So, after the photo shoot (see Cleo Bachelor 2002 for more details), the magazine naturally came out in due course. The Preview was announced in that magazine and it was scheduled to take place in Suria, KLCC, one of our local malls.
Suffice to say, I was there on that fateful day, to give my nominated bachelor some moral support. I arrived early so as to ensure that I would get a good spot. To say that there was a mob there would be an understatement. Never, have I seen so many giggly, teenaged females in one location in my life! Girls from all walks of life were there, magazines in tow, friends abound. Needless to say, I felt drastically out of place. I managed to secure a spot, one floor above the stage, right in the middle. There were chairs lined up in front of the stage, and these were reserved for the VIPs (whoever they are) and press I presume. However, much to my dismay, approximately 10 minutes before the event was due to start, they released the barricades and invited the public to move in on the unoccupied chairs. I presume that they had overestimated the number of chairs that they needed. If I had known this, I would have waited by the stage *sigh*.
A stage was setup in the middle of the main concourse in Suria. An observant person would notice that there were less than 50 chairs setup on the stage. I counted 30 but I later found out that there was in fact 32 chairs. Now, why 32 chairs you might ask when there was in fact, 50 bachelors? Well, this was due to the size of the stage. You see, the stage can only accommodate 32 chairs and no, the stage could not be enlarged. I was told that in previous years, the same thing happened... i.e. only 30 of the 50 bachelors were up for preview, all due to the size of the stage. A little silly don't you think? I am uncertain as to how the 30 were selected to appear for the preview. Perhaps they went down the list asking the bachelors if they could / wanted to attend. When they hit the magic number of 32, they stopped inviting them.
Now, what social, public function would be a social, public function without the mandatory fashion show? As Levi's was one of the sponsors... need I say more? I have to bitch here: why is it that I have yet to see a professional-type fashion show in Malaysia?? Regardless of function, they always seem so amaturish when compared to the ones I have seen overseas / on telly.
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After walking out, parading on stage and then finding their appropriate seats, the bachelors were to introduce themselves one by one. Some made really good introductions, some were funny, some were nervous etc.
They were then made to play "games" with the audience. These games consisted of:
I have to say that I was astronomically disappointed with the MCs who were judging the push up competition. Four bachelors were preselected play this game. The objective of the game was to see who could do the most number of push ups. They had a balloon tied to their waist and last one to burst their balloon would win. Now, observe in the picture... the guy on the bottom right had the best form. He did 63 CORRECT push ups. How do I know this? Well, he is a member of my gym and a couple of my gym intructors were there and they kept count. The guy in the top left corner... well, can you spell C.H.E.A.T? Sheesh... the lad did a number of correct push ups and then, he was merely pushing his chest up and down, with his arse on the ground. This was so blatantly obvious that I wanted to slap the judges for allowing that to happen. The one in the lower left, well, he rested a fair number of times... the one on the top right, gave up after a while of doing correct push ups. Who won?? Take a wild guess.... the CHEATER!! Where is the fairness in that I ask you?? Sheesh....
The event went on for a fair while... longer than I could personally take. 3/4 way through, I went for some food with my gym instructors, leaving the candidates on stage. By the time I returned, they were still on stage and you could see that they were all getting restless. Some even started sending SMSs on their mobile phones.
After the event, it was photo shoot time... since I left midway, I lost my placing and could not get a decent spot, hence I couldn't get a good photo of the "official shot" 
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Once all the photos were taken, you could almost feel the relief of all the bachelors, to get off the stage. But it didn't end there... oh no!! They were all literally mobbed by the hordes of teenaged females there. I was, unfortunately at that time on the ground floor and got caught up in the stampede. 
We are taking about normal looking girls clamouring for AUTOGRAPHS!!! Ohmigawd!! Never, in my wildest expectation did I think that that would happen. But there they were, magazines in hand, pens in their other, rushing towards the bachelors!! What were they thinking?? However, after relating this to an old, old friend of mine later that day, he told me that 15 years ago, I would have probably done the same thing...
Aside from the autograph (and photo hunters), there were a few casting agencies there as well... they were looking for new talent. My nominee was among those who got spotted 
so some good came out of the entire day. It was good for him as he had recently made the decision to get his talent card done and is now looking for some modelling work. Unfortunately, the picture of him in the magazine, doesn't do him any justice.
So, who did I nominate?? Well, his name is Gerald, bachelor number 29.
Here are some better pictures of him...
