Is pageantry in Guyana losing its value?

RECAP
LAST week, the Pepperpot Magazine took you through the first part of an interview with local pageant director, Pamela Dillon better known as ‘Miss Pam’ as she addressed the issues that may have caused the deterioration of the industry in Guyana. This week we continue down the list, with the aim of realising our part in possibly revitalising this empowerment platform for women in our country.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR OWNING A PAGEANT FRANCHISE
The lingering question in the minds of many, after rumours of a pageant, hit the streets is “What really qualifies a person to own a franchise?” This mind-boggling question was addressed by Miss Dillon who shared that it really comes down to who makes the better bid. And that is very unfortunate at times she said, since now anyone with money who has a bit of interest in pageants, are just “owning franchises and putting on pageants.”
She said that people underestimate the amount of work it takes to properly prepare a lineup and put on a good production.

“A pageant is a scary thing. From the time you sign up and you see the lineup, you’re nervous. You’re nervous that you are not good enough. You’re nervous about your competition. Nervous about how the public will react to your participation. And directors have to understand all this and know how to work with these different issues that girls come with, work with their differing personalities and make the show happen,” Miss Pam said.

She added that it takes a whole lot to properly prepared girls for a pageant. Following pageants for years and having a love for it is not enough. “When I came back to Guyana, cosmetology was my thing so I opened a salon and all the pageant girls found their way down to my salon. I saw how they were subject to a lot of criticism from the other patrons. Pretty soon I started realising I wanted to help these girls; teach them how to prepare before they go public because as soon as they go public, they are torn apart,” she said.
Miss Pam explained that the show is the least of it all. She stated that the focus must be on working with the girls, seeing where they are psychologically and moulding them into positive forces who will, without doubt, put on a great competitive production.
“It takes a lot of preparation and we are getting to the place where corporate Guyana will realise it’s importance and work together so we can get where we need to be,” she said.

RIGGED PAGEANTS
Referencing from past pageant posts and articles, fixed pageants seem to have become quite the topic in Guyana. It was even rumoured that that was the reason that led to Guyana’s ban from Miss Universe.

In asking Miss Pam her point of view on the issue of rigged/fixed pageants, whether or not it deprives participants of a fair shot at winning, she said that she believes if a pageant is set for someone, it gives the other girls the opportunity to really prove their potential.
“It gives them the opportunity to lose with a controversy; lose with a fuss; cause a ruckus by doing your best. Let them see you work and you should be satisfied that you have worked. I always tell my pageant girls that. ‘Lose with a controversy’, the world must see that you were deserving,” Miss Pam said.

From a Director’s perspective, she shared that sometimes they are afraid to take the chance with their queen. “You want a queen that delivers; who looks the part, acts the part, can address a crowd and the list goes on. That’s where the pageant politics come in. Sometimes producers don’t take that chance. They’re all humans and they could easily compromise themselves with that. Some of them say, ‘well this is the lineup, may the best girl win.’ While some of them do their homework and investigate girls. It has to be about what you stand for, what you’re doing as a producer and the equation with money that has to be correct,” Dillon said.

She also shared an experience with one of her Talented Teen productions. “A talented teen had exotic shots that were being sold and I had to ask her to withdraw from the pageant. Now should she win and those pictures surface, what would that have done to the reputation of my pageant? Sometimes things pop up that you cannot live with so you might see a strong person but she’s not a suitable person because of whatever reason,” Miss Pam said. “Sometimes it’s a double-edged sword and not everything you tell John Public. You don’t go out and say you know she slept with her sponsor. She slept with a judge before the event. You can’t say that. So the public only sees what happens on stage but that is not the only determining factor in choosing a queen.”

She also shared that it can easily be a human error misconstrued as “rigged”. “I recall training a girl for a pageant and she was so exceptional and she didn’t space. I couldn’t understand why. Three days later I was examining the scores and the chief judge missed an entire line of her scores, he didn’t add it in and knocked her clean out of the competition. So I called him in a panic and asked what is going to happen and he said they cannot do anything. Sometimes they add wrong, they forget, I don’t want to say they deliberately delete scores but all of that is possible because we’re dealing with human beings. We see what happened at Miss Universe that year when Steve Harvey announced the wrong person as queen. Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong,” Miss Pam said.
She added that some pageants ask you to come with a full package, while some pageants train you to be the full package. “But all in all it’s a terrific experience for any young girl. It forces you to take a good look at yourself. It forces you to decide what it is you will offer to the world. Apart from the glamour, you are now a role model, you are known for this pageant,” she said. “So you have an opportunity and platform to work on social issues. You have an opportunity to work on yourself. I’ve seen girls who transformed from tomboys to glamour girls. It helps you realise who you really are.”

Conversation wraps up next week…