Media Room

New Straits Times | 25 February 2008

Who is your Dreamgirl?

by: Dennis Chua

Some of the aspiring models auditioning for Malaysian Dreamgirl.

Catch Malaysian Dreamgirl, a reality show in search of the ideal model. DENNIS CHUA writes about the show, the first to be broadcast in cyberspace.

MALAYSIA'S first reality show, broadcast entirely in cyberspace, takes off on March 6. It promises one lucky beauty a chance to be a successful model.

Malaysian Dreamgirl is a reality search for new modelling talents and is broadcast entirely on www.malaysiandreamgirl.tv in two 30-minute webisodes every Thursday and Saturday.

The 20-episode show, running 10 weeks, will see its grand finals held at 1 Utama Shopping Centre, Bandar Utama in Petaling Jaya on April 29.

Twelve contestants aged between 18 and 28 will be given the chance to live and experience the life of a model and be groomed by professionals in the fashion and modelling industry.

The girls, who are required to speak in English, will be exposed to different challenges throughout the contest, and these include photo shoots, acting in videos and commercials, public speaking, hosting and the compulsory catwalk.

Solomon says Capxion hopes to make Malaysian Dreamgirl its signature production.

Daly will be one of the judges.

Popular actress and television personality Sazzy Falak of Gol dan Gincu fame will host the series. Actress and former beauty queen Elaine Daly, fashion stylist Lim Jimmy and celebrity blogger Kenny Sia will be among the judges.

Contestants will be eliminated each week based on short messaging service (SMS) voting by viewers. In every weekly show, the contestant or contestants with the lowest number of SMS votes leaves.

Producer Capxion Media Sdn Bhd’s chief executive officer Jerad Solomon said Malaysian Dreamgirl was the company’s first online production.

“Capxion was formed last year and we hope to make Malaysian Dreamgirl our signature production,” he said.

“We decided to produce a reality show based on modelling because models are in demand and many viewers are fascinated by the world of modelling.”

The company is targeting viewership of one million for Malaysian Dreamgirl. The show’s previews were viewed by people from 72 countries including the United States, Britain and Singapore.

“We aim to produce reality shows that are interesting and different from those on television. Since this show is an all-girls event, our next production might be an all-boys one,” he said.

Solomon said the 12 contestants would live in a secret location for two months where they would be trained and groomed by professionals.

“The public will vote for their favourite contestants for a week beginning midnight on Mondays,” he said.

Television personalities would be appearing in various episodes of the show to conduct workshops for the contestants, and they include actress Melissa Maureen and comedian and director Harith Iskander.

Capxion conducted auditions for contestants at Putra World Trade Centre in Jalan Putra, Kuala Lumpur on Feb 16 and 17, from 10am to 5pm daily. About 150 candidates participated in the auditions.

“We will sometimes have ground events for the contestants. For example, they will participate in a fashion show on March 16 at 1 Utama,” said Solomon.

The winner of the reality show will win a Nissan Latio 1.8 Ti(A) car, a RM10,000 AmBank NexG PrePaid MasterCard, a RM3,000 Wella Professionals hamper, RM1,000 worth of Escada fragrances, RM1,000 worth of Bebe apparel, RM500 worth of Nose footwear and an exclusive cover spread in NewMan magazine.