresses Swedish people of Turkish descent Swedish television hosts Participants in Swedish reality television series 21st-century Swedish singers 21st-century Swedish women singers Swedish women television presenters