One thing we’ll be looking for this week is consistency, and after day four, I can say it’s still anyone’s game. This group is that good.
There’s no one I would rule out of being in the top five and, as pageant director Val Lott says, this is the best prepared group we have ever had.
I have now spoken to every contestant, so there’s no one who has been disadvantaged. And it’s only made my job harder.
The luncheon with Her Worship the Mayor, Celia Wade-Brown, and Deputy Mayor Ian McKinnon (left), went very smoothly, with all ladies asking questions, finding the Mayor an inspiring figure.
If that didn’t spur greater interest in local politics, I don’t know what will.
I must also thank the Mayor for her acknowledgement of our friendly rivalry last year.
I was quite impressed on the drive to the Petone Workingmen’s Club when four of our contestants and I engaged in a conversation about taxation and its impact on educational funding.
Tonight, we went through what they could face in the interview, since the rumour about my being the pageant’s “Simon Cowell” persists this year, and tidied up a few aspects of public speaking.
The cherry on the cake—which has been a very sumptuous cake with the Museum Hotel’s luxury accommodation for the contestants—was the use of a BMW X3 Xdrive20d from Jeff Gray BMW and BMW New Zealand. It’s proved to be an excellent vehicle with its stop–start function and 32 mpg.
I’ll spend less time with the contestants on Thursday (I can sense the sigh of relief from within the Museum Hotel as this sentence is read). It might be nice for them to have less scrutiny from me so we can begin afresh on Friday, but members of the public can spot them at Farmers Lambton Quay in the early afternoon, from 1 p.m. Come Friday, fellow judge Evana Patterson will join me and take some of the burden off, as will Salute Hair and Day Spa’s Carl Manderson. Dina Janse van Rensburg arrives Saturday and former Miss New Zealand Laural Barrett on Sunday.
Tickets for the final night are still available.—Jack Yan, Publisher
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