Rohjani Perriott: queen of the KTV night
When KTV hit television screens last year, no one could have predicted the extent of its popularity with the Belizean public. Now in its second season, this year’s contestants brought their own style and talents, all trying to impress the judges. On the last night of KTV, the four contestants pulled out all the stops. Ann-Marie has the exciting highlights of the show.
Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting
During the grand finale of Channel 5’s KTV held on Tuesday night at the Club Calypso in Belize City saw the four finalists: Rohjani Perriott, Vanya Garcia, Joseph Carr and Cherrymae Flowers eagerly take centre stage. Each sang two selections to a packed room and the five judges.
But it was Rohjani Perriott who won the hearts of the judges with her unique performance of “All The Man I Need” and “I Will Always Love You”, two Whitney Houston tunes. The elated KTV champ spoke to News 5 after her win.
Rohjani Perriott, KTV Champion
“I am absolutely speechless, I couldn’t believe it. the contestants were sooo good and they were such good performers that it was something that I expected. I expected anything from this night. It was such a hard choice. I’m absolutely speechless.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“You left no stone unturned literally in your performances tonight. How did you drum up those acts?”
Rohjani Perriott
“I just thought that if I’m going to do something that I love, I gotta do it from the heart, and that’s how I approached it. I love, love singing Whitney Houston, I think she’s got lot of messages behind her songs and so I just love doing her.”
First runner-up was awarded to Vanya Garcia of Placencia. However, it should have gone to Cherrymae Flowers. Producer Mary Rhaburn explains what went wrong.
Mary Rhaburn, Producer, KTV
“Well right at the end of the show, the judges and I were going through all the scores on the score sheet and comparing round one and round two to see exactly how the people placed. All of us were going through it, and in doing so one of the judges noticed that I had circled the wrong score, the wrong total, which was for Vanya Garcia. She was not supposed to be the runner up, it was supposed to be Cherrymae Flowers, she had a higher score than Vanya. Apparently, when I looked down at my score, which for Cherrymae, which was 523, I mistakenly took it for 503, and Vanya had 507. So right then we decided we have to try and fix this, but it was right as the show was coming off air, and before we could turn around, we were off TV, so it couldn’t be announced or changed at that particular time. So I got Vanya and Cherrymae together and I told them what happened.”
For Cherrymae Flowers, the second place felt a lot better than third.
Cherrymae Flowers, Runner-up
“I want to thank my mother-in-law, my family, my children and my husband, my friends, everybody that helped me.”
Perriott walked away with several prizes, including a one thousand dollars in cash, a karaoke machine, cell phone and gift certificates. Ann-Marie Williams for News 5.
In a postscript that story, the show’s producers have decided to also award Vanya Garcia, five hundred dollars.
