With so many beauty pageants mushrooming in the showbiz circles, an organiser surely had to up his or her game in order to not only pull the crowd, but also leave a remarkable impression on both the audience and the contestants.
Last week’s show was just the opposite of what a beauty pageant devotee would have anticipated. From the small audience that patronised the event to the roll out itself, everything that could go wrong on the day actually went wrong.
More often than not, contestants had to be called to the ramp, while they took all their time to appear on various attires. To add salt to injury, the hired disk jockey (DJ) would disappoint as he had other contestants strut the ramp without background music.
During talent show time, other contestants would even take time to perform and just stand still on stage for sometime while awaiting background music. And all these mishaps, event organiser,Bar Sanusi of Wizardwalk modeling agency blamed on lack of funding.
He decried shortage of funds towards the preparations of the pageant. Sanusi however thanked all the sponsors who came on board to assist to make sure that the finale materialised.
The panel of judges, which consisted of BTV talent show, My Star judge, Kgomotso Tshwenyego, renowned athlete, Isaac Makwala, make up guru and socialite, Tlhomamo Moje as well as businessman, Koster had a tough time as they had to be objective in their judging, despite all the hiccups.
The contestants did all that they could and went all out to show what they had to impress the judges. The girls had all they needed to be beauty queens and needed to find yet another platform to show it all to the world.
After parading on traditional attires, showcasing talent such as singing, poetry and dancing, the 11 gals strutted the ramp on bikinis. The highlight of the night was their presentation of evening gowns and they looked stunning, courtesy of Mokgabo designs Company.
Ultimately Khumbulani Emang was crowned Miss Global Botswana and had Thato Magosi and Pako Modibele as her first and second princesses respectively. The 21-year-old Botho University student booked herself a place in the grand finale which would be held in Jamaica on September 26.
As it is a norm that beauties must have brains, Khumbulani, clad on a red gown embodied all that as she answered the judges questions to their satisfaction. When asked if Botswana would be a better place without tribal recognition, Khumbulani said it would not be fine for tribes not to be recognised.
She said the different tribes in Botswana had different backgrounds and values through which they lived by, and the non recognition of these tribes would mean oppression of the people.
"Botswana therefore is still a better place of peace and tranquility with the recognition of tribes as they also have different cultures through which they express themselves and find fulfilment," she said.
The pageant also recognised other contestants and awarded the best photogenic and best congenial contestant. It also recognised those who had the best attires, best performer as well as the most popular contestant, who had the highest number of "likes" on the pageant's facebook page.
Ever since its inauguration in Botswana three years ago, the country has had Rita George as its first representative at the grand finale in Jamaica. Rita George came back with the first princess title. The second representative Nicole Gaelebale also represented Botswana, and on Friday joined Rita to crown the winners. ENDS