FAME/BodyProud Pre-Judging Wows ‘Em

By Joe Pietaro
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Updated: November 7, 2009

Fans of the Iron Game are well aware of how important the pre-judging rounds are in determining the placings that will be announced during the finals. It is said that the evening show is mainly for the fans and a formality. Sorry to break the news, but that isn’t the case with the FAME World Tour.

The War Memorial in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida was robust with plenty of hootin’ and hollerin’ on Saturday afternoon and one can only imagine how loud it is going to get later on. The judge’s panel were very meticulous in getting every available angle and view of all the competitors and asked for the music to be turned down on more than one occasion to concentrate and get the scoring right.

Category after category were marched out and went through their routines as family, friends and fans cheered them on. Getting a good look at the costumes during the ‘theme’ rounds also resulted in rounds of applause and showed just one of the many reasons why attending a FAME show is an entirely different experience than anything else.

Some of the women’s outfits were reminiscent of a Victoria’s Secret modeling show with muscles. And it wasn’t all just for the guys in the audience. The men’s fitness rounds gave the impression of a large bachelorette party.

FRIDAY NIGHT’S FAME SHOWCASE

The weekend began with a public yet intimate evening with a room full of not only the FAME athletes, but their family, friends and support teams. Competitors came from as far as Australia and the United Kingdom and were called up to the stage to tell their personal story.

Inspiring and touching tales accompanied the positive feeling of seeing these special people in person and learning first hand why they decided to become ‘BodyProud.’ In some ways it had the feel of an AA meeting or something along those lines but instead of stating how many days they have been ‘clean,’ these people said what made them decide to make a lifestyle change and dedicate themselves to the gym.

From recovering addicts to accident victims and the physically challenged, these men and women all had their time with the microphone and it was an experience unlike any other that one would expect the night before a bodybuilding show.