MJW hopefuls feted to weekend of FUN!

Every year the Miss Jamaica World finalists are hosted by the Grand Palladium Resort and Spa as specially invited guests of the hotel’s General Manager Dimitris Kosvogiannis for a weekend of leisure and pleasure. Known as the Grand Palladium Week, the ladies are encouraged to have some down time for themselves as well as with the other contestants in order to get better acquainted. The weekend’s itinerary was filled with fun activities for the girls which ranged from dance lessons, to wildlife excursions in the hills on St. James. All these activities culminated with the anticipated Venus Embrace Beach Beauty competition where Liane Chung walked away as the winner with Zahra McGraham and Kayla Mendes coming in 2nd and 3rd respectively. The girls were all pumped as they got to the hotel and was handed their weekend itinerary by the hotels Group Liason Manager Chevonne Palmer. It included Salsa dance lessons by the hotels entertainment team, Ziplining and river tubing at Zipline Adventure Tour, nightly cabaret performances and a night on the town at Blue Beat where they were specially invited.

Friday was the day of non-stop fun. It started off with the pool as the ladies lounged in and around the pool tanning their bodies in preparation for the Beach Beauty competition. It then moved away from the pool to the volleyball court where they were divided and played with some of the hotels guests. Many girls had never played before but they did their best in an effort to being a great “sport”/team player. They volleyball match was short lived as the entertainment team rallied all the girls for Salsa lessons. This proved to be the most challenging but fun activity as moments before some of the contestants had professed their inability to “bust a move”. However challenging it might have been, they had a blast with each other as they had to switch partners intermittently. After a quick bite to eat and a change in the weather pattern from bright to gloomy skies it was time for the journey to Zipline Adventure Park. Despite the stormy looking skies the 20 finalists toughed it out and went straight for the Zipline trail. Zipping and zooming across the skies all the girls laughed, cheered, screamed and many others, distraught with fear overcame those fears and joined in on the fun. The murky waters due to the heavy rains prevented the river tubing but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the girls as they basked in the scenic view of the island from the zipline trail.

The next day was all about beauty…beach beauty. Who had the best beach body. The girls had walking lessons in the am and then headed off for hair and makeup in preparation for 1pm start time. The Beach Beauty came and went and all the ladies seemingly had a great time interacting with the guests of the hotel as well as family and friends that were present. The guests were a part of the judging process and Chavoy Gordon Miss Appleton Jamaica Rum was the People’s choice winner. After a stressful and tiring day, dancing seemed like the best remedy to brighten the spirits. Accompanied by all chaperones they made their way to the hip strip and to Blue Beat where they danced the night away until minutes after 3am. A great way to end the weekend!
On Sunday it was hugs, kisses and goodbyes as the ladies boarded the bus and headed back to Kingston. Back to the hectic MJW schedule on their quest to becoming the Next Miss Jamaica World.