BOKI GETS HER CAR
Amongst the host of prizes that Bokang Montjane has won as Miss South Africa is a brand new car sponsored by Barloworld. Whether the car is hers to keep or is merely a loaner for the year of her reign is anyone's guess, but our new queen has new wheels none-the-less.A CAPE TOO FAR
Another Miss SA pageant has come and gone, and once again the Western Cape contingent has had to settle for the runner-up spoils. Dhesha Jeram (1st runner-up) and Careen Truter (Top 5) excelled in Sun City and in my opinion would have been our best bets for Miss Universe next year, but the trophy cabinet in Cape Town remains empty.Back in the day, Cape Town had it's fair share of wins at the Miss SA and Miss RSA pageants, but for reasons unknown (although I could hazard a guess as to the reason) the luck of the Capetonians seems to have run out. To date the Western Cape has produced the only winner at the world's premier pageant, Miss Universe, but the local girls continue playing second fiddle at Miss SA.
In addition, the list of Capetonians that are excelling on the international ramp and print model scene continues to grow, yet they are not deemed good enough to win the national crown. Could it be politics or is it just a case of the Western Cape being so remote and geographically isolated from the rest of the country?
Hopefully that will change soon. Right now, it just seems that we are a "Cape Too Far".
AND THE CLAWS COME OUT
The leftover bubbly in the champagne flutes has not even had time to lose it's fizz and the claws are already out. Rumours (since confirmed) have it that newly-crowned Miss SA, Bokang Montjane, was dethroned as Miss Earth SA back in 2008.She may not be everyone's cup of tea as Miss SA, but is it really necessary to make an issue of a non-event? After all, if she was guilty of not meeting her contractual obligations as Miss Earth SA, let us not forget that it is an organisation that requires beauty queens to plant trees in stiletto's and bikinis.
Enough said!
IT WAS BAD, REALLY BAD
I don't want to detract from Bokang Montjane's win at Miss SA last night because she seems like a really nice and grounded young lady. But isn't it amazing how her win has totally skewed the opinions and perceptions of the pageant production?It has been 5 years since a winner of African descent was crowned and everyone (the PC public attention whores, that is) is gushing and fawning about the wonderful, slick and professional pageant because we have a truly representative winner again. The pageant SUCKED boys and girls!
I don't want to burst anyone's bubble, but the truth is that, had any of the runners-up won last night, the very same pageant would have been described as awful, unprofessional, boring, drab (you get the picture?). The fact that a black contestant had won negated the fact that the pageant was a disaster from beginning to end.
My opinion of the production would not have changed had my personal favourite Kiasha Naidoo (and then in her absence Dhesha Jeram) won the pageant. It was crap and lacked the style, grace, sophistication and pizzaz of the Miss SA pageants of the 90's. It was, in effect, the "mutant child" of a shopping mall pageant and Brakpan model contest.
Don't let the result cloud your perception and opinion of the pageant. It was bad, really bad.
BOKANG IS MISS SA
In what was possibly the worst pageant in terms of production value in the last 20 years, Bokang Montjane was crowned Miss SA. And that was such a pity since it was probably the best Top 12 in a long time. The former Miss Earth SA beat Dhesha Jeram and Bianca Coutinho to win the the title.I suppose the stage was set for what was to follow with the worst vox pops/red carpet routine with the most incompetent and uttely boring interviewer that I have ever seen in my life. I've seen more competent performances from KTV presenters. And the rest was just too awful for words.
The set was just plain disgusting. The DJ was on Prozac with the choice of music. Plastic balls (?) in the swimsuit parade...that just went on and on and on and round and round and round. And the nighties in the cocktail wear parade that showed off cellulite where there may or may not have been any.
And don't even get me started on those hideous negligee's that the girls wore in the evening gown parade. Brought back memories of those dreadful bridesmaids cakes with the Barbie stuck in the centre that were all the rage in the 70's.
Now what of the result? Well! We might make the Top 3 at Miss World. Given the results at that pageant in recent years, anything is possible.
