As much as we hate to get up and go to work in the a.m., at least we’ve got Belle to keep us company on CBC Channel 8’s Mornin’ Barbados while we hurriedly iron the wrinkles out of our clothes,wolf down a quick breakfast, and dry our wet socks over the fan (oh please, like you’ve never done it!) 

Sixteen years ago (she won’t tell us what age she was then), Belle Holder packed up with her family and emigrated to Vancouver, Canada. It was a major culture shock, but Belle and her four siblings settled in well. In ’96, while visiting the Atlanta Summer Games a few days after the Olympic Village bombing, she became fascinated with the fact that journalists from all over the world, from different backgrounds and speaking different languages, had congregated to cover that one story. She’d been bitten by the bug, and left Atlanta knowing she was to pursue a career in journalism.

Belle’s Canadian media career started out in hip-hop radio, on a show called ‘The Morning Drive-by,’ after winning a contest where listeners voted her in as the voice they most wanted to hear on that station’s airwaves. While on the show, she received tons of fan mail…including mail from inmates of a nearby prison. Her career took her to more radio programmes, including R&B and Caribbean shows.  While in Canada, the part-time model and graduate of The Lodge School also had a fashion and entertainment newspaper column. And then, while still in journalism school, she branched out into TV.

Now, just about every weekday morning from 6 to 8 a.m., we wake up to Belle and co-host Carol Roberts interviewing a panoply of local, regional and international sports figures, personalities and guests, and challenging each other to fun stuff like on air cookoffs (none of which Belle has won except for the fish boning contest). CiRCUIT thought it was about time someone turned the tables and asked her a bunch of questions.


Why media?
>> I get bored really easily, and media is the one medium that can put me in a different situation every single day. Even in the 2-hour time frame of Mornin’ Barbados, I can interview 4 or 5 different people on completely different subjects.

What's it like being on Mornin' Barbados?
>> It’s awesome. I don’t know if people thought that as the two main hosts, Carol and I wouldn’t get along, but I think we got pretty lucky. It’s cool. We have this joke thing going on that she started, and I was like ‘hey…wait a second, y’know.’ So it’s really fun.

What about the cooking thing you guys do on Mornin’ Barbados…
>> (laughing) I can’t talk about the cook-offs. The case is under current investigation and enquiry. Maybe after the results have been released...I’m still pretty upset about it thank you!

How are your personal cooking skills?
>>Uhm, I can cook, but I don’t enjoy cooking. I have to be in the mood, and if I’m in the mood you’ll get a fantastic meal, but you can’t come to me and say ‘Belle, can you…?’ No.

Any diva-istic tendencies? Diva-esque maybe?
>> (laughing) I think that would have to be an observation by other people, but no…no…

You’re starting to doubt yourself there, huh?
>> Its funny, I’m starting to picture some of the stuff in my closet…maybe, just a little bit…

Ever gone on a blind date?
>> No. Have you? 

Me? Well, actually…wait, it’s not about me! This is not Mornin’Barbados.
>> (Laughing) 

What’s your favourite fruit?
>> Mangoes. I actually believe that mangoes were the forbiddenfruit, not apples.

Favourite colour of skittles?
>> Red. Favourite colour smarties, favourite colour m&ms…Everything red. Red is my favourite colour ever since I was a kid when I used to fight for whatever the red thing was. I still do that. 

Favourite desert?
 >>Used to be cheesecake, but I think chocolate. 

Favourite topping?
>> Whipped cream 

What’s your idea of a good date?
>> Uhm, there has to be a level of spontaneity involved, and it can be anything from just a movie to dessert to a walk on the beach… 

If you weren’t doing media, what would you be doing?
>> (long pause) Can’t think of anything else I’d rather do. Uhm, something in the fashion industry. I actually wanted to be a designer once. When I lived in Barbados, I used to make my own clothes. And I actually took a fashion designing class and all that. 

Do you get any fan mail/phone calls from the show?
>> Sometimes. We did a show on Mornin’ Barbados about eliminating violence against women. This guy called me up at the end of the show and said he needed help. He said he hits his girlfriend when he loses his temper and said he wanted the contact information for the counsellor that was on the show, so he could receive counselling. When stuff like that happens… (long pause). That’s the reason I love my job. This is why I do what I do.