She was regarded as one of the “underdogs” among the 10 Miss Malaika finalists but Leah, contestant No. 4 pulled a pleasant surprise when she was announced as the favourite to wear the 2016 Miss Malaika queen title.

The loud “ooh and ahhs” that greeted the announcement by Berla Mundi, host of the night summed up the feelings of the majority in the auditorium who were  obviously not in favour of the new Malaika queen. However, the confident young lady proved her worth on the night to grab the prestigious crown.

Perhaps, she didn’t have the numbers to cheer her on but that didn’t deter her from giving off her best to beat nine contenders to be crowned this year’s Miss Malaika at the National Theatre last Saturday.

For her prize, Leah drove home a Renault Caput, one year wardrobe supply, one year hair supply from Hair Senta, a sponsored trip to Dubai, $10,000 scholarship from Abbeam Institute of Technology among others.

The second position was grabbed by Edem, 19, a first year student of the University of Ghana and Delsey took the third position.

The evening’s tone was set when the 10 contestants, Yvonne, Edem, Dromeryda, Leah, Boahemaa, Asiedua, Gyeduwaa, Martha, Delsey and Hassana “officially” introduced themselves to patrons with a formation dance.

The first stage seemed to be the platform for the young ladies to test their popularity in the auditorium. It was definitely a battle between Edem and Martha who had the whole auditorium chanting their names anytime they were introduced on stage. Surprisingly, Martha could not make it to the top five after their first round of questions.

All the contestants were not so impressive in the “question and answer” segment when they were asked random questions. At this point, it was difficult to spot any contestant who had proved herself to win the crown.

That notwithstanding, the number was watered down to five after the second round and the unlucky five of  Yvonne, Boahemaa, Gyeduwah, Martha and Hassana had to exit.

However, luck smiled on Edem, Delsey, Leah, Asiedua and Dromerida to make it to the next stage.

The “survivors” did their presentation on their own topics of interest for the final segment. Edem’s presentation on Women Empowerment and Leah’s inspirational piece on the prize of hard work were outstanding.

There were special prizes for some of the contestants who had emerged tops at the various tasks. Boahemaa’s talent on “drumming the sound of peace” earned her the Best Talent hunt.

As expected, the Miss Malaika grand finale was not just about the young ladies but one of great fun as  Lil Shaker, Joey B, MzVee and surprise act, EL took turns took to thrill the  audience with exhilarating performances.

MzVee was spectacular on stage as she got the audience to dance and sing along to some of her well known songs such as Borkorborkor, Harmattan, Come Over, and Natural Girl among others.

It was a good show but this year’s Miss Malaika organised by Charterhouse started late and some of the music performances dragged on unnecessarily, prolonging the event which had Joy FM’s Lexis Bill, Naa Ashorkor, Joselyn Dumas, Micheal of MTN and Hedwig Naa as judges.