Fast confession – Eva Čerešňáková: and I've reached the bottom of my strength

It has been nearly two months since the Czech Miss Final took place, how would you evaluate it now in hindsight? Are you happy about it? What do you think now that you need to work on?

This year was full of experience. Although I've already been through this competition years ago and also wrote about it the book that was entitled “Miss, Dreams vs. Reality”, to be on the other side is very different. We have made our way through many complications, faced attacks and, given what has happened, amazingly the best possible result has emerged. Everything was influenced by a number of varied circumstances. Of course there are things that could have been improved. We also know that fundamentally we need to work with well-respected people who can be relied upon, because some did not do what we agreed and they promised.

I'll get back to these people in just a moment. After the final, there was a critique of the new Czech Miss, however you were of the opposite view. Were you really happy or does great self-confidence automatically belong to big formats while humility steps away to one side?

It is definitely not the case that I should have great confidence when working with a big format! I have a great deal of humility myself, but I have found that when I am modest in front of journalists and/or have any other doubts, frequently this turns against us. Humility then sounds as if we do not really believe in ourselves nor can we really do it. Moreover, especially taking all the circumstances in mind, I was fully satisfied with the results. And almost everyone who was performing in the Final was very positive about it. The criticism was spread by those who were not even there and in fact did not see the Final at all…

So you think it's going to work better when there will be more self-confidence?

I think that if one has already put together the building blocks there will be a greater degree of self-confidence. During the first year everyone is busy questioning you while not actually believing in anything. In addition, Martin has been in the hospital since early August and so I have been having to solve a lot of worries in my private life..

That is definitly a long time.. What was the diagnosis?

I leave it to Martin that when he wants to, he will communicate what he wants to communicate, I'm not going to talk about it. At least one acute health problem, which can occur to everyone, has occurred from one day to the next. He had not been doing well at all and I was very worried about him, but now he is much better in himself. There is a prospect that they may well let him out of the hospital by Christmas. Two months before the final I lost a guy who was going to do a whole lot of work but we did not really know what would be happening to him, I was also dealing with his activities outside the Czech Miss contest, while at the same time I stayed alone to finish the ongoing preparations for the Czech Miss. I thought I was either going to collapse or that I would really be able to do it. This was a very challenging period, both mentally and physically, and that's why I said that the Final was actually the best that it could be.

It was written that it actually happened because he had been overworked. Would you say that?

Actually, this is not true. When it did happen he was completely O.K. and he was certainly not overworked.

As I briefly recapitulate it, it started with a dispute that occurred in regard to the Czech Miss trademark, with the big television companies refusing to broadcast the Final and the mentors and some of the finalists leaving prematurely. Aren't there too many of these problems for the first year?!

Well in fact not everything was the way that the media presented it, but it is true that if I knew how many problems there would have been, I would probably have change my mind entirely about the Czech Miss project. The project itself is demanding, and when you do it for the first time, you are continually going to be confronted by scandals and attacks - not just by the media - and it all gets spread around... There were moments during which I was really at the last brink of my strength. To myself I simply thought: "Is this really worth it?"

Do you not actually feel sorry that you went for it?

Now, when the first final that received much positive feedback both from the partners and the evening's guests had been completed, I look on it as representing a life-saving lesson. That year I really did learn a lot.

Were there any moments when you actually regretted being involved in it?

Over the course of the year, only about twice. This was, of course, the period of August-September, exactly when the Final was rapidly approaching, Martin's health deteriorated, and therefore the number of our duties increased, and then again a bit later during the spring too, just when the attacks were getting us down.

Do you mean something specific?

These were tabloid articles that very often turned out to be untrue. But also attacks with the purpose of disparaging the project and thereby interrupting the running of the activities, while also attempting to disrupt the already previously established partnerships, and also attempts by the former minority owner Marcela Krplová to take away from us the licences for world beauty competitions. We all had to defend them fairly hard, legally and in English...

Did you defend them? 

Fortunately we did, yes. The Czech Miss had three licences. The most prestigious Miss Universe, then the Miss World and the Miss Earth, with the addition of Miss Supranational last year. We have defended Miss Universe, Miss Earth and Miss Supranational. In cooperation with Miss Slovakia we also sent a representative to the Miss Beauty Queen Contest in Korea. So our four girls will definitely be competing in the world.

Luxusní vila na pronájem Praha 6 - 940m, Praha 6

Show property

In which way exactly did the former management harm you?

For example, in the case of Miss Earth, the former co-owner had the licences registered on her behalf and we then had to legally prove that she was no longer a member of the team and that she did not actually organise the Czech Miss Contest in 2017, as she had told them. We communicated with Miss Universe and we were trying to solve the overall situation several times during that year. Fourteen days before the Final, they wrote to me that they had again been informed that we would not have the Final and asking if that was really true.

Many people who participated in the contest have since left it. Also amongst these was Lenka Cornová, who constituted an integral part of the Czech Miss Contest, followed by the mentors Nikol Švantnerová, Aneta Vignerová and Simona Krainová. Why was that?

Lenka Cornová was owed money by the former management and she wanted the money from us immediately. We offered her a solution, but she did not accept it, so there was a conflict of interest and we broke apart. But it was actually caused by the problem that had been left behind by the former management which had been headed by Marcela Krplová and Lucie Volná. As far as the mentors are concerned, they have accomplished their main task by simply participating at the Lomnica Hotel in the Tatras, so even though the cooperation with two of them had not continued, they did fulfill their main task. We're friends with Aneta Vignerová and we've just agreed that we will not include her anymore in any of the additional activities. Then she also wanted to be careful because of another job and also because negative articles had been written about the Czech Miss Contest. She called me and we broke-up in a good way. We continued to work with two other mentors, and even in June the finalists held a catwalk workshop with Eliška Bučková..

