How the times have changed.
Men used to ogle over the ladies in skin tight outfits that best emphasized a
woman's curves at one too many beauty pageants. Now the tables are turned with
the line up of Cleo's 50 most eligible bachelors of 2008 sashaying down the
catwalk to wolf whistles from the ladies, who gamely dressed according to the
theme - School's out.
The queue outside was intimidating, winding along to
accommodate the huge amounts of ladies waiting to enter, way before the event
started.
With an event of hunks galore, it was inevitable for Zouk to be
jam-packed with people that left the baggage counters full. For those who were
tardy, getting near the stage to garner the best view of the bachelors was
almost impossible with the minimal space for movement.
Cleo's headmistress-cum-editor Deborah Tan opened the event
by thanking readers for making Cleo the number one magazine for young women.
With an eye-catching event like this planned annually, it won't be surprising
for more women to join the ranks of their readers.
Once the emcees introduced the 50 bachelors, those present, who were initially
chitchatting among friends, shifted all their attention to the stage as the
bachelors took turns to seduce the crowd with their pick-up lines.
Cheesiness aside, the ladies went wild with delight and cheered on their
favorite bachelors. A little birdie told me that a thong was flung on stage at
one of the boys. Ladies, hold your horses!
What is a pageant without the baring of skin? The thing is,
whether it's for men or women, there can never be too much meat.
The emcees, along with the audience, coaxed the bachelors to remove their tops.
Naturally, the men were expected to show off their toned, lithe bodies and flex
their muscles to a largely adoring female audience that went especially wild,
when a certain 'hot bod' took off his top to be "polished" as a trophy during
the first competition.
Of course, the zealous ladies in the audience were not about
to miss any of the action that night. Some were able to have a few minutes of
fame as they were invited on stage to join in the "classes" with the bachelors.
However, the spelling bee competition, which required each
"student" to remove a piece of clothing for every wrongly spelt word, was
especially wicked, since it was a blatant attempt to strip the bachelors by
throwing them words that would require most of us to consult our dictionary for
the proper spelling. The ladies, on the other hand, had it easy with much
simpler words.
No prizes for guessing which item the guys had to remove!
These hunks not only have the charisma and looks that would
put the average Joe to shame, but they are also talented in their own ways.
Some sang, while others played instruments to an appreciative audience. The
vocalist-cum-guitarist Daren Tan, keyboarder David Thong and drummer Bryan De
Silva were captivating on stage. Despite the sound
system, the crowd cheered enthusiastically at the end of every song; pitch
perfection was, of course, prized less than the stage charisma these hunks
displayed.
Some subsidiary awards were given out in between the
hormonal charging programmes of the night. One of the hot favourites who won
the "Bachelor most likely to sizzle your screen" was 26-year-old Eddy Herbert,
also known as the next Brad Pitt on screen. In case you want to know what type
of girl Eddy would give a second glance to, he mentioned that his favourite
actress was mediacorp artiste Jamie Yeo.
Eddy might have won the title, but many who were interviewed
among the audience had their own hot favourites. Some even felt that the title
should have been given to a bachelor who is local and of a more Asian
ethnicity.
In the words of Tiffany Lim, 23, "It is so typical that such
a title has been given to a Caucasian."
Nonetheless, it is still a pleasure to know that we would be
catching a Brad Pitt look-alike on our local screens soon!
So who made it through this competition? Which of them has
emerged as THE hunk of all hunks?
The Cleo Most Eligible Bachelor 2008 was, not very
surprisingly, Daren Tan who coincidentally is also the recent winner of Project
Superstar II, a national Chinese singing competition that concluded not too
long ago.
This heartthrob figure is no stranger to the local entertainment scene, thus
leading to his high popularity among the ladies in this competition. Tall,
handsome and talented, this bachelor is a real charmer, which explains the
crowd's appetence for him.
On Daren winning the competition, one of the female
party-goers who declined to be named said, " Daren is multi-talented and his
chiseled looks drives me insane, so I'm very glad that he won."
Daren walked away with $3,800 in prizes from the sponsors
Vagary, Brand's, Aldo and Energie, as well as an artiste contract.
As for us, we reckon our eyes had enough treat for the night! hooked
Photography by Alvin Zhang of the NUSSU Video and Photographic Society
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flying thongs! Written by Guest on 2008-03-31 07:40:02 i'll let u in on a lil' secret. the thongs were yellow and lacey  | Written by Guest on 2008-04-02 12:17:25 my god he's the last person i would want him to win. i told my fren about it.. he'd better not win and he did. =______________________= | Written by Guest on 2008-09-20 12:30:16 | |