One of the major problems with pageants in South Africa, and the world in general, is that the public at large has lost "ownership" of the pageant winner. Gone are the days when the winner was referred to as "our Miss SA". Whilst we will never all agree on who should and should not have won or placed, it is important that the winner of the pageant is no longer seen as "just a poster girl" for the organisers. And what better way to achieve that than to have a Survivor/Idol/Big Brother type format for the pageant.
Let us not forget that from 1956 until 1963, and then again in 1966 and 1967, Miss SA was selected by popular vote. Those ten winners achieved a first, 2 third, 1 fourth and 4 semi-final placements at Miss World, with only 2 winners not placing at all. Not a bad record for the "public vote".
Yes times have changed, and the pageant is no longer a "whites only" affair. All of South Africa's race groups now need to be considered and the international pageant arena has become more competitive, but I believe that there is a way that we can crown world-beaters and involve the general public in the selection of the winner at the same time.
CONTESTANTS
Each of the 9 provinces will select 6 contestants at regional auditions. The group will include 2 Black, 2 White and 2 Asian or Coloured contestants. South Africans are very loyal to their provinces and there is no better way to get the public involved than to have the contestants compete on an inter-provincial basis.
To make the entire process more interesting, an inter-provincial trophy can be awarded to the best performing province once the placements of each provinces' contestants are tallied after all the elimination rounds have been completed. Roll on Miss Beauty Currie Cup!
THE WEEKLY ELIMINATION PROCESS
Over the course of 7 weeks, the public will be asked to vote for their favourite contestants by way of sms or landline calls. Every week, 6 contestants (2 Black, 2 White and 2 Asian or Coloured) will be eliminated. To help eliminate possible racial bias, the public vote will count 50% of the vote and the panel of judges will account for the other 50%.
Nominal rankings will apply in both cases. In other words, even if the top-ranked contestant garners 10 million votes more than the second placed contestant, she will receive a "1" and the second best contestant will receive a "2".
To further help eliminate possible racial bias, the bottom two ranked contestants from each group will be eliminated irrespective of their position on the leaderboard after the public and judges placements have been tallied.
To make matters clearer, there will be 54 contestants during the first week, and after 6 contestants are eliminated each week, there will be 12 contestants competing at the Grand Final in week 8. Whilst the first 7 elimination rounds will feature pre-recorded profiles on the contestants in swimsuit, evening gown and interview, the final will feature a "real time" competition.
THE WEEKLY ELIMINATION ROUND
The pre-recorded profiles on the contestants will be aired from 18:00 to 19:00 on one of the local television channels. The hosts and the panel of judges will be present in the studio.
At 19:00 the voting lines will open and the show will break-away to a "filler" program.
The voting lines will close at 20:00 and the channel will return to the Miss SA studio. Whilst the rankings of the contestants (based on the public vote) and the rankings of the panel of judges are tallied, the viewers will be entertained by a number of guest artists.
Just before 21:00, the hosts will reveal which 6 contestants have been eliminated.
PART 2 FOLLOWS....