Re: MISS TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO WORLD 2008 - UPDATED

Anonymní Thu Nov 13, 2008 7:58 pm

Phenom wrote:
Trinifan wrote:^That's probably one of her pieces for SA.
Very nice, cant wait to see her at MW

For me Gabby's asset is her smile.

Anonymní Thu Nov 13, 2008 7:59 pm

shells wrote:
Trinifan wrote:Thanks Shelly. Hey guys, anyone has any comments on Gabby's photos on the MW website. The shots look like she had no make-up on apart from her lip gloss and they look very raw. They are no where close to her best shots (I have seen several non-photoshopped pics where she looks way better). Any idea what Peter was thinking (since at the end of the day he is the stylist for these shoots)? To be quite honest I thought they were pics from Gabby's personal portfolio from a couple years back.

Those pics were up on her old myspace page a while back. Long before she won the local leg. I think they were done by Butch Lim Choy. They are natural looking and good lighting.

Thanks Shelly-that confirms what I thought. I actually love the pics because of the raw naturalness of her features in them. I would not describe them as beauty shots though, but as you said, they were actually from her Lim Choy shoot about a couple of years before she was MT&T.

Anonymní Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:00 pm

shells wrote:For me Gabby's asset is her smile.

I totally agree!

Anonymní Fri Nov 14, 2008 2:50 am

Friday, November 14th 2008 (T&T Express)
Miss World $$ woes
Elias seeking $300,000 more for T&T rep (about US$45,000 before tax)
Kristy Ramnarine kramnarine@trinidadexpress.com

MISS TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO WORLD 2008 - UPDATED - Page 4 N12qr8

MISS TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO WORLD 2008 - UPDATED - Page 4 N12qr8

Miss World T&T Gabrielle Walcott will leave for South Africa today to prepare for the 2008 Miss World competition, although the Trinidad and Tobago Pageant Company is still short by approximately $300,000 to cover her expenses.

Pageant Company director Peter Elias told the Express yesterday that he had no choice but to make alternative arrangements after the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs failed to uphold its promise of assisting Walcott for the event.

He said it costs between $350,000 to $400,000 to prepare one delegate for a competition. Minister of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, Marlene Mc Donald, he added, had assured her support to them earlier this year.

"I met with the minister in May at a dinner which was attended by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Earl Nesbitt, Brian Lara, reigning Miss World Zi Ling Zhang and former Miss World Giselle La Ronde West and others. The minister gave her assurance of support," Elias said.

"Tell me what does that mean? We didn't go to Miss Universe in 2007 and the only reason I'm back in it is because I was promised support."

Walcott was crowned Miss Trinidad and Tobago World in February at the Zen nightclub in Port of Spain. Anya Ayoung-Chee was also crowned Miss Trinidad and Tobago Universe at the same pageant, and went on to compete at the Miss Universe 2008 in Vietnam.

The Miss World 2008 event was supposed to take place in Kiev, Ukraine, in November. However, the pageant was rescheduled to December 13 with South African as the new venue.

Elias said he had in fact received two payments from the ministry since Mc Donald's promise, but this was used to fund the competition expenses of two former pageant delegates-Valene Maharaj and Ayoung Chee-and the early preparation of Walcott.

"We received a payment of $100,000 in June, one day before our delegate (Ayoung Chee) left to compete and we received a second payment of $100,000 in late August," he said.

"Since February, I've been calling to find about the rest of the money but we are not getting any correspondence or information from the ministry. After not being able to get money from the ministry we approached the Sports and Culture Fund of the Office of the Prime Minister and we received $280,000 in July."

A frustrated Elias, who has been in this position before, added: "I was asked if the ministry trusts me. I have every bill from this year and from past years of working on the pageant.

"I'm not doing this for me. It's about promoting the country. If this type of promotion is not important to Trinidad and Tobago let the team know. With that type of money the return of this investment could be a windfall, in other words if we do well it could be a jackpot."

Anonymní Fri Nov 14, 2008 2:54 am

^If this situation continues then I guess we will not attend MU09. It's despicable that the T&T government can't keep its word. Peter Elias has kept records of bills etc to show where the money is spent, his team's track record is phenomenal considering our small population and yet to no avail. I hope he does not relinquish the franchises-T&T would be in a mess. Prior to PE&A, the franchise for Miss T&T Universe was held by the multi-million dollar CCN media corporation who had to relinquish the franchise within 3 years because they could not find sponsors.

I am pretty sure the Jamaicans are enjoying our financial troubles. If Gabby does not win Miss World 2008 then I think we are going to be in some serious trouble come next year.

