2012 promises to be another exciting year for entertainment in Trinidad and Tobago – and of course, the action has already begun as the fete season commences next weekend and the race to Carnival begins in earnest. Last year around this time, the industry was abuzz with the return of Machel Montano after a one year hiatus. Kees Dieffenthaller's "Wotless" ruled the airwaves, Benjai's "Trini" ruled the dance floors and Rikki Jai's "White Oak and Water" informed bartenders everywhere.

As fate, luck, destiny and the people would have it, these four men dominated the Carnival and emerged triumphant in the major contests. While there were many winners in various categories and indeed, all competitors should be considered winners overall, only two men took home the much coveted top prizes and became known the world over as the "two-million dollar men".

That's right, did you forget that the Government increased the grand prizes of the top competitions to two million dollars each last Carnival? Yes, we know your memories only last nine days or so on average and this is why we spoke to the two two-million-dollar men and asked them exactly what they did with all that money...

Machel Montano returned and took advantage of the town, winning the International Soca Monarch title and the Road March with his Kernel Roberts-penned and produced hit, "Advantage".

"The money was spent in the overall presentation of the show," said Montano. "I also gave half of the earnings to Kernel immediately and some was donated to various charitable causes and the rest went to the TEAM because I could not have done it without them."

While Samraj "Rikki Jai" Jaimungal did not have to share his earnings with a full band, dancers, or a big-name writer, the six-time Chutney Soca Monarch is also a father and husband and no stranger to winning big.

"Anybody who knows Rikki Jai knows that I'm a very conservative guy," he said. "I still drive the same vehicle, I didn't invest in any luxurious vehicles or anything like that. Of course, I put some in the bank, I invested in some land and pretty soon, the family will have their own new house. So, I put my money where I can see it working for me. It's easy to go out there and buy a new Range Rover or something like that, but I'm a guy who puts my priorities first and the safety and security of my family is definitely number one on my list. Of course, I also created a nice retirement egg because in this music business, there are no guarantees; today, you're on top and God forbid, the next day you may not be. I'm a guy always planning for future, so I made sure my pension plan is paid up so that when we reach to that point, we could still move around town."

During the year, these two six-figure earning gentlemen took the T&T flag to territories across the Diaspora and beyond and shared their success with Caribbean music lovers around the globe.

"We make a point to visit our loyal fan-base throughout the world," Montano revealed. "We were fortunate to see them in Belgium, London, Miami, Chicago, Canada and LA. We played to sold-out shows in New York, as well as the Antilliaanse Festival. The demand for our performances has risen, so we try to accommodate as many fans in as many cities as possible."

"It was a great year," Jai enthused. "It was the first time in the history of Chutney that a prize of that magnitude was offered and that in itself told a story that travelled and was shared everywhere. Along with it came additional respect because anywhere yuh go, if they had a high regard for you, it suddenly became higher because when you capture the highest prize – it's like winning the Olympic Gold medal then. The younger artistes look up to you more and seek your advice and a lot of different dynamics. The first part of the year was spent getting over the hectic Carnival season, but I also visited Guyana and Suriname before taking a lil time off to recharge the batteries. Then, it started again with Toronto, New York, Washington, as far out as Winnipeg, but my circuit is really all up Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, all those different cities in the US. Caribana of course. Toronto is one of the biggest destinations on the Caribbean circuit – we always look forward to Caribana and his year was big and I have a feeling next year will be even bigger. Summer was great and up until about October, I was having a great year and that's when things started to slow down a bit, but that's when I went back into the studio and started working on my first release, the first-ever Dance/Chutney song, 'Pania Baran Matja'. I let it bubble for a few months on the East-Indian stations and then I sent it to Destra, who loved it and now the remix is just called 'Pania' and its getting a lot of love."

In 2012, Montano will celebrate 30 years in music and aside from defending and reclaiming his Soca Monarch title, the 'youngest veteran' also intends to release a double album.

"For 2012, my goals are to complete numerous collaborations with various artistes," he stated. "I want to have a bigger and better Machel Monday, to complete my double album celebrating 30 years in music, strengthen my apps and technological dominance, increase my musical downloads, build on Facebook/Twitter following, go international with my music, explore various business ventures and have a better year than 2011."

As far as New Year resolutions, Montano has vowed to:

"Maintain my weight by never going over 180 pounds, repeat as the Soca Monarch champion, promote togetherness and love toward human-kind and strengthen my relationship with God by being a loyal servant to him."

Meanwhile Jai is looking forward to retaining his crown, while also promising to "take the Chutney art form further than it has ever been before via the release of several top-quality and unique-sounding selections as well as videos to accompany them". Both men have indicated that they will also enter the Calypso Monarch competition in 2012 and hope to vie for the prestigious title in the Queen's Park Savannah on Dimanche Gras night.

As for the two million dollar lady who currently holds that title, twenty-something year old, mother of one, Karene Asche is confident:

"I think it will be an interesting competition," she said, "It should be a nice twist to the show having both the Chutney and the Soca monarchs involved and I look forward to competing with them. I will be coming with my songs and do what I normally do: what God has blessed and inspired me to do, which is to come and perform and captivate the hearts of the people. I'm still in studio working on my songs and unlike them, this is not new to me so I won't reveal any information just yet. 2012 will be very interesting indeed!"