Jose Carrasquillo celebrates after winning the 'Shake, Rattle & Pour: Caribbean Showdown of the Bartenders' at T.G.I. Fridays last Wednesday. - PHOTO BY TOUSSAINT SMITH
AFTER FOUR days of competition, Jose Carrasquillo, of the Dominican Republic walked away with first prize at 'Showdown of the Bartenders', held at T.G.I. Friday's last Wednesday.
Jamaica's Peta-Gaye Silvera placed third while Francis Martinez from Puerto Rico was the second-place winner. Trinidadian Marlon Mitchell was placed fourth. Carrasquillo will represent the Caribbean at the finals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The contest featured a speed and a flair segment. During the speed segment, each contestant was allowed five minutes during which he/she should make five drinks.
Mitchell mastered the speed section with the lowest time of one minute, five seconds.
FLAIR SECTION
The flair section required that the bartenders make five drinks in 12 minutes with as much flair and interaction with customers as possible.
First up and with a huge smile and confident handshakes, Mitchell began his performance. Twirling and tossing liquor bottles between making drinks, Mitchell sought to win the favour of the judges. He twirled bottles from behind and caught one on the back of his hand.
Eleven minutes and some fallen bottles later, Mitchell finished his five drinks.
Next up was Jose Carrasquillo who proved a gifted performer. Beginning with a magic trick, Carrasquillo bewitched the crowd. His performance was again filled with twirling and tossing. He took it to another level when he juggled three bottles, balanced and rolled a glass on his arm. The strength of his 11 minutes, 25 seconds presentation was the accuracy of his performance.
Francis Martinez finished in nine minutes 33 seconds. His performance had dancing worked in with his juggling and twirling and he successfully juggled three bottles. Although he had some spills, his jovial personality went well with the judges.
The last competitor, Peta-Gaye, was the crowd's favourite. Although her twirling and tossing was nowhere near the accuracy and skill of her male competitors, she had some tricks of her own. Balancing a glass of ice on the edge of another, Silvera poured drinks into each simultaneously. Though both glasses fell on her first attempt, she succeeded with thunderous cheers the second time.
This, however, cost her as she finished in 12:05.
The 'half time' show was a blast. The show included a performance by the in-house cheerleaders, with Kiprich doing the 'Willy Bounce'. There was also a dance-off between MC Danae Ramgolam of FAME FM, and the general manager of T.G.I.F., Sean Nieves. The real highlight, however, was the juggling by FAME DJ Colin Hinds. He had both young and old dancing on chairs, tables to calypso and dancehall music, partying as though it were Friday.
