MONTEGO BAY, St James – Despite being unable to physically gather with their teams to celebrate the end of the year, there was no shortage of festivity within the Sandals Group last week as the resort company’s general managers squared off in a keenly contested virtual lip sync battle.

Creativity has never been short at Sandals Resorts International and this was further proven on December 23, when 11 of the company’s general managers, supported by their teams, brought their lyrical and theatrical prowess to the virtual stage, lip syncing to an array of hits in previously recorded video presentations.

Team members from across the region joined in the competition and celebration online for an evening of excitement and entertainment which culminated in an online vote to determine the night’s best lip sync performance.

Though lip syncing was the name of the game, the teams left no stone unturned fully embodying their chosen artistes and songs and going the distance to bring their selections to life in carefully curated ‘music videos’. So enthralling were the presentations that one such video, starring Winston Anderson, from Sandals Grande Saint Lucian, has gone viral, leaving viewers convinced that the video is official marketing collateral from the company.

In a series of clips, dubbed ‘The Grande Medley’, the entertaining Anderson not only lip syncs to various hits including Sean Paul’s Like Glue, Get Busy and Temperature, but also brings some originality to the performance, deejaying original Sandals-inspired lyrics on the songs’ catchy melodies.

Not to be outdone, Beaches Negril’s Christopher Elliott skanked impressively to a reggae and soca medley featuring songs from Chronixx, Bunji Gatlin, Machel Montano and Skinny Fabulous, while Sandals Royal Caribbean’s Dawn Smith brought Christmas cheer with a rendition of holiday favourite Feliz Navidad.

Also in the Christmas mood was Sandals Halcyon’s Martina Roth who performed a lively medley featuring Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You and Jerusalem by Master KG and Nomcebo.

True to the Eastern Caribbean, Sandals Antigua’s Matthew Cornwall injected some soca sounds with an upbeat performance of Machel Montano’s Mr Fete, while Gaurav Sindhi from Sandals Regency La Toc lip synced successfully to K’Naan’s Waving Flag.

Sandals South Coast’s General Manager Adrian Whitehead turned many heads with his one-of-a-kind performance of Rihanna’s Umbrella and To Fly, while Carl Beviere of Sandals Montego Bay gave the virtual audience some throwback dancehall with his version of Mr Lex’s Full Hundred.

Over in The Bahamas things were no less festive as Sandals Emerald Bay’s Jeremy Mutton took viewers back in time with a soulful performance of Earth, Wind and Fire’s September set in the resort’s main pool, while Surinder Kahlon, Sandals Royal Bahamian’s general manager, channelled his inner music video star with a convincing depiction of Go Crazy by Chris Brown and Young Thug.

The night and later the victory would however belong to Sandals Negril’s David Latchimy who left it all on the virtual floor with an entertaining and convincing representation of the radio edit of Squash’s Money Fever. Claiming the majority of the votes, Latchimy walked away with the night’s top honours and bragging rights for both himself and the entire Sandals Negril team.

Organised by the company’s human resource department, the General Managers’ Lip Sync Competition was designed to showcase the talent and creativity of the company’s general managers and team members as well as to provide entertainment for the regional team of over 15,000.

Commenting on the success of the series, Adam Stewart, deputy chairman, said, “This has been a trying year in more ways than one and despite the fact that we were unable to have our traditional Christmas parties to celebrate and unwind, we felt it important to provide an outlet for our team members to gather, albeit virtually, showcase their abundance of creativity and still have a good time. By all accounts a good time was indeed had by all and we’re already looking forward to the next staging of this epic event.”