The Lebanese Broadcasting Company (LBC) decision to air live coverage of the war on Iraq twenty-four hours a day has affected most of its previously schedule programs. One of the main programs that have been affected as a result of war is the Miss Lebanon 2003 beauty pageant with the organizers decision to halt all events.
According to the London based daily, Al Sharq Al Awsat, the organizers have sent all remaining contestants in the pageant home after they were obligated to remain at the Grand Hill hotel in Beirut until the final moment. It was added that the committee for the pageant realized that the situation in the region is very critical and continuing with the pageant would be unacceptable and insensitive. The stopping of the pageant will be a temporary issue until war on Iraq is over and the conditions in the Middle East are stable and safe.
The organizers of the pageant had decided to attribute a new trend in choosing the new Miss Lebanon 2003 by featuring the contestants in different occasions a number of times live on TV before the final moment is set. The event will be divided into several events in which the contestants will be filmed live in order for the viewers to make their decision on who should remain to take part in the final event of replacing the current Miss Lebanon 2002, Christina Sowaya.
The first appearance of the contestants was on the 28th of February at the Beirut Hall, which witnessed the presence of a large number of artists from the Arab world and abroad, and was filmed live in order to introduce the contestants to home viewers.
The second live filming of the contestants was be at the Grand Hill hotel in Beirut, where the contestants were trained how to dance, walk, and act with one another. Their stay was to last ten days with random filming of their actions that was to be aired live for approximately 40 minutes daily as a reportage.
A representative from LBC was present with the contestants from day one until the final moment making interviews and filming different instances of the girls. Special technical equipment was brought in from abroad for the occasion to help ease the mission of walking through the event step by step.
For two weeks, a casting of votes was made by viewers to eliminate one out of three contestants. On the 11th of April, a total of six remaining contestants were to take part in the final event in which one was to be chosen Miss Lebanon 2003 by a panel of judges. -Albawaba.com