Anonymní Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:54 am

This is so sad and typical of the government. Only when someone wins a competition then they jump on the band-wagon. They should be ashamed of themselves. I heard Peter Elias on the station 95.5 Wedn. morning. The man sounded like he was on the cusp of tears b/c he was so frustrated.

Anonymní Fri Nov 14, 2008 4:00 am

shells wrote:This is so sad and typical of the government. Only when someone wins a competition then they jump on the band-wagon. They should be ashamed of themselves. I heard Peter Elias on the station 95.5 Wedn. morning. The man sounded like he was on the cusp of tears b/c he was so frustrated.

I remember him about 2 years ago saying that he wanted to give the franchises up because he was getting no support from anyone and he was working his butt off. By that time he had already spent quite a bit of his own money to fund reps. and could no longer do so because he could not make the money back from his business. I know he spent $30,000 of his on money on Maggie in 2003 and more money on reps. that followed afterwards up to Kenisha at MU06. This is just a disgrace! What a pathetic government and corporate sector we have.

**Phenom** Fri Nov 14, 2008 4:32 am

That is sad news indeed. I hope that they step up and give the sponsor money to Peter Elias. He has done a great job. it will be ashame if the delegates cant get the financial support they need to go and represent their country.

**Phenom** Fri Nov 14, 2008 4:36 am

Trinifan wrote:
shells wrote:This is so sad and typical of the government. Only when someone wins a competition then they jump on the band-wagon. They should be ashamed of themselves. I heard Peter Elias on the station 95.5 Wedn. morning. The man sounded like he was on the cusp of tears b/c he was so frustrated.

I remember him about 2 years ago saying that he wanted to give the franchises up because he was getting no support from anyone and he was working his butt off. By that time he had already spent quite a bit of his own money to fund reps. and could no longer do so because he could not make the money back from his business. I know he spent $30,000 of his on money on Maggie in 2003 and more money on reps. that followed afterwards up to Kenisha at MU06. This is just a disgrace! What a pathetic government and corporate sector we have.

I really hope he dont give up the franchise. He has done so well. I hope that the support comes.

**Phenom** Fri Nov 14, 2008 4:38 am

Trinifan wrote:^If this situation continues then I guess we will not attend MU09. It's despicable that the T&T government can't keep its word. Peter Elias has kept records of bills etc to show where the money is spent, his team's track record is phenomenal considering our small population and yet to no avail. I hope he does not relinquish the franchises-T&T would be in a mess. Prior to PE&A, the franchise for Miss T&T Universe was held by the multi-million dollar CCN media corporation who had to relinquish the franchise within 3 years because they could not find sponsors.

I am pretty sure the Jamaicans are enjoying our financial troubles. If Gabby does not win Miss World 2008 then I think we are going to be in some serious trouble come next year.

I hope thats not true, and Trinidad and Tobago will be at MU09. Hopefully they step up and keep their word and support them.

**Sabiondo** Fri Nov 14, 2008 7:44 am

Its a bit sad and selfish that an governet who was promice suport on her delegate, they was change on main at the last Minute..??? I hoper that my Trinitarians neiboourd will solvent this pronto. Osmel was in crisis the same way for 2003- 2006 years..¡¡

Anonymní Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:50 am

^THIS IS JUST TOO MUCH-WHY DOES PETER ELIAS HAVE TO GO ALL OVER THE COUNTRY BEGGING FOR MONEY TO PROMOTE THE NATION? I WOULD SUPPORT ANY MOVE BY HIS TEAM TO DUMP BOTH FRANCHISES. LET THE GOVERNMENT DEAL WITH THE ENSUING MESS. I AM POSITIVE NO ONE OTHER THAN PE&A COULD HOLD ON TO EITHER FRANCHISE MORE THAN 3-4 YEARS.

**MUTZ** Fri Nov 14, 2008 12:29 pm

Trinifan,
Peter Elias is a really dedicated ND and I admire him because he really works hard to succeed, and I absolutely understand what he is going through. I know it is not much comfort but the situation is the same in African countries. Governments want only the glory but never put the money where their mouth is!
I will be cheering on T&T this year because I love your delegate!!! She is so exotic and beautiful!!

**Glamorous Chic** Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:46 pm

MUTZ wrote:Trinifan,
Peter Elias is a really dedicated ND and I admire him because he really works hard to succeed, and I absolutely understand what he is going through. I know it is not much comfort but the situation is the same in African countries. Governments want only the glory but never put the money where their mouth is!
I will be cheering on T&T this year because I love your delegate!!! She is so exotic and beautiful!!

