My Dear Readers
This past weekend was packed with so much fun, family and friendship that I have a gazillion things to blog about and I will do so as the week goes by. I promise. For the purposes of order and consistency, I will blog about the weekend chronologically, so that we’re all on the same page (pun intended).
And what better way to begin with a recap than the event that unfolded on Friday evening? Yes. I will begin by talking about Triumph of Love. Gotta love soap operas! Ok … I kid. I won’t blog about that and I didn’t watch Friday’s episode. I am a recovering soap addict.
One of the things I love about some reality TV shows is that they give contestants the chance to improve themselves, by providing an opportunity for a better future or by helping them learn about their character in ways they never would have imagined. For me, Slimpossible falls in the former category and I think that Citizen TV deserves special commendation for putting the programme together and changing many women’s lives.
I don’t watch reality TV and I did not watch Slimpossible I or Slimpossible II. However, I watched the final and this blog is a personal assessment of the one episode that I watched, from a Toastmaster’s perspective. I will use the sandwich evaluation perspective – the good, the could improve and the good:
I Liked:
- The fact that you chose to change women`s lives by giving some a fair opportunity to contest in Slimpossible I, and others a fair opportunity to contest in Slimpossible II
- The fact that you chose a homegrown organisation to assess and announce the competition results. Seeing a statistician from University of Nairobi present the competition results was a pleasant surprise for me and a memory that I will cherish for a long time
- Harry Kimani. He is a rare talent and I’m still sad that I haven’t heard about an album from him recently.
- Lilian Muli-Kanene’s opening quote by Maya Angelou and the fact that she gave it off the top of her head! I think it may have come from Phenomenal Woman, but I’m not sure. Help anyone?
- The contestants’ outfits. I felt that each contestant was dressed for her body size and looked good in the outfit that was chosen for/by her. I would give the contestants’ outfits 80% on average, which is an A by University of Nairobi Standards. 🙂
I felt that you could have improved on:
- Execution
While I felt that the set-up for the evening was great, I thought that the hostess for the evening could have been better prepared. Lilian Muli-Kanene has hosted both seasons of Slimpossible and has done a great job keeping women inspired to change their lifestyles for longevity. I felt that losing the iPad and speaking from memory would have created better engagement with her audience (on-site and off-site) and promoted a personal connection with the contestants.I also thought that if the entire team had run through the motions a little more (like 2 or 3 more practice runs than they held for the event), it would have enhance the overall flow of the event. For example, I thought that the transitions between the announcements and the consequent arrival of the contestants on stage could have been more fluid. If, for example, each contestant had been seated with the person that they had invited, then they would have walked to the stage faster, and the waiting gap would have been eliminated. - Wardrobe
The contestants looked gorgeous. However, I was confused on what the dress code was expected to be. I believe that the timing and purpose of the event both lent themselves to an easy theme: EVENING. Citizen TV could have asked all participants to dress up for the event, to support the glam affair that I felt it could have been. I do not believe that wearing a track suit to an event makes you more of a trainer than wearing a suit and a shirt, so I would have had the trainers dress up, especially because they received credit for their work during the special mentions. Plus, the head trainer, Sila Otieno, was dressed up for the event (even if he wore jeans).Also deserving special mention here is Catherine Kasavuli’s outfit. She is a woman I admire for her impeccable style, but on Friday, I felt that she missed the mark. I was unable to interpret the outfit, and would have preferred seeing her in a little black dress or a silk suit. - Attributions
I am not sure where to start with this one, particularly because I feel that it boils down to preparation. However, I will give the major pointers that I would love to see addressed in Season III (hopefully there will be one:First and most importantly, Pamela Dindi, the first runner-up, was completely obliterated from the scene when the winner was announced. Given that each contestant had a chance to talk about their journey to the top, and introduce someone who stood with them during the journey, Pamela should have been given this opportunity. She came in second and had to invest herself so much in the pursuit of losing 34 kilogrammes, that I think this oversight was careless and unforgiveable.Second and almost as important, Joe Wanjui is not only the host of Slimpossible (courtesy of Hill Park Hotel proprietorship), but he is also the Chancellor of University of Nairobi and a prominent feature in Kenyan news over the years. There is no acceptable
reason, excuse why Catherine Kasavuli, a celebrated Kenyan journalist referred to him as Joe Wanjau. Twice.
This image was taken from http://www.speakup.org, an organisation that deserves a special commendation for the work that they are doing
Third, the reason for partnering with organisations to put together any programme in the world, is for leverage. Consequently, attributions should have been done in such a way that there was no doubt in the audience’s mind about what any company on the partnership board is capable of doing. I felt that the attributions were tepid and may not have carried their weight in accordance with the partner’s expectations.
With regard to attributions, I believe that partners have a special responsibility of ensuring that any ear time they get is used for the good of their company. I think the lady who spoke from Deacons was eloquent, but did not use her marketing moment as efficiently as she could have. She could have hyped up the Deacons’ gift hampers a little more, and talked about what they have been doing for contestants in terms of wardrobe provision during the season. I also felt that Terry Mungai could have done the same for Ashleys.
I look forward to:
- Watching Slimpossible III. A competitive edge to any good work keeps people striving, and I believe that the continued airing of this programme will change many more lives than just those of the contestants
- Seeing Sila Otieno giving evaluations of the contestants. Sila trained me in a gym I used to go to back in the day, and I believe that he takes his work seriously. So seriously that he creates rapport with his clients. It was evident in his ability to note the contestants’ shortcomings, and to get them to laugh about those.
- Citizen TV’s continued pursuit of the promotion of Kenyan talent. You rock and I look forward to the transformation of Kenya’s media industry through your continued participation in it.
I am no expert on reality TV, but these are my humble submissions with regard to programme execution. I believe that planning is everything. And event planning is a passion for me.
Happy Monday, everyone!
wamakeri 