DON'T TEMPT FATE

There is no denying Nicole Flint's beauty. Not only is she a stunning woman to look at, but she has a heart of gold and given the extensive community work in which she is involved, she is a glowing example of Beauty with a Purpose.

I have been following the Miss SA pageant since the mid-70's and no other winner of the country's premier beauty crown has matched her involvement in social responsibility and upliftment programs. Unlike her most recent predecessors who spent most of their time trying to look fab on the red carpet at pseudo-glitzy events, Nicole divides her precious time between attending the obligatory A-list events and getting down and dirty helping the community.

I must be honest that I am still a bit gob-smacked that she never managed to garner the support of pageant followers on message boards and forums around the world that she deserves, but I suspect that the majority of the regulars on the aforementioned sites are from minority groups given their outspoken tastes and preferences when it comes to feminine beauty. A Caucasian representative from South Africa is not what they are looking for no matter how beautiful she might be.

Unlike the Miss Universe pageant which is a Hollywoodesque event that started out as a search for a new Hollywood starlet and doesn't pretend to be anything more than the glamour event that it is, the Miss World pageant masquerades as a charity program with community upliftment as an objective. I'll admit that there are very lucrative benefits for these charities and causes, but these are merely by-products of the primary objective.

I have previously voiced my contempt for programs like the Miss World and Miss Earth pageants that are nothing more than shareholder-enrichment programs that feed off public guilt. Notwithstanding my opinion of the motives of these two programs, the international titles that these organisations bestow on the winning contestant are sought-after prizes and in the case of the Miss World pageant, there is a long history of tradition and prestige.

Where is this all leading you might ask. Well, to be perfectly honest, I have a horrible suspicion that Nicole is going to suffer the same fate as Heather Hamilton and Cindy Nell before her. After a fantastic showing at the Miss Universe pageant with at least a Top 10 finish in both instances, they failed to crack the nod at Miss World and were bundled out of the competition after the first round.

I previously mentioned the continental racial profiling system that I suspect the pageant subscribes to, even though it is not longer official. The unwritten rule at Miss World is that Caucasians come from Europe, Negroids come from Africa and Mongoloids come from the East. Throw in a couple of Latinas from the New World and Arabians from the Mediterranean and Central Asia, and you have the perfect recipe to pander to the demands of all racial and ethnic groups from all corners of the globe.

Whilst the recipe in itself is not a bone of contention, it doesn't bode well for Anglo-Saxon/Nordic girls that are born in South Africa and compete at Miss World. Lets not lose sight of the fact that the last girl from this ethnic grouping to make the cut at Miss World was Bernelee Daniell in 1995. It really is quite simple: The unofficial quota of at least two delegates from Africa in the semi-finals would not be achieved if one of the places was awarded to a Caucasian contestant from the continent. The balance would be upset.

I reckon I would employ the same or a similar system to achieve racial balance if I was in charge of an international pageant, but as I said previously, it doesn't help our current Miss South Africa. She has all the qualities required of Miss World, but her sash is all wrong. If she was Miss Belgium or Miss Holland or Miss England, I would start engraving her name on the winner's trophy.

Alas she is not and I would be very careful to proclaim her the winner of the pageant 3 months ahead of the event as is being done at present. The odds are already stacked against her and I wouldn't want to tempt fate.