Working for the Phnom Penh Post sure does have its perks! (act like I didn't know that already)

Freshie fever exposes young Khmer teen's fascination over beauty-based competitions. One being the very popular freshie boy and girl. Today, the 21st marked the fifth annual event for which I had the great pleasure to attend.

With two press passes that gave me near "His Excellency" seating, my Khmerican friend and I waited with eager and intrigue to the start of the program. The near full capacity crowd at Chaktomuk Theater, too, were getting antsy. The light dimmers and two emcees gracefully walk on stage.

With the short welcoming comments, the long black curtains rolled to the sides unveiling the surprisingly not-so-tacky set-up. Glittered stars decorated the black backdrop with two large left and right board panels that displayed the pictures of the finalists and at center, a raised stage with arching structures that reads, Freshie 2006.

Just then and there, the music blasts! All fourteen, draped in tight-fitting golden attire with spectacular hair-do bend and twists in rhythm to some Egyptian sounding techno beat. I felt like I was watching Jacko's Do You Remember video. Do you remember? Janet and Magic Johnson cameo'ed, young'uns. Anyways, the dance ended with even louder fireworks that lit off at the rim of the stage which nearly gave me a heart attack! (I said we had great seatings)

After the introductory dance (and gasping of oxygen), emcees yabbed about all the Thai and Malaysian sponsors.

My friend and I made our early picks after all the introductions to the finalists. For the guy, it was the marketable face and stage charisma of Moul Sovankiri. For the girl, my favorite was Saray Sakana, 16, who is the youngest in the batch. My amiga shared strong support for Sovankiri, but had differing views about the girl.

The program continued with paired couples performing various forms of international dance -- cha cha, ballroom dancing, rock-and-roll, swing, etc. That was pretty entertaining! Sovankiri, undoubtedly was the best dancer from the guys. Girls -- all were disappointing in my observation. Even two left-footed Phatrys can dance better!

The tension got tighter as the emcees lined up the finalists to announced the 3 boys and 3 girls.

Sovankiri picked first out of the boys to advance. Sakana failed to advance, however, Rathida, who I did initially interviewed, advanced to the big three.

So what else happened?

I remembered the Q & A portion. This in my view would make or break a contestant. All 3 girls, in our views, failed miserably. Very inarticulate and weak responses to rather simple questions. The fellas faired better.

The moment of "truth" (if that’s the right word to use) is nearing. We crossed our fingers for Sovankiri. He came in third place. Cambodia's next manga character, Thai Norak Pitou took first place for the boy. Rathida, the mute, shocked both of us with the Freshie Girl 2006 title.

We cried foul.

Let's just leave it to that :)