The situation is also the same in the Bahamas. The government has NEVER given financial support and so the ND has to do just as Elias is now doing. It is really a shame because I believe a girl's chances are greatly improved when she has that support. I remember what a killer wadrobe Valene had! She wanted for nothing, and it showed. The only stress she had was to do well in the pageant and that's exactly what she did. In the Bahamas, there are two main pageant organizations - one for Miss World and one for Miss Universe. Neither get the support of the government. However, I must commend the team from the Miss Bahamas World camp because they seem to go all out to support their girls, even without help from the government. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the Miss Bahamas Universe camp. I feel for Elias though, because his government had PROMISED him support so I'm sure he was relyiing on that. Had he known they were not going to fulfill their promise, he could have started soliciting funds earlier.

**Phenom** Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:01 pm

Trinifan wrote:^THIS IS JUST TOO MUCH-WHY DOES PETER ELIAS HAVE TO GO ALL OVER THE COUNTRY BEGGING FOR MONEY TO PROMOTE THE NATION? I WOULD SUPPORT ANY MOVE BY HIS TEAM TO DUMP BOTH FRANCHISES. LET THE GOVERNMENT DEAL WITH THE ENSUING MESS. I AM POSITIVE NO ONE OTHER THAN PE&A COULD HOLD ON TO EITHER FRANCHISE MORE THAN 3-4 YEARS.

I agree, he should not have to do that. Especially if the money was promised to him. I hope that he dont give up the franchise because he has done such a good job. I will keep my fingers crossed that he gets the financial support he needs

Anonymní Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:28 pm

Glamorous Chic wrote:
MUTZ wrote:Trinifan,
Peter Elias is a really dedicated ND and I admire him because he really works hard to succeed, and I absolutely understand what he is going through. I know it is not much comfort but the situation is the same in African countries. Governments want only the glory but never put the money where their mouth is!
I will be cheering on T&T this year because I love your delegate!!! She is so exotic and beautiful!!

The situation is also the same in the Bahamas. The government has NEVER given financial support and so the ND has to do just as Elias is now doing. It is really a shame because I believe a girl's chances are greatly improved when she has that support. I remember what a killer wadrobe Valene had! She wanted for nothing, and it showed. The only stress she had was to do well in the pageant and that's exactly what she did. In the Bahamas, there are two main pageant organizations - one for Miss World and one for Miss Universe. Neither get the support of the government. However, I must commend the team from the Miss Bahamas World camp because they seem to go all out to support their girls, even without help from the government. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the Miss Bahamas Universe camp. I feel for Elias though, because his government had PROMISED him support so I'm sure he was relyiing on that. Had he known they were not going to fulfill their promise, he could have started soliciting funds earlier.

GC, thanks for you comments. The reason why he had to seek government funding was because the corporate sector refused to give any money (that's why we did not participate in MU2007). Peter has used his own money from his business to help finance delegates but he is no longer in a position to do so because he is not recovering the money back from sales in his business and he now has a family to support. This is really noting surprising-Trinis love international pageant winners but they will never lift a finger to support a MT&T. Auntie Kim is the only person to have held both franchises longer than PE&A and she used to have to sell clothes,etc. to get money. Everyone who has had either the MT&TU or MT&TW franchises have relinquished those rights within 3 years because no one wants to financially support a MT&T.

I am 100% in favor of them dumping both franchises. Enough is enough!

Anonymní Sat Nov 15, 2008 12:56 pm

MISS TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO WORLD 2008 - UPDATED - Page 4 Womanmag7yy6

Source: T&T Express (Sat 16th Nov., 2008)

**Phenom** Sat Nov 15, 2008 3:28 pm

Trinifan wrote:
Source: T&T Express (Sat 16th Nov., 2008)

Very nice, any news yet on arrivals?

Anonymní Sat Nov 15, 2008 4:01 pm

She attend an event yesterday in T&T so I assume she took an overnight flight to UK. I guess she will arrive in SA on Sunday morning.

Anonymní Sat Nov 15, 2008 5:01 pm

Cute pic!

**Phenom** Sat Nov 15, 2008 5:34 pm

Trinifan wrote:She attend an event yesterday in T&T so I assume she took an overnight flight to UK. I guess she will arrive in SA on Sunday morning.

I thought the competiton was to start on the November 13th?, Why are the girls arriving so late?

Anonymní Sat Nov 15, 2008 7:00 pm

^To my knowledge, the 16th is the fist day of competition.

Anonymní Sun Nov 16, 2008 8:59 pm

Anonymní Sun Nov 16, 2008 11:19 pm

lovely pics! Is that MIss PR in the very last pic in the orange top. If it is she actually looks pretty

Anonymní Sun Nov 16, 2008 11:20 pm

I know-I was surprised.

Sponsored content

MISS TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO WORLD 2008 - UPDATED