Last Sunday, the life of one young woman from the Central was changed. Ama drove away in a brand new Toyota Yaris after TV3 crowned her as ‘Ghana’s Most Beautiful’. For the next few months, she will be expected to portray true Ghanaian beauty and culture. But her victory was not without controversy. All throughout the competition (which lasted over three months) Ama’s wit and representation of her region left a lot to be desired.
But her captivating looks (in fact, one of the most beautiful ladies among all the contestants) kept her in competition. And that was what the show was about: beauty -- NOT the talent hunt/cultural display it turned out to be. Ama may have the beauty but there were others who believed that she had defects that run deeper than facial appeal. At the end of last Sunday’s show, many in the audience were heard murmuring about how she couldn’t answer her questions properly and how she failed to recite the national pledge. It is worthy of note that only Esinu from the Volta Region was able to say the pledge without paraphrasing it or mixing the lines.
The contestants started the night with a traditional dance and Gideon Aryeequaye, host of the show, went on to welcome the audience (both in the studio and at home) with a long winding speech. The foundations rehearsed lines had built gave way to on-the-spot thinking when the judges quizzed them. Ama disappointed a lot of her fans when she failed to recite the national pledge. But one of the judges threw her a lifeline by asking her to sing the second national anthem -- ‘Yen ara asaase ni’. She sang it well even though she got a few lines mixed up at the end.
Esinu was the only one who was able to settle the score with her perfect recitation of the national pledge. She also answered her questions fairly well. Adjoa came close, but did not quite hit the mark. Apart from Esinu, the finalists struggled to answer questions that centered on the redenomination of the cedi and the energy crisis. As happens with most beauty pageants, the question and answer session provided some comic relief for the audience and embarrassed the ladies.
After the questions, the ladies were given an opportunity to flaunt their stuff in exquisitely designed GTP wax prints. This didn’t quite excite the crowd and Ekow Savage’s attempt to revive the audience’s dreary mood with his Sunlife music didn’t quite hold up. Then came the moment of truth when the prizes were to be presented.
Eastern Region’s Nana placed fourth and took home a cheque for 20 million cedis and the ever-confident Adjoa from the Ashanti region was third, winning 30 million cedis. Esinu was second and she took home a cheque for 50 millions. In addition to her brand new Toyota Yaris, Ama also received a cheque for 10 million cedis. Each of the finalists received mobile phones and talk time from the competition’s title sponsor, One Touch.