And what about Simona Krainová?

As for Simona Krainová, it was most important for us to really focus on the Tatras, in order to give the girls an introduction to the world of modelling, they got to meet the icon of modelling and she was with them throughout the entire photoshooting and she was also giving them helpful advice. I'm so glad that she spent a week with us at the Lomnica Hotel and she also did a lot of work. She was not a member of the jury for the Final Gala Evening because the Final was not being broadcast "on the Big TV". But we ended up by finding that out on a very friendly basis. It was actually not as dramatic as the media described it.

And how was it with those departing finalists?

When we talked with FTV Prima about the format of the competition, everything was going so ideally that it was presented more as a reality show to make it attractive and exciting, and we were also inspired by The America's Next Top Model Reality Show and on that basis we chose a larger number of finalists, whom we would subsequentlhy be dropping continuously to finish with only the best in the Final. We had already dropped some girls in the Tatras, but in the media it sounded as if it was the finalists who were leaving us. So, once again, the media handled it quite differently …

At the beginning, you talked about the fact that you wished to return prestige to the Czech Miss Contest, then all of a sudden you were taking the girls' photos in the metro. This appears to me as being two completely different things. Some things are actually like a reality show and some things represent a return of prestige. So can you say that you began the reality show because of television?

There were a number of ideas from the beginning and then they were developed. It sounded clear that there was a duel, that there were conflicts, emotions that made it different and thereby unconventional... Impulses were coming and all of us were continually creating full-time. In the metro this was the beginning of the path of the contestants, during which all the girls usually used the metro, until the ceremonial final, when the high moment came in the beautiful evening robe by Petra Pilařová with the crown on the head.

I cannot fail to ask; so, did you deliberately turn the girls against each other?

By having the project developed the way that it went, and working with a smaller team and a smaller television, we ducked-away from certain aspects. The assignment was to select different types of girls, and on the basis of their characteristics, enable various situations and/or conflicts to take place.

The Television Station then resigned from the project however. Did you regret that you did not choose purely according to your own wishes?

We were always looking for The Czech Miss, we were not only selecting her attributes... We simply tried to choose different types, so that the role could be played in accordance with their different natures, while the factors of charisma and of external beauty were still there and that was important.

America's Next Top Model has a great format, but I'm not sure if it is suitable in a prestigious beauty contest like Czech Miss. Overall people do not deal well with changes. Would it not be easier to simply re-name the Czech Miss Project completely, so that from the beginning people could count on something else?

We certainly were thinking about it, but we would not have to have become involved with the Czech Miss Project. This competition has a history and a tradition, in that it also has a licence and hundreds of millions of Czech Crowns were invested in it. When you ask anyone on the street about a national beauty contest, they always respond with the words “The Czech Miss”. Otherwise we would have had to start from scratch. It would have to become a big TV project and that TV station would need to stand up for it and finance it.

Currently the Miss Universe Competition is on its way. How are the preparations getting on?

I have been very pleasantly surprised by the approach of all the three girls who have won the competition and that since they did win they have been working on themselves a lot. Iva Uchytilová, who has just returned from the Miss Earth Competition, prepared three times more for the programme than she needed to and was also very active too. I can see the same approach in regard to Míša Habáňová's final preparations for the Miss Universe Contest. It's amazing to see how well the girls are working on themselves.

What chance do you give her? Will she actually reach the Top 10? With Iva Uchytilová there without a doubt you are definitely celebrating success...

From a total number of ninety girls Iva made it to the top 8 on Miss Earth, which is definitely a great success! It would also be great, of course, if Míša Habáňová scored the most points, but I think it is too hard to simply estimate. She certainly has a chance because she is a distinct type and is clearly charismatic, nor is she afraid to speak for herself, while she has also been amongst the team leaders and that will be significant too. During the activities she could easily stand out amongst the others. We will see!

Under your leadership in what actual stage of preparation is the second year of the competition?

We have been solving casting since spring and currently we are planning the timeline and the activities... We started working on it before the final of last year's contest. From December, the girls can sign-up for the New Year, while its official opening and the casting and the final are all scheduled for June.

And what about TV stations? Do you think that Nova and/or Prima may well change their minds?

I do not know, but we are clear that we want it to be broadcast online, because the young generation is not watching TV and the overall viewing of TV is dropping. Everything goes online. We are also online and we can see that the future is really out there. Whether it is social networks or You Tube, or a direct broadcast of the Final on Extra.cz and/or on other online channels too, we have achieved relatively significant numbers and we can see that it definitely does have a future.

Can I know what these relatively significant numbers are?

For example, we have been counting on the Czech Miss Profile for many weeks on Instagram with the number of impressions per week currently over a million. At a time when there were a lot of activities in progress we got up to two and a half million, while after the final there were a million andseven hundred thousand. After the final the winner received two million views of her posts during a period of seven days. Whether I'm looking at You Tube or a Facebook stream or a nationwide Regional TV Station or Extra.cz, together with the final gala evening, we had a view rate over two hundred thousands.

So what is going to be happening next year? Would you choose to prefer online broadcasting?

If some of our television stations wants to talk about cooperation we do not reject it out-of-hand, but we do find out that we do not crucially need the television and that in the long run it is more interesting to simply be online and thereby be visible throughout the entire year. Of course, the final gala evening is inevitably the icing on the cake, but it's not the only item on the agenda, as it was more than twenty years ago when Miss was actually a single final gala evening that was broadcast on TV.