It was Friday the 13th, but I was anything but unlucky.

The queue outside Zirca at Cannery stretched almost three corners while I waited for the show to start, at the comfort of having my own table, with the perfect view of everything about to happen.

As soon as the finals for Cleo’s Most Eligible Bachelor 2009 started, deafening cheers and catcalls filled Zirca. Deborah Tan, the editor for Cleo, talked about this year’s theme: Campaigns. The bachelors, split into Teams Dreamy and Steamy, had to duke it out in an election drive, with each team making campaign pledges and going through online debates to garner Cleo readers’ votes.

The whole finals event showcased this theme, with games such as ‘Form Your Campaign Slogan’, where some lucky readers get to paint their own catchphrases on the shirtless bachelors, and talent showcases where the bachelors get to perform onstage and impress the audience.

The most memorable performance would have been the Eligible Bachelors Band, where bachelor 23, Bronson Chan (on vocals) was the most charming performer of the evening. This reporter tried to get a recording, but alas, the screams of the girls in the audience drowned out the whole performance.

The bachelors’ supporters were kept on their toes the whole night; as the hosts announced changes in the vote leader board every other segment. From where I was, the audience were whipping out their phones, and fingers were flying across the buttons, sending sms-es continuously throughout.

Finally, the teasing ended after almost two hours, when several bachelors came out to do a striptease, before the winner was announced. Throughout the night, the crowd seemed to have been split two ways, between bachelor 45, Vivian Dawson and bachelor 1, Lim Yaoxiang, but Dawson seems to have had the more text-savvy fans, and was crowned Cleo Singapore’s Most Eligible Bachelor 2009.

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(More pictures and videos to be uploaded soon!)