By Khahliso Khama
MASERU — Miss Bikini, a fitness and bodybuilding pageant that was targeted at high school girls, has been called off.
The pageant was slated for September but later postponed to this month after failing to draw enough contestants.
Miss Bikini was initiated by Energy Entertainment, a fitness and bodybuilding group that organises the annual Mr Lesotho and Miss Figure contests.
The stillborn show was also meant to prepare the girls for this year’s Miss Figure pageant.
But schoolgirls did not find the idea charming.
“I decided to cancel the pageant due to a number of unforeseen reasons,” Tseko Mbele of Energy Entertainment told the Weekender.
“The participants’ number was way lower than the one we had hoped for.
“Some of the girls who had already registered also pulled out because of school commitments.
“The timing in general was very bad because it is the time during which students get very busy and are involved with their studies.”
Mbele said they had struggled to attract contestants because females were sceptical about bodybuilding.
“Girls are misled by myths that surround bodybuilding,” he said.
“It is believed that girls who go for regular bodybuilding lessons get their bodies hefty and muscular yet that is the opposite if one goes through the right training.”
With Miss Bikini cancelled, Mbele said they had decided to host a “Fitness Day” in Khubetsoana this Saturday.
The event will include fitness activities such as aerobics, dance and bodybuilding.
Mbele said the day was meant to encourage people to live a healthy life and to engage in physical exercise.
