West production for Mr World in East

The event, which takes place at the Crowne Plaza in Sanya, is being produced for television and will be broadcast by satellite to 157 countries on 5 April, with the SABC having the broadcast rights for SA.

At West’s side as technical director will be another familiar name in the SA entertainment industry, Anne Williams, with whom he has worked closely on a number of major projects.

Says West, “We are taking over a crew of 40. All the key technicians are South Africans but we will be making use of local people on the ground. South Africans are sought after world-wide and are being kept busy on many of the world’s major sporting and cultural events.”

Different to standard pageant

What is exciting for West is the prospect of working on a Mr World event which is very different to the standard pageant:

“Everything is different, the audience, the market, even the format of the pageant. It is not your standard parade in eveningwear and swimsuits – although that is included - with a short question and answer session. It is more a mixture of Action Man, Survivor and the Amazing Race. We also have some fun inserts such as a Chinese Noodle-making competition and a talent contest. The contestants will also make their first appearance as Shaolin monks.”

But not all eyes will be on the men. Performing at the extravaganza will be pop/dance group, the Pussycat Dolls, while supermodel Denise van Houten and top Chinese TV presenter Angela Chow will host the show, with special guest Britain’s double Olympic gold medallist, Dame Kelly Holmes.

Mr South Africa

Among the 90 contestants will be Mr South Africa, Dieter Voight crowned on Friday, 23 February, and West expects the South African contestant to do well in the international event.

“If you look at the Miss World contests over the past ten years, the Miss SAs always place well. Furthermore, if you think Action Man, you think South African males.”

Despite the technical expertise and experience of the South African team, West does not expect it all to be plain sailing as the challenges of working overseas, especially in China, are enormous.

“That is part of the excitement and one of the reasons why I love working abroad,” he says.

“One of the major obstacles to be overcome is language as English is not widely spoken but interpreters are being provided by the Sanya government. Even just getting everyone there is difficult as we have a two-day trip and it is not easy to do bookings from here for some of the local domestic airlines.”

Fortunately, the team will not be travelling with too much equipment. Except for some key items such as a steady cam harness and keyboards (all the keyboards are in Chinese) for the computers, they will be using Chinese equipment.

Enamoured with SA

No newcomer to producing large-scale television shows and live events, both locally and internationally, it is not surprising that West was approached by Julia Morley, chairperson of the Miss World Organisation to produce Mr World. He has produced eight Miss World pageants in the past.

“Julia is enamoured with the South African crew and their way of working. What was really marvellous was sitting next to Julia at a media conference in Beijing where she sang South Africa’s praises. She said she had worked a lot with South Africans and was proud to say she would be bringing across a South African crew to work in collaboration with their local counterparts.

“What is really thrilling are the opportunities this opens up for relations between South Africa and China in terms of television. They are really keen to work in South Africa and we want to work there,” says West.

Highlights of West’s career include the South African Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies, the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup Opening Ceremony (viewed live by an audience of over 1.2 billion people) and numerous Miss SA events, including the most recent one.

In 2004, West and his team at Cap Events also produced an audiovisual theatre extravaganza entitled “South Africa - The Journey”. A cast of one hundred actors, dancers and singers celebrated 10 years of democracy in South Africa. This stadium theatre show had seven performances at the Hellonstadium in Zurich, Switzerland. West and Cap Events were also responsible for the stage and television productions of the CNN Multichoice African Journalist Awards for two years running - in Nairobi, Kenya in 2005 and in Maputo, Mozambique in 2006.