Mr. Physique Sabah 2006

The winners - No.1 is Mr. Physique, No. 8 is first runner up and No. 4 is second runner up.

I got the opportunity to watch a local contest to pick Sabah's Mr. Physique 2006 held at a discotheque in downtown Kota Kinabalu. At RM10 on entry, the event was organised by Bodycare Dance Studio. The 9 finalists aged between 20 to 30 years old were judged based on originality, body tone and IQ through a question and answer round.

The four judges, 2 of whom I knew personally as I worked with them before, are Ms. Karen Choo an ex-model attached to the Fairuz Modelling Agency, Ms. Imelda Albert a former Miss Sabah and a 2nd runner up Miss Malaysia (also an ex-model and currently a spokesperson for Marie Claire slimming product for Sabah), Dr. George Mathhew a medical doctor who is an avid karaoke singer, and a lady from the organiser's side.

On the round one, the 9 finalists came out on stage and introduced themselves to the crowd followed with a formal dress competition (white long sleeves and black pants with tie, straps or bow ties). During this round each of the finalist was asked a question from the judges. The final round saw the 9 contestants parading themselves in tights clad with tarzan vest and their bodies pad with suntan oil in order to get the body's tone visible to the judge. A crowd of about 150 people mostly teenagers and 30 or so middle aged ladies, and some tourists cheered the finalists everytime they came out on stage.

Honestly, the event was not as I expected it to be. The 9 finalists were not to my standard, i.e. some are short, a couple of which has no physique quality whatsoever, one of them is muscular who fit to join a bodybuilding competition to name a few. Since the 9 were the finalists, I can imagine who were the rest of the contestants who didn't made it during the preliminary and semi-final rounds. The catwalk was lousy, totally unrehearsed, not to mention the posing position or body posture. One of the finalists stood rather arkward while doing a pose! It clearly showed that the organiser is lack of expertise or experience to prepare and rehearsethe finalists to do a proper catwalk and poses, which otherwise, could have been an excellent presentation to pick Sabah's Mr. Physique 2006.

The choice of music used for the catwalk was also not suitable as the beat was faster while the catwalk was done rather slow. The 3 competition rounds were also monotonous with the same pattern of choreography. Lastly, the 9 finalists were also kept on stage for a long period of time during the Q&A session which I find rather torturing for them especially in keeping their composure and maintain their nerves.

Amidst the unprepared and lack of experience to pick Mr. Physique 2006, the organiser presented a series of modern contemporary and belly dances, and appearances of drag queens (female impersonators) to the audience. The latter was excellent and hilarious thanks to their superstar quality miming techniques!

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