Back to work for Miss Universe Singapore after hour's sleep

Almost immediately after the glitz and glamour of winning the crown at Sunday night's Miss Universe Singapore 2016 pageant, Cheryl Chou got down to beauty queen business after having just "one hour of sleep".

"I could barely sleep after the adrenaline from last night," the 20-year-old told The New Paper yesterday.

"I went home (after the pageant), spent time with family and video-called my best friend in Korea who wanted to know every single detail of the pageant," said Cheryl, who beat 14 other finalists to win the coveted title, plus $10,000 cash, beauty and wellness services from Beaute Hub worth $24,000, dental aesthetic services from Orchard Scotts Dental worth $20,000 and personal training and scheduled sessions worth $9,000 at Bodyburn Fitness Singapore.

Day One saw the Lasalle College of the Arts undergraduate, who is pursuing a Bachelor in Fine Arts, attend interviews, filming and fittings before heading off to school to work on a project.

Even after Cheryl turned up at the Kiss 92FM studio at 7.30am for an interview on the Maddy, Jason & Arnold in the morning show and subsequently on the ONE FM's #1 Breakfast Show with jocks Glenn Ong and The Flying Dutchman at the ONE FM 91.3 studio, the newly crowned beauty queen admitted that she still wasn't accustomed to her "new life".

"I still haven't wrapped my head around the fact that I'm the new (Miss Universe Singapore), but I'm slowly getting used to it," she said.

While she slowly grows into her new glamourous role, Cheryl, who was accompanied on her first day as beauty queen by Miss Universe Singapore national director and former beauty queen Nuraliza Osman, is already in the midst making plans to put her life on hold as she prepares to represent her country on the big stage at the Miss Universe pageant next year.

"I'm in talks with my university about taking study leave so I can focus on the international pageant," she said.

Later, Cheryl headed straight for Mediacorp, where she filmed an episode of Channel 5's variety series OK Chope! where she was interviewed by child reporters.

"They asked me some of the hardest questions," she said with a laugh.

"I think they were harder than those that I had to answer at the pageant," she joked.

"They asked me questions like 'Why is the pageant called Miss Universe Singapore and not Miss Galaxy Singapore' and 'Why is (roti) prata round'," she said.

The rest of the afternoon saw Cheryl attend fittings in preparation for several upcoming events and, more importantly, her national costume for the international pageant.

Ms Nuraliza, 39, told TNP she started working on the theme of the national costume with designer Moe Kassim months before the local pageant.

"We've been designing it for almost three months now and after today's fitting with Cheryl, it will take another month or so for it to be handmade," she said.

Without revealing details, Ms Nuraliza would only say that the outfit is based on a "Peranakan theme" which is "something we believe is reflective of Singapore culture".

SNEAK PEEK
TNP got a sneak peek of the sketched design in Mr Moe's office on Joo Chiat Road.

The design revealed a dramatic outfit which the veteran costume designer is confident "will suit Cheryl's figure".

The newly-crowned Singaporean queen finally had a short break in the midst of her hectic schedule before her last fitting in Chinatown.

And it was during her break that this reporter caught a glimpse of just how serious she was about her upcoming contest on the international stage.

Even though she had been given the green light by Ms Nuraliza to enjoy her favourite foods for the rest of this week, Cheryl didn't want to risk ruining her gown-fitting.

"I'd like to have some coffee and maybe a snack but I don't think I should," she said, as she held on to her bottle of water.

This article was first published on Oct 18, 2016.
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