June 19, 1997
WORRYING HIS TOP OFF
CHIN BOSS FEARS FLESHY FLASHERS
By JASON CUMMING
Toronto Sun
With his annual CHIN family picnic and swimsuit smorgasbord getting closer, Johnny Lombardi says he should be forgiven for not sleeping well lately.
"I've got a lot of worries," the octogenarian bikini buff said yesterday. "I'm worried one or two of my girls will try to get some extra promotion by ripping off their bras. I don't think we could do anything to a girl who wanted to but say `shame, shame, shame,' ... and I'll be looking like everybody else."
Culled from more than 150 applicants, 23 of the Metro area's loveliest ladies and 21 beefy Mr. CHIN International Bikini finalists strutted their stuff at a preview luncheon yesterday.
But, although it's now legal to bare breasts in public, any CHIN contestant bold enough to doff her top on the runway will be disqualified, warns Johnny's son Lenny Lombardi.
"To the disappointment of some of the audience, we don't want the girls topless," he said. "We're not out there plying the flesh trade.
"But, the guys will be topless."
Oakville's Michelle Vodrazka, 23, a first-time beauty contestant who's only four credits short of her master's degree, compared the pageant to appearing on the TV show Jeopardy!
"It's completely different from what I expected," the brainy blonde said. "Most of the girls I've talked to have their bachelor of arts. If you have talents you might as well use them."
The multicultural picnic, which draws hundreds of thousands to Exhibition Place, features international entertainers, bike races, fireworks and a shopping bazaar. It runs from June 28 through Canada Day, with the bikini showdowns Monday, June 30, at 6 p.m. at the CNE Bandshell.