Bermuda's top plus size models showed off their talent on Wednesday night at the talent portion of the 2008 Miss Big and Beautiful Bermuda Competition at the City Hall Theatre.

There was singing, liturgical dancing, African dance, poetry, majorettes and even a cabaret performance.

Although most of the contestants saw it as their time to shine and did a phenomenal job, some of the contestants' performances were less then stellar and needed a little more practice before they got on stage.

Miss Sandys North – Tiffany Douglas – sang a beautiful song and had a beautiful voice to match unfortunately her performance had to be a capella as her music was not available when she got on stage.

Miss Sandy's South – Emma Sims – also performed a musical number: Christina Aguilera's Beautiful, and although she herself looked very beautiful, I felt the song was a little too big for her soft voice.

Miss Southampton – Nikka Samuel– added a different flavour to the competition by performing an African dance piece.

She seemed to be very agile on stage and swayed her hips to the live African drummers she had accompanying her. This performance was a real treat.

Miss Paget – Wolette Symonds – came on stage as a majorette adorned in a purple sparkly number and performed a routine that showed that she was very confident however, I felt the routine went on a bit too long.

Miss Devonshire – Feria Livingston – performed a liturgical dance piece in an all red flowing ensemble. She worked the stage and used props illustrating the lyrics of the song.

Miss Pembroke – Tracey Doeman – slowed the pace of the night by performing a popular Maya Angelou poem entitled: Phenomenal Women, which she should have memorised so that more of the focus could have been on articulation and stage presence instead of trying to follow the lines.

Miss Smith's – Lavel Smith – stepped up the competition by doing a salsa performance.

She looked beautiful in a turquoise Latin inspired dress as she worked the stage with her dance partner, who allowed her to shine during solo segment by turning his back to the audience so they could focus on Ms Smith.

Miss Hamilton Parish – Iresha Philpott – also performed a liturgical dance number dressed in all white and diamonds, which sparkled and added to the performance as she conveyed a powerful gospel piece.

Miss St. George's West – Tonya Smith – stole the show as she came out on stage and captivated the audience from start to finish, performing a cabaret number with a mask and feathers to accentuate her performance.

Miss St. George's East – Kimberly Bowen – ended the performance with a poem that she wrote specifically for the competition, which talked about her experience as a plus sized woman.

This poem was well performed as she had committed it to memory and was able to give her all to the audience.

After the ladies finished the talent portion of the competition they were then judged on a fashion show to determine Miss Supermodel Plus.

They had 'go sees' at various department stores and were judged, by the store representatives on attitude, general presentation, if they were on time and if they were showing that they owned the outfit.

Once they had their outfit, which was selected by the stores, they had to parade on stage with confidence and were judged on this.

This part of the competition was very reminiscing of the popular Tyra Banks' reality show America's Next Top Model.

The stores that participated in the go sees were Sassy's Boutique, Fine Things, 27 Century Boutique, Connections Plus and It's a Plus.

The competition kicked off this week with a swimsuit competition on Sunday and will conclude tomorrow with the finale, which will determine who would be Miss Big & Beautiful Bermuda 2008.

Although the overall competition showed great potential and an excellent opportunity to showcase voluptuous women, it did come off as a bit disorganised as there were sound problems, some of the contestants missed their cues and the MC seemed a bit all over the place.

Despite the glitches it was a good show and the public should go and check it out on Sunday night to see the winner be crowned. Tickets can be purchased at Secrets for $45.