Media Room

New Straits Times | 29 May 2009

Dreams do come true

PETALING JAYA: After going through gruelling months of fashion and grooming workshops, photoshoots, competitive tasks and elimination rounds, Juanita Anushya Francis was crowned the winner of Malaysian Dreamgirl Season 2.

The 22-year-old accounting student garnered the highest number of votes in Malaysia's first online reality model search.

Juanita, who drives a 10-year-old Kancil, won herself a brand new Chevrolet Aveo, RM10,000, a HP Pavilion notebook and over RM6,000 worth of beauty products. She will also be featured in the July issue of InTrend magazine and have her portfolio done by Andrews Models agency.

Her journey to stardom started at the end of last year when she attended auditions with hundreds of other hopefuls for a spot in the final 12 and a shot at fame. She then had to live for 10 weeks under one roof with 11 other girls vying to be the next Malaysian Dreamgirl.

"When these girls, including a couple of 17 year olds, come for the auditions, they were unpolished and didn't know a single thing about modelling. They had only aspirations and dreams," said Capxion Media Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Jerad Solomon, the creator of the show.

"We gave them a crash course in modelling, taught them about fashion as well as hosting, presentation and acting. They learnt how to carry themselves, apply makeup, pose for the camera, catwalk, play up their assets, play down their flaws and much more.

"Throughout it all, they were placed in a competitive environment. Every week, a girl was eliminated from the show based on SMS votes by viewers," he said.

Aired online twice a week on Thursdays and Saturdays, in half-hour episodes each, the show was free. All netizens had to do was go to www.malaysiandreamgirl.tv website and click "Play".

"They had different modelling-related challenges every week. We had a good response from viewers as over 200,000 votes were cast this season.

"Our philosophy was to make it as interactive as possible and get the audience involved. Members of the community were also allowed to express their opinions on blogs at the website and talk about the girls.

"Some were a bit too harsh in their views and when they crossed the line, we had to moderate some comments. But we tried not to do that too much because we believe in freedom of speech. If the girls want to be in the spotlight, they should understand that gossip and criticisms are part and parcel of being a celebrity," he said.

At the final showdown at The Curve, Pinky Liew Mee Han and Dawn Lim Yeen Sze emerged as the first and second runners-up, respectively. The girls modelled cheongsam, evening wear and others. Awards were given for the funniest moment, saddest moment, most ferocious attack, most entertaining phone call, the best crocodile tears and more.

Lim, a 23-year-old economics graduate said she gained a lot from taking part in the show as it was a learning experience. She said living with 11 strangers was the most challenging part of the contest.

"Though I'm a patient person generally, I learnt to be more tolerant of others.

"Of the photo shoots, the most demanding was the one we had to do with a Burmese python. That was scary," said Lim.