Melinda Bam's official Miss Universe bikini shot.Astonishing but true: Miss Universe 2012 won't be airing on TV. It'll be airing on NBC in America but we won't be seeing it in South Africa.
It's coming up next Wednesday (19 December) so I've been investigating where we can see Melinda strut her Bam and discovered that the ceremony won't be on any channel anywhere.
For the past two years it's aired on
Star! on TopTV but it's suddenly disappeared for no reason, with no explanation.
It's not on e.tv, not on any of the SABC channels, nor on the M-Net channels, nor on DStv. I've even asked some channels twice because I've been so stumped that it's nowhere to be found.
It'll be available online. According to Dara Busch, MD of the company responsible for the pageant PR, it's going to be streamed live on the
Miss Universe website.
The national costume competition will also be streamed live - the event that Melinda's going to be
wearing all the crystals for.
The prelims of the costume competition are happening this Thursday (13th), followed by the final on Friday (14th).
Unfortunately the time's going to be tricky to navigate because we're hours ahead of Las Vegas - another reason it should be on TV. The pageant starts at 20h00 on the 19th so it should stream at about 03h00/04h00 on Thursday morning (20th) in South Africa. Keep a lookout on the Miss Universe site for any news of a repeat - maybe they'll repeat or YouTube it.
A sign that Miss SA will be taking over from Angola's Leila Lopes?A public vote plays an important part in the competition - the winner of the vote gets a guaranteed spot in the semi-finals. We can vote for Melinda here:
vote! (a max of 10 votes per day per e-mail address)