Christmas Day post-dinner happenings are certainly rare in this Buddhist country, but the little spot of gay abandon in downtown Phnom Penh, just off the National Museum and the Royal Palace, had a night to remember–the Mr Blue Chili 2008 contest. The Blue Chili crowd had so much fun during the water festival, when they had the “Miss Water Festival 2008″ a tranny contest, so Blue’s endearing proprietor/tress, Khoo decided whe would have another contest this time featuring the guys. And so Mr Blue Chili 2008 was born. A week before the contest, the photos of 27 guys were posted on the website www.queercambodia.blogspot.com, for Online voting. The winner would be named ”Mr. Popular”. That got the excitement going as word of mouth about the event spread. Was the gay crowd in Phnom Penh ready for this ?
Well, Khoo and her crew threw an event to remember-to some jaded observer, it may have been something akin a rural village fair in neighboring Thailand, but the gays of Phnom Penh and their friends certainly had a rousing time. The staging area covered four shopfronts, and it was SRO that night. A long canopy was rented out to cover the whole area, and from the street it looked something like the usual set up for a streetside Khmer wedding, minus the grating music–the sounds were all disco or hiphop, startling several passers-by who craned their necks for a look. The crowd was a mix - europeans and north americans, colombian, south asians, singaporeans, chinese, brits, french, thai, a huge philippine delegation of about a dozen, vietnamese, and of course, local khmers and their boyfriends, parents and girlfriends. The inner room of the bar was converted into a dressing room, and one noticed a steady strem of guys going to the loos and checking out the dressing room on the way. Some of the guys had wardrobe and make-up assistants, who brought everything for them. This was pretty serious stuff for some ! Between breaks many of the guys stood around the bar, mingling with the spectators, and looking hopeful….
For the contest, the guys brought several outfits - one for formal wear, informal/jeans, and swimwear (actually all were in various kinds of underwear). Guys were called to the stage in groups of five or six, some looked very confident and cocky, others seemed quite nervous and restrained. The emcees, Rymor and Khoo. took turns introducing the contestants–names and height, and hobbies, mainly. A few ones immediately stood out, others looked forgettable–as they say in tagalog gayspeak, “pinabili lang ng suka, sumali na”, which loosely translates into, “just sent out to buy vinegar, and ended up on stage” . All were game and did not seem to know how to upstage the others, which made it pretty predictable. The two emcees carried the night, with their hilarious banter and campy chatter, liberally laced with sexual innuendo and occasionally groping contestants, who managed weak smiles back. It was probably good that few of the contestants spoke no more than a sentence of english, as their clueless looks and sometime blank stares just added to the fun. Khoo was resplendent in a body hugging red Balenciaga, while Rymor looked the perfect foil–manly in a black tuxedo. Must have been quite a struggle to do this, as all his friends knew that he was itching to do drag on any occasion. The whole pageant commentary was in english, and Khoo and Deedee, another drag performer, translated into Khmer or Chinese as necessary, as one contestant spoke only Chinese, prompting speculations of trafficking. Several lookers that Khoo took a fancy too were duly labelled as “My future ex-husband”.
Obviously not all guys had extensive wardrobes–some were clearing waiting for other contestants to finish so they could borrow the other guy’s jeans, and another guy’s cowboy boots. One was in a shirt that was described as “matching the color of the carpet in Blue Chili”, and others came in slacks in what was supposed to be the jeans portion, promting the emcees to state that a pair of levis had been stolen while being laundered. The provenance of the various jeans were laid bare–Psar Tom tuol Pong and O Russey market, or a neighbor’s clothesline, were the more common sources. Contestants who came in late and who kept the group waiting were inevitably described as having been “taken”, and one particularly effeminate contestant was introduced as a former participant to the “Miss Water Festival”. Some guys paraded in unlikely combinations of what they announced as sportswear–a dry-fit Tshirt, pirata pants, dress socks and moccasins. It was difficult to imagine what sort of sports could one play in that attire. Others brought along badmintor rackets as accessories. And during the swimwear/underwear portion, a few who were not as well endowed tried stuffing tissue paper into their crotches, making for some very unusual-looking padding. Some others were more relaxed while others had noticeable left-leaning bulges {”to the left, to the left”) yelled one enthusiastic onlooker. One participant has a little smudge on the front of his briefs, and one of the Emcees kneeled down on stage to volunteer to clean the smudge, while the other looked on with feigned disgust.
Some questions were asked of the contestants, during what could have been an interview, though thankfully they tended to give short pharases or yes/nos in response. Thus a quarter of the contestants described their major hobbies as “watching TVs, DVDs or/and playing computer games”. Others either didn’t understand the question, or found it difficult to answer, and were summarily dismissed with a curt “Thank you, contestant No…next contestant please !” Many of them said they liked sports but had little to say, except smile blankly. When asked about his favorite book, one contestant replied ”sex book” and collapsed into giggles. ”I’m not here for the money”, one gleefully declared–I’m here “just for the fun of it.” Not that the money mattered, but the top prize would be $100 and a modeling contract with a local agency. Runners up and winners of the special awards would each get between $10 and $20, and the others would get some experience…or hopefully might meet a nice guy to go home with that night.
The people tasked with rating the contestants, the judges, were kept on their toes. The panel was led by “Pierrre”, a reed-thin Belgian; a khmer native, and three from the Philippines, one in drag and looking very much like a pregnant Sharon Cuneta . Contestant No. 12, Thira, was an early favorite and garnered almost half of all the online votes. Thira had a virtual monopoy of the special awards–winning four of the five given out that night (except for the “Mr Big” who was selected for the nice fit on the crotch). Thira had a wonderfully engaging smile, broad shoulders, a well defined torso, but was definitely less well endowed. It would have been a crime had he won that one as well. One hoped that the awards would be more evenly distributed, but then, the chief judge was seen takling Thira out to dinner at KFC the very next day….
