Veteran masqueraders Ted Eustace was crowned this year’s Carnival King in Trinidad early Monday morning.

This represents the sixteenth time the Eustace family picked up the coveted trophy and the tenth time that brother Marcus Eustace who is the band leader of top Toronto band Carnival Nationz designed the winner.

Eustace’s costume, “Lords Of De Savannah”, easily one of the largest in the competition, was a feat of engineering and design as its gigantic Pierrot Grenade and dual Midnight Robbers moved robotically as he crossed the stage.

In a brief interview after the results were announced, Eustace refused to reveal the secret behind his titling-winning portrayal, designed and built by his brother Marcus with help from Kevin Robertson and his brother, Curtis Eustace; Curtis has been an integral part of the annual Toronto Caribbean Carnival.

Talking to Marcus after the victory he told the Camera that “after looking at the results from last year, we decided to go local with my design and create the movement that will take it over the top and it worked. Yes, we used a new way to move the costume rather than the traditional methods.

We try to bring new technology into the mas all the time.”  Eustace, whose father Tedder won three crowns, admitted he was supported this year by his older brother Curtis, who holds the record for the most Carnival King wins with eight, but chose to stay out of the competition, this year.

The costume took three months to build and cost about $120,000 to make. Marcus will be back in Toronto celebrating the victory at the Carnival Nationz FIRST FETE featuring soca superstars direct from T&T Carnival 2020.

Soca Monarch Iwer George along with Patrice Roberts & Swappi will perform on Saturday 7th March at Krave Event Centre located at 55 Nugget Ave.

Photos by: Mervin Murrell

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