When I watch our representatives compete at international pageants, I throw my weight behind "our girl" and find myself sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the announcement of the semi-finalists, finalists and winners. I get sweaty palms, my heart beat is accelerated, and I show all the classic symptoms of an anxiety attack. I close my eyes, hoping, praying that South Africa will be the next country called. When "our girl" does "do well", I jump up and down whilst screaming "yes, yes, yes". Ok! So it's not that bad, but I do feel a sense of national pride and I am pleased with a job well done on their part. But often, when the excitement has died down, and I replay the images in my head, sanity prevails and I find I have to ask myself the question "now how did she do that".
Being a pageant enthusiast and trivia collector of sorts, I have paged through hundreds of magazines and newspapers looking for information with which to fill my pageant website. I have seen thousands of photographs and video clips over the years, and I think I have a fair idea of the look, quality and worth of our representatives even though I have only met a handful face-to-face.
Be that as it may, I have at least 10 "now how did she do that " moments when reviewing the performance of our representatives at Miss Universe and Miss World. The following comments are not a reflection of their character or person, but merely a comment on my perception of their physical appearance.
Obviously photographic technology back in the 50's was not all that advanced, and some contestants did not photograph as well as others, but even so, I have no idea how Adele Kruger placed 3rd at Miss World in 1957. She appears to have had a "killer bod", but she really wasn't all that pretty.
1960 was a double whammy for me. Both Nicolette Caras and Denise Muir were over-rated at Miss Universe and Miss World respectively. I'll admit that the court at Miss Universe was not the best looking and that there were at least 10 other semi-finalists who would have looked better in a winners' picture with Miss Italy, but Denise Muir really looked out of place in 3rd at Miss World.
You can call me all the nasty names in the world and say what you like about me, but Pearl Jansen in 2nd at Miss World in 1970 was a political statement. Not a single bookmaker had her rated for a Top 15 placement, yet she ended up in 2nd place. Finally South Africa had a contestant of colour at an international pageant, albeit under the banner of some imaginary country called Africa South, but to place her 2nd, and ahead of the highly rated Miss South Africa, was a travesty. She wasn't even a sure-shot winner in a pageant of her peers back in South Africa and the results of the pageants in which she competed will confirm that.
It would be another 22 years before my next "how did she do that" moment, but from 1992 through to 1994, all our placements at Miss World were "now did she do that" moments. Actually, they weren't. We had just concluded our first fully democratic election, were in the "rah-rah rainbow nation honeymoon phase" of our history, and the world loved us. Miss World had just come out of a very difficult run and Julia Morley was just too grateful that anyone wanted to host her pageant, and the judging panels were made up largely of guilt-ridden white South Africans and newly enfranchised black South Africans. A single Top 10 placement in 1992 would have been a fairer reflection for that period.
Much has been written about the volatile relationship between Kerishnie Naicker and Jessica Motaung, but how the latter could feel that she was more deserving of the national title is beyond me. When she placed 3rd at Miss World in 1997, it was more of a WTF moment than a "now how did she do that" moment for me.
I'm probably going to get "slapped senseless" for my following comments about the "holy grail" of SA beauties, but Sonia Raciti's Top 5 placements at both international pageants are both "now how did she do that" moments in my book. She had a killer body, was intelligent and was attractive at best, but she did look 10 years older than her 21 years. Throw in that over-rehearsed, SA Tourism Department issue response in interview and the Natalian accent at Miss Universe, and you have a "now how did she do that" moment. In all Miss World Top 3 pictures, she is definitely the odd one out.
As I said when I started, my comments are based on my perception of the physical appearance of the aforementioned contestants, and the perception of physical beauty, being a very subjective matter, will vary from person to person.