All Jaye!

Standing no more than 5'6" tall, the tank-sized Jaye Darling walked away with the 30th Mr. Bahamas title which is known for this year only as the Mr. Independence Bahamas title, Saturday night, or rather early Sunday morning at the Sheraton Grand Hotel on Paradise Island.

The Bahamas Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation's judging system, which was criticized all last week, came under fire again Saturday night, but one judgment that definitely wasn't queried at all was Darling's victory in the overall male category.

It didn't come easy, but the well-toned Darling was the crowd favourite all night and had he not won, it might have caused a melee in the ballroom as most of the fans were already upset from earlier decisions in other categories.

On a night when Trinidadian professional bodybuilder Darrel Charles garnered the majority of the female cheers, Darling and the other winners fittingly added a Bahamian flavour to the evening in the competition for overall winner. After hours of competition, Darling was finally proclaimed the overall winner 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning over six others including former winners Aaron Greene and Grand Bahamian Brock Bridgewater.

Now, Darling most likely will be called on to lead The Bahamas' team at the Central American and Caribbean Championships to be held here at the Crystal Palace Resort from the 24th-28th September. The BBFF expects to name the team by the end of the week.

"I hope that I could have a positive effect on the team. I hope that I could motivate them and we'll feed off each other," Darling said.

"We had the gold several times. The guys look somewhat motivated and as long as we could get some serious sponsors behind our team, I'm sure we could pull of the championship and keep the gold here," he added.

Defending overall champion and Northern Bahamas winner Bridgewater defeated Raymond Tucker in the extremely competitive Welterweight division, but had to settle for that title and the Best Poser award.

Tucker won the Men's Masters (40 and Over) over Henry Cooper and Arthur Eldon. Tucker also won the Mixed Pairs along with his partner Gina Mackey over last year's winners, the husband and wife team of Aaron and Michelle Greene. Chris McQueen and Jennifer Freeman finished third.

However, in the men's overall, Darling had one goal in mind entering the competition and he was not to be denied. Despite being off the stage for two years prior to his victory Saturday night, he was determined to win his first overall men's title.

"I finally got it and I appreciate it. It was a long time coming but I went back to the drawing board and came back and this year the judges thought that I was the winner and I got it," said the 15 year veteran bodybuilder.

"Every time I compete I expect to win. You can never go out there doubting or else the obvious will happen," he added.

Not only did Darling win his first overall title, but his significant victory will always be remembered as the one which came in the 30th Anniversary celebrations of our nation's Independence, hence the Mr. Independence Bahamas title.

Being in the best shape of his life, Darling said that his victory Saturday night was a worthwhile culmination of two years of getting back to that point and sweet redemption for years past when he thought that he should have won.

"It's exciting and I am very happy. It was a lot of hard work to get back to this point but I got here and I am happy."

Darling's efforts also garnered him the Most Muscular award while Bantamweight winner Paul Wilson won the junior category as the sole competitor and also took home the Most Improved award.

Tucker was near flawless in his return after a two-year ban but beating Bridgewater in the most competitive division was asking a bit too much from him. Marvin Thomas and Vernon Rodgers also competed in the Welterweight division.

Junior champ Wilson defeated Lynden Fowler in the Bantamweight division while Abaconian Arthur Eldon and Aaron Greene won the Super Middleweight and Heavyweight titles respectively as the sole competitors in those divisions.

Anthony Miller triumphed over Ian Williams and the always electrifying Shervin Major in the Lightweight division but the darling of the night was Jaye, who started it off by besting Novice Champion Dr. Dwight Marshall and Lester Perigord in the Light Heavyweight division.

The short compact bodybuilder might not have been posing as well as Bridgewater or had as much experience as Greene and Tucker, but his tremendous mass was unblemished and unparalleled.

Bridgewater's poses drew particular notice from the judges, but on the side of Darling, it was evident that he didn't have the same bulk.