Sunless Tanning Contest 2000

A Just A Little Bit Orange Feature
By Clara Pettitt. Copyright © 02/18/2001. All Rights Reserved.

The competition this year between the contestants was agonizingly close. As it should have been! It was an incredible line up.

But First Place went unmistakably to Ms. Six, Chelly. Chelly's prize: a $100 gift certificate from Tanforless.com!

Tied for Second Place are Ms. Three, Kat and Ms. Five, Jennifer.

And in Third Place, Mr. Tan!

To find out what sunless tanning products the contestants used, please see their entries. There are some real surprises!

I wish all of the contestants could have seen the praise they received: not just for their sunless tans, but for being open about something many people feel it is necessary to hide.

These are just a few of the comments:

"SOOOO brown!"

"What an INSPIRATION!!"

"This was a tough choice between several."

"To be half that dark would make me happy."

"I'm so envious!"

"Wow...can't wait to see what all of them are using!!!"

"Her tan looks completely natural and not too dark - just a really healthy, pleasant, attractive tan - I want one like it!!"

"Kudos for a guy to use sunless tanners like myself."

Whether or not they win first place, the contestants are winners to me — because they have made a difference in the lives of people they will most likely never meet.

For those undecided on the merits of sunless tanning, a picture of an ordinary person with a sunless tan is worth a thousand words.

Looking at a contestant's entry from last year's contest, a woman wrote: "Her results are so good that I'll take courage and start having a fake tan very soon."