Of TPF Five, Split Votes and burgeoning Loyalty amongst Contestants Doreen, Jackson and Ruth.

By Gloria Mwaniga.

In my heart a battle rages; the sort of battle that a guy fights when he likes
Two girls but doesn’t know who to date because they are uniquely different and yet so special.
The kind of battle that makes a girl toss and turn in her sleep because she just doesn’t know who to choose between the ‘good boy’ that is rather boring but liked by her
Parents and the bad boy who is wild at heart yet fun to be around.

But like the characters above, I can only make one choice, and at the end of the day I need to choose just one of my three favorite contestants at the Tusker Project Fame season five.

1. Doreen, just an ordinary girl chasing a dream.

I first met Doreen early this year at a monthly writer’s forum called Amka at the Goethe institute.
Two things made the first impression;
One: the young girl in boots with a purple guitar over her shoulder and a husky voice reminded me of Brooke of the TV series ‘One Tree Hill.’
Two; when I approached her, her sincere smile and friendliness won me over.
During the tea break, I told her of my love for soft rock music and to my amazement she got out her guitar and played two songs;
Ok, who wouldn’t like such a person?
A few months later, I got a text message from ‘Dona’ the name I knew her first by.
It simply said ‘hi, I auditioned in Nakuru and got into TPF, I am so excited.’

One thing about Doreen is that she is passionate about music. So ardent that she would give up anything else just for it.
If you have been following the show as it unfolds weekly, you will notice that she has gotten better with time; just like fine wine.
Last night, after beautifully singing an Adele song that got Judge Ian beaming with pride, one of her teachers said she had been practicing with tears in her eye: that’s just how badly this ordinary girl wants to make something of herself in this big big world.

And that is the kind of passion that drove Donald Trump to build an empire

2. Along came Jackson.
Jackson. The soft -spoken monsieur from Burundi.
He seems to have mastered the art of guitar strumming.
And he is such an en
Yesterday, he proved that he could dance as well as he sings
The way he does the things he does; plays his guitar, his tilted French-English, his gentle and calm self; just sort of leaves one with no choice but to vote for him.

3. Ruth-less.

That is what you would call her if you were her competitor.
This girl knows what she wants and is not afraid to take a step in the direction her echoes are sending her to.
A consistent performer and excellent deliverer, she always aims for the stars and reaches them too.
Listening to her powerful voice and sure-self sort of leaves me asking ‘with that kind of voice, how have you managed to stay unknown for all these years.’
One thing’s for sure, whether she bags the gold or not, this girl is going places.

In Chinua Achebe’s short story,’the voter,’ a character faced with a plight such as mine because he had sworn allegiance to two contestants was left with no choice but to divide the vote by tearing the ballot paper into two.

In my case however, I do hope that no such plight shall befall me. I shall cast my votes to all the three in a picky picky poncky , father had a donkey kind of way until one of them wins; and may the best musician win….