Cousins claim J'Ouvert crowns

Cousins Rondel and Lynelle Pierre, continued their family's dominance of the competition this morning when they copped the J'Ouvert King and Queen crowns respectively.

Rondel, 15, the youngest participant of the Pierre clan, became the eighth King from the family when he impressed judges at South Quay, Port of Spain with his portrayal of "Young mother has liquid milk, old mother has powdered milk," while his older cousin Lynelle received an uproarious response from patrons for her rendition of "Gary say one shot, one kill," becoming the twelfth Queen with her comical adaptation of Commissioner Gary Griffith's self-defence policy.

Pierre family patriarch, Herbert Pierre, spoke with reporters after the historic win, saying he was proud that younger members of the family were taking the family's legacy to new heights.

"I come up with all the ideas and the writing and my children and grandchildren come and do the performances. It's a real joy for me, I'm happy that they have done it again.

"I think we have been doing well and people look forward to our performances. As far as the turnout of participants, this wasn't a bad year, I'm not sure if they are afraid of us, but last year would have been smaller. Since the Pierre family started, we've seen more people, so this is giving me the encouragement to move on."

Lynelle said she was grateful for the guidance from her grandfather and other relatives in preparing the props, costumes and performances. For his part, Rondel said he was happy to be given the opportunity to participate and said this was his first win as a J'Ouvert King.

Other performances included Barbara Pilgrim's "If you don't laugh, you'll cry," and Everton Cardinal's, "A brighter future for TT" which earned them third place for the Queen and King categories respectively.