Many of you no doubt will have been watching the goings on in the Neu Urburzis bride competition with interest. In what many have considered to be must see reality TV the internet is awash with clips, gossip and conspiracies connected to the ongoing competition that will likely see the winner become an Empress. While it is of course Neu Urburzis that will be most eagerly glued to the updates it has also become a hotly followed event in the homeland of tonights guest. Lodja.
When the event was announced one of the first foreigners to throw her metaphorical hat in the ring was
Ophelia Danilov. The younger sister of the Head Lady in Waiting to Queen Natalya of Lodja. The 21 year old is no stranger to political intrigue with her family being at the heart of the Queendoms political networks for the past decade. While her younger sister, Jasmina, may have seen her share of gossip ranging from romances with former Lord of the Conclave Besarian Ivanov, to kisses with Prince Lennox of Ui Cennselaig and now dating Lord Peter Kade, cousin of King David of East Moreland the family were seemingly relying on the future matriarch of the family to secure the high profile marriage but now it seems our guest tonight is hoping to step out of that shadow. Please welcome Ophelia Danilov.
KR - Good evening Ophelia, thank you for taking the time to Skype with us from the camp. Perhaps you could tell us a little about what its like being there.OD - Good evening. Thanks for letting me on. To answer your question its kind of exciting and frightening. I spent a lot of my youth on the Isle of the Goddess, a place which is so close knit everyone knows everyone's business. This is pretty similar in that regard, just that while on the Isle you knew it would be the staff keeping an eye on you, now its just the whole of Neu Urburzis.....and from what you suggested even further afield. Our accommodation is less than regal (she pans the camera to show her room) but its no different to what thousands of students on exchanges experience at Universities so while its not what I was expecting its just a throw back to the time at Gaia University, just with less vodka and no essays, yet.....who knows what they'll throw at us.KR - How do you prepare for the unexpected?OD - In a way the local candidates have us at an advantage here. They know the mind set of the nation far better than us, which means they maybe able to guess what will happen and can react to it maybe easier than us foreigners. But in a way its a good test, I've seen my sister wake up in the morning and have one plan to execute for Queen Natalya and by the end of breakfast its changed three times. If you're doing a competition to find someone who will basically be an Empress then you need to see if people can adapt and still be focused enough on the prize to get things done, I mean we already saw one of the foreign candidates drop out as their circumstances changed and couldn't ensure this is what they wanted. I think as long as you enter into this with the state of mind that you just keep moving forward for as long as you can then it'll work out.KR - What has been the highlight so far?For me its been two things. The first is the fashion show, but as a Lodjain I don't think that will surprise anyone. I take after my sister there in liking dressing up and as a kid I used to get in trouble stealing her dresses all the time. To try and come up with something to reflect myself, my homeland and try and show some appreciation of the host nation was a challenge but I enjoyed trying it even if I didn't win. Sometimes the person in first place at the half way of a marathon isn't there at the end so if I'm still in then I could be there at the end. We've already sadly seen Irene drop out and she aced that test so anything can happen. The second thing has been to get to experience a little bit of somewhere new. I enjoy travelling and regardless of the result intend to spend some time here in the aftermath, be that if I'm out next week or get crowned. KR - and the low-light so to speak? (laughing)...I probably shouldn't say this as its beyond our control. I understand the menu is picked by the youth senate. Its a bit hard living with the menu for what you eat being picked by others, especially when its a cuisine you're maybe not used to. So far its been OK but personally I'd like to see a little more cake in there and if any senators watching know a good Syrniki stockist it would be greatly appreciated. Beside the food though its been the idea that you get to know someone, for example Irene, and then just "pufft" they disappear. I'm not sure if they do a reunion but I think that could be nice. KR - Is there any insider news about Irene's exit. I know details have been very scarce or vague? Its a stereotype that Lodjain's love some gossip but we also know that there is a time and place for it. Irene's situation changed and she had to deal with that. I don't know how its being dealt with and how she's doing. I suspect at some point in the future she'll explain her exit and when she does that's her story to tell. I can for the time being only tell the story that I know which is she was here and now she isn't. KR - The latest challenge seems to have been a bit of a vague one. What do you understand has been happening? After the exits from the first one and of course Irene's withdrawal we saw nothing much happen. We spent time just keeping busy. Me and Angelika learned a few new TikTok dances, tried to involve a few others. Did some gym stuff but that seems more Darina and Brunhilde's domain. I'm happy to get in, do some yoga, some cardio and a swim but that's as intense as I need at the moment. I've been trying to learn some of the language. (Proceeds to say the next bits in that language but makes many mistakes and has a heavy accent) - That isn't going as well as I'd hope but I've a long time here I hope (Switches back) In the mean time it seems like we've been monitored, maybe to see our reaction to people leaving.....I'm not sure. If that's been the case maybe it was to see if we'd gossip about things after all discretion is going to be very important to the winner. KR - Now lets imagine you win. Your new husband would be homosexual. How will that impact you?For the nation this isn't so much as finding Orion a wife, its finding an Empress and mother of the future Emperor. To us in Lodja the concept of continuing a royal line is a bizarre one. We have the Goddess Sessifet determine where she would like to go next. Here family lines are much more significant. I suspect throughout the history of nations like Neu Urburzis and other hereditary monarchies like East Moreland, Seaforth and so on political marriages have not been unusual. If I win then Neu Urburzis get a well connected Empress who is young and healthy enough to have children to help continue the family line. While I'm yet to meet Orion what my sister says and from what our friend Queen Stasya has said he's a young man that has his heart in the right place and I like to think if Jasmina and Stasya consider him a friend then we can become friends. Two friends helping the nation side by side seems like a reasonable deal to me. KR - Finally if you could design the next challenge what would it be?A maths test would be great...(she laughs), failing that its well known that I love music, something musical would be cool. I think the idea of the tests is to put us under pressure but test a quality each time. My guess so far the first one was a test of creativity, imagination and meeting deadlines. The second, assuming it was what I think, about how we use information. The next one who knows? I just pray we don't have a chin up test as Darina is going to smoke us all on that. KR - Well we wish you....and all the others the best of luck in the coming months and I hope when its all over you'll come back.....maybe for your first interview as Empress....and tell us all about the experiences. Thanks. I'd be delighted to. See you then.
