AT 1.66m, she is taller than most Singaporean girls. But not, she thought, tall enough to enter a beauty contest.

So Clarissa Lim could only watch in envy as other beauties paraded in contests like Miss Universe on TV.

Until her boyfriend took things into his own hands, that is. Last April, he called up the organisers of the Miss Teen Singapore Sweetheart contest and convinced them to accept her, even though it was past the registration deadline.

Miss Lim, 19, told The New Paper: 'He knew I always wanted to join (a pageant) but height was always a problem for me.

'But Teen Sweetheart didn't have a height requirement, so he signed me up. I was too afraid to do it, but he didn't want me to have any regrets.'

Regret must be the last thing on the Temasek Polytechnic student's mind now though.

She not only won the Miss Teen Singapore Sweetheart title, but also emerged the third runner-up of the international pageant, Miss Global City, held in Taiwan last month.

You may have read in Shin Min Daily News about her taking a tumble on stage during the rehearsals and bruising her feet, but gritting her teeth through the finals in Miaoli county. (See other report.)

But did you know that Miss Lim made such a strong impression in Taiwan that her mentor is making plans to launch her into the entertainment scene?

She was a hit with the local media, while other journos nicknamed her Little Teresa Teng, after the late Taiwanese songbird.

Also, China Times photographed her riding a motorbike sidecar to a charity event, while Liberty Times reported that she was one of eight contestants to endorse a Chinese medicine exhibition.

VIP TREATMENT

Even the pageant organisers were apparently smitten by her. Ms Lim's mentor Jackeline Carter, director of pageant organiser iGlamour, told The New Paper that her protege got 'VIP treatment'.

Other contestants each had one stylist, but Mrs Carter claimed that Ms Lim had two to three.

The fact that Ms Lim's pageant sash read 'Miss Lion City' and not 'Miss Singapore' also drew many curious stares.

Each country is allowed to send more than one representative if they represent different cities.

Another contestant - Ms Gina Tng who won the Miss Congeniality award - had already enrolled as Miss Singapore, so Mrs Carter had to pick another title for her.

'(The organisers) asked me if there's another city in Singapore, and I was like, 'Bukit Batok or Bukit Timah? No way!'

'Then I thought, Singapore is also well known as Lion City, so why not let her be Miss Lion City?'

That turned out to be a brilliant idea that got Ms Lim a lot of media attention.

Even though Ms Lim didn't win the crown, Mrs Carter felt that getting into top five was already 'a great achievement for a girl from Singapore'.

With a seasoned mentor like Mrs Carter, who was herself Mrs Singapore in 2004, it looks like Ms Lim's journey has only just begun.

The older woman said she spotted Ms Lim's star quality from a photograph that her boyfriend showed to her - 'raw, but I could see potential'.

After she won, Mrs Carter groomed her for six months and 'killed her stage fright' by pushing her to perform on stage at every opportunity.

X-FACTOR

'I knew she had X factor, but I was amazed by how popular she was in Taiwan,' said Mrs Carter.

'I have greater vision for her than winning the title. She already got the exposure I wanted her to get in Taiwan. Next will be to break her into the entertainment scene in Taiwan.'

Mrs Carter claimed she has already started to explore modelling and acting opportunities for Ms Lim.

But the first project can only begin in March - after Ms Lim completes the last three months of her diploma in apparel design.

She designed her own national costume with a friend - a uniquely Singapore piece with multi-racial elements like Malay lace, Indian fabric, Chinese cheongsam collar and Eurasian cutting.

The timing cannot be better, as Ms Lim herself told The New Paper that she has harboured showbiz dreams since young.

At age 11, she got her first five minutes of fame on TV after she enrolled herself in a show on Kid's Central, much to her mother's surprise.

Ms Lim has since appeared in three local short films and she said she is keen to give fashion design a break to venture into Taiwan's entertainment scene, be it in acting, modelling or singing.

Ironically though, Ms Lim is no longer seeing the guy who first made it happen for her.

He was her secondary school mate and they had dated for three years.

But they broke up last November, five months after he went to Brisbane to study.

'He came back and we had a long chat. Our lives were leading into different directions and it was a mutual decision to go separate ways.'

Ms Lim said they still keep in touch, and she is thankful to him for being so supportive of her joining her first pageant.

'He was there every round and he'd chauffeur me around during rehearsals. He also gave me encouragement.'

For all the singletons out there, we had to ask: What does she look for in a guy?

'He's got to be all gentleman, and he's got to have wit and courage.

'I'm not so much a girl who looks at the dollar sign, more for a guy with a good heart.'

She shrugs off the pain

SHE sashayed. She tripped. She fell. All because of an outstretched arm that refused to get out of the way. Ms Clarissa Lim ended up slamming her feet against the edge of a flight of stairs on stage.

The impact scraped the skin on both her shins and left a raw bruise about 15cm long, she told The New Paper. The accident happened during the rehearsal of the pageant finals held in Taiwan's Miaoli county on 15 Dec. Any other girl would have burst into tears or yelped in pain, but Ms Lim just shrugged it off.

'I was very conscious of my legs but I couldn't show it. It was painful but I didn't want to let it get to me.'

After a 45-minute break to nurse her wound, she braced herself for the finals. Ms Lim emerged the third runner-up, after the winner Ms Bogota Diana Marin (Columbia), first runner-up Miss Taipei Kathy Shen (Taiwan) and second runner-up Miss Aachen Marina Simijonovic (Germany).