Early judging on Miss Bermuda is wrong

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4: Jana Lynn Outerbridge has finished a round of golf in Scotland, a trip to a 1,000 year old castle, and a meal of haggis.

Jana will hunker down with 113 other stunning women from all over the world as they all prepare for this year's Miss World Beauty Pageant set down for judgment on November 6 in London.

Now, just sit and comprehend this for a moment.

Jana will be vying to win the Miss World title and crown and all the dollars, responsibilities and accouterments that go along with it, in front of a televised audience of over two billion people.

That's daunting... massively so, but it is a great opportunity to get a little piece of Bermuda out in front of the world at a time when we need to showcase this island to more people.

And Jana is a wonderful ambassador.

She's very bright, engaging, speaks well and is driven.  

At 5' 7 she is one of the smallest in the competition with just three girls tinier — Taisha Carrington from Barbados is 5' 5, Kadeja Tunn of Belize is 5' 4, and Sara Manchipp, the Welsh girl, holds the distinction of being the 'most petite' at 5' 3.

As for the tall timbers, three ladies stop the tape at 6 feet even: Trinidad & Tobago’s Lee-Ann Forbes; Italy's Tania Bambaci and the Albanian, Isi Topçiu-Ulaj. No-one will ever say whether height plays a role in judging — but those are the stats.

That all aside, the big question is how will Jana fare?

Last year the crown was won by Alexandria Mills of the United States, and the US rep this year, Erin Cummins, is a gorgeous blonde teenager.

But it is unknown this far out just who will win.

Betting agencies started framing markets in September and the early money was for Spain's Carla Garcia and Hungary's Linda Tzunai.

But wagering on the event took a shift and thrust forward as of October 23, when 10 judges from previous beauty pageant campaigns were introduced to the girls and asked to mark their score cards so that the world had a starting platform to go by once the show began.

Naturally, the two girls I want to see do well, Jana Outerbridge and Australia's entrant, Amber Greasley, were evaluated along with the others.

Those maverick judges' findings are very interesting.

For instance after evaluating the girls, those 10 unofficial judges pooled their individual scores together and the girl from Venezuela, Ivian Sarcos, came from nowhere to be the new leader just in front of the Irish lass, Holly Carpenter and Tzunai from Hungary. 

Australia's Greasley came in 14th while our Miss Bermuda was placed 80th overall out of the 114.

One of these unofficial judges, the guy from Panama, rated Jana as one of the very best marking her a 4 out of 5.

It seems taste is in the mouth of the beholder when it comes to assessing beauty, poise and presence, and the ability to wear a bikini!

All that aside, and given that Miss Australia is one of the more fancied contestants in the competition, I thought I'd do a tale of the tape here, comparing Jana and Amber and let you decide.

Age: Jana is 22. Amber is 18

Height: Jana is 5' 7, Amber is 5' 10
Education: Jana graduated from Tennessee State University in Psychology, Amber is at uni studying to be a journalist

Ambitions: Jana said: "To start a programme for young women focusing on education planning, life skills and volunteering." Amber said: "To become a positive role model to young people, to promote healthy body image and active living and provide assistance to disadvantaged children."

The motto that drives: Jana’s is, "Why settle for being good when you can strive for greatness." Amber’s is "Dream it, believe it, achieve it."

Favourite hobbies: Jana's is, equestrian. In her spare time she volunteers at a local riding centre, while Amber's are, yoga, reading, netball, photography and writing.

As of 1 November, a report from London said there had been a lot of money wagered on Yohana Guzman who will represent Bolivia.

For those expats reading this who may want an update on their lady rep, here's where they placed in that Oct 23 unofficial judgment:

Canada: Riza Santos, 24 years old and she placed 17th

United States: Erin Cummins, 19 and she placed 6th

Portugal: Barbara Franco, 19 and she placed 54th

South Africa: Bokang Ramaredi, 25 who placed 61st

England: Alize Mounter, 22 who placed 20th

Philippines: Gwendoline Ruais, 22 who placed 26th

Jamaica: Danielle Crosskill, 26 who came in 77th.

I don't think the unofficial judges got it anywhere near right based on where they placed Jana and Amber but also because the two ladies I think are absolutely stunning – Belgium’s Justine De Jonckheere and Uruguay's Belen Sogliano - came in 67th and 8th respectively!

Ric Chapman is the executive producer of Songopoly