AU REVOIR ET MERCI
In a little over 24 hours, the new Miss SA will be crowned at Sun City. Whoever wins the crown tomorrow night has some giant shoes to fill. Nicole Flint is going to be a tough act to follow.Her beauty, charm, grace and compassion have made her one of the most popular winners of the Miss SA title in the history of the pageant, and the SA Beauties Blog wishes her a fond farewell. Au revoir et merci, Nicole.
SERIOUSLY! THE TOP 12?
Whilst the Top 12 finalists in the Miss SA pageant are entering the home straight, the Top 12 finalists in the Mr SA pageant have just left the starting blocks in the race for the crown early next year. In racing terms, a number of possible medalists must have false-started in the semi-final round because this is definitely not the Top 12 in terms of looks.It is interesting to note that in a pageant where men "of colour" are not de rigueur, there are 4 finalists of African heritage. Whilst this is commendable, is this the absolute best the organisers could do to make the line-up credibly representative? I doubt that any of them will give the likes of Tyson Beckford, Shemar Moore or Blair Underwood (to name but a few) any sleepless nights.
In a year when the African "sistas" are top-class, the "brothas" are really letting the team down. I have calculated that out of a pool of 20 million black males in SA, approximately 42,000 are potential Mr SA candidates (that's 1% of African males aged 20 to 35). I'm inclined to ascribe the phenomenon to tribal taboos, but with the urbanisation of black males this can't really be an issue any longer.
As far as their white counterparts go, the picture isn't any rosier. I'm speechless at the number of absolute stunners that were left out of the Top 12. There are only 3 or 4 white finalists that would not look out of place in a line-up at Mr Venezuela or Mr Spain. The others would really look like charity cases.
The Mr SA website makes it very clear that it is not a primary objective of the organisation to produce a Mr World, but for heavens sake, it is still a "beauty pageant". Have any of the organisers been down to Clifton Beach in summer? I realise that the offering sur le plage would not necessarily be interested in entering the pageant, but has anyone tried to recruit any of them? I don't think so.
In any event, one can only name a winner out of the available pool of finalists and at this point in time it would be a toss-up between Chase Watkin-Jones, Pieter Badenhorst and Ryno Swanepoel for the title. But that's not going to happen, is it?
SA'S HOT GRAND SLAM YEAR
Miss Earth has just been crowned and the Pageant Grand Slam for 2010 has been completed. And what a year it has been for South Africa. 2010 was another successful year for South Africa at the Top 4 international pageants.
Nondyebo Dzingwa placed in the Top 7 and surpassed the Top 16 placements of Bokang Montjane (2007) and Chanel Grantham (2009).
Despite the God-awful gown by the "frills, folds and pleats" designer (?), Nicole Flint still managed an 8th place at Miss Universe. It really made my day when I recently discovered that a number of his fellow-designers think as little of his work as I do.
Nicole Flint placed in the Top 25 at Miss World although I am still of the opinion that she should have made the Top 7 at least and was a victim of the Julia Morley "let's pretend to be diverse to appease the masses" Miss World model.
Our only "miss" this year was Matapa Maila's non-placement at Miss International, although that was sort of expected since she failed at Miss Earth (2008) and she is not the hot property that she is made out to be.Here's looking forward to an even more successful 2011.
TOP 7 AT MISS EARTH
As predicted in an earlier post Miss Earth SA, Nondyebo Dzingwa, made the Top 7 at the 2010 Miss Earth pageant in Nha Trang, Vietnam. Well done Nondy. Nondyebo becomes the most successful SA delegate at the pageant. The winner was the hot favourite Nicole Faria from India.It is interesting to note that Miss Philippines failed to make the semi-finals for the second time in the 10-year history of the pageant and it just happened to be in the first year that the Philippines-based pageant was held outside of the country.
Makes one think, doesn't it?
J'ADORE CHARLIZE
Do fragrance commercials get any better than this? I think not. Charlize is undoubtedly our most successful beauty export.MISS SA LATEST
It's one of those year's where I'm going to miss the boat completely again. I've just discovered that my favourite for the title is not rated by people "in the know". If the rumours I've heard pan out, then the new Miss SA will come from this group of contestants, in order from top to bottom.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
