Miss Big Four 2014

Left to Right: Miss Earth (Jamie Herrell, Philippines), Miss International (Valerie Hernandez, Puerto Rico), Miss Universe (Paulina Vega, Colombia) and Miss World (Rolene Strauss, South Africa). The most diverse batch of the year: Asian, Black, Latina and a Caucasian.

The Beauty Pageant for the Big Four for 2014 was opened by Miss International on November 11, 2014 in Japan. Seventy–two candidates joined the competition after Miss Universe announced that their pageant will then be held on January 25, 2015. It was the largest number for this year’s Miss International. It was won by Valerie Hernandez of Puerto Rico. It was Puerto Rico’s second crown after Lauri Simpson in 1987. Lauri Simpson marked her name in the beauty pageant arena by winning also as 4^th Runner Up in the 1987 Miss Universe pageant. Incidentally, it was also the second crown for Punika Kulsoontornrut of Thailand who won the Miss Earth–Water a year prior. This is also the first victory for Thailand for this year. The first runner up was Zuleika Suarez of Colombia. It was Colombia’s first victory for 2014.

Philippines failed to make a Back to back victory for this year’s Miss International when Bianca Guidotti failed to make it at the Top 10. This is the second year also that Venezuela didn’t make it at the Top 10.

The Prettiest Batch: Miss Earth 2014: Andea Neu (USA), Jamie Herrell (Philippines), Maira Alexandra Rodriguez (Venezuela) and Anastasia Trusova (Russia)

Eighteen days after, Miss Earth held its pageant on November 29, 2014 in the Philippines. Jamie Herrell of the Philippines won the title, defeating 83 candidates across the globe. First runner up was Andrea Neu of USA. This is USA’s first victory for 2014 that will then have a “domino effect” on the remaining two pageants of the Big Four. Thailand entered the semi–finals round under Sasi Sitawee who was a Gouldian protégé.

On December 14, 2014, Miss World held its pageant in London. 118 candidates compete for the title but the crown went to Rolene Strauss of South Africa. Philippines failed to have a back to back victory after Valerie Weigman failed to make it at the Top 10. This was also the second year that Venezuela didn’t make it at the Top 25. Maya Thongleng of Thailand made it to the Top 10 which is Thailand second victory for the year. Guyana’s Rafieya Hussain who was trained in the Philippines under the Gouldian Team in August also made at the Top 10. Once again, the efficiency of the Philippine Beauty Pageant Training Course was put to a litmus test. USA won as second runner up under Elizabeth Safrit. It was USA’s second victory for the year. Megan Young did a fantastic job in fulfilling her responsibility as Miss World 2013.

Closing the beauty pageant for 2014 was the Miss Universe 2014. The pageant was delayed but it was successfully held in Florida, USA on January 25, 2015. Paulina Vega of Colombia won the title. Venezuela failed to replicate the back to back title it made in 2008. USA’s third victory for the year was accomplished when Nia Sanchez finishes as First Runner Up. Miss Universe’s usual patron at the Top 5 like Brazil and Philippines failed to make it this year at the Top 5. All of those who made it at Top 15 was on my list except for Netherlands. She really came to me as a surprise thus I replay her preliminary performance and still I’m not going to change my list.

Colombia’s victory at Miss Universe has long been overdue. It is supposed to be Colombia’s sixth crown if it was not robbed of a crown four times by being a first runner up. It could be remembered that Colombia was robbed of a crown for three consecutive years (1992, 1993, 1994) when it consistently placed as first runner up, a placement no other country was able to duplicate. In 2008, Taliana Vargas was again robbed of the crown by Dayana Mendoza. Nevertheless, Taliana will be forever remembered as the fifth highest performer in the Evening gown competition. Another record set by Colombia was when Carolina Gomez almost got a perfect score in the Evening gown competition in 1994 which to date is still undefeated. Incidentally, one of the preliminary judge on the competition was Michelle McLean whose first runner up in 1992 was Paola Turbay of Colombia.

Finland’s Bea Toivonen was actually the daughter of Miss Finland 1985, Marja Kinnunen. Another addition to the “Like Mother, Like Daughter” legacy list.

It is very noticeable that Gabriela Isler has a significant improvement with her language skills. She speaks English very fluently now. Her Latina accent is barely obvious. When Alicia Machado won the Miss Universe, a year after, she could still barely speak English but Gabriela didn’t stop after winning the title. With her stint as a co–host at Miss Universe, she will have a better career as a Television personality than as an actress. I’m excited assessing her success five years from now.

And finally, what’s with the crown? My God and my countrymen! Miss Universe changed its crown for the fourth time! Its crown is getting worse! Is that a replica of Statue of Liberty crown? Or the crown of Mistress of Superman from Kryptonite? Crown that is worth $300,000? Auction it at Sotheby’s and let’s see who will bite to that price with that design? Thank, God! Miss Jamaica or Miss Philippines didn’t win otherwise they will wear that crown from Planet Mars! Donald Trump wake up! Return it back to the original crown! 

It is very evident that the “Performer of the Year” for Beauty Pageant was Thailand. Its representatives at Miss Supranational, Miss Grand International, Miss Earth and Miss Intercontinental were all trained in the Philippines under the Gouldian Team and all the girls made it either as semi–finalist or finalist or Winner. The Gouldian Team is the third training camp for beauty pageant. It is the only training camp which accepts foreign delegates. The other two would be Kagandahang Flores and Aces and Queens. Gouldian Team was spearheaded by Pawee Manlapaz who was the founder of Missosology. Missosology is a site dedicated for Beauty Pageant. Its intention is to analyze beauty pageants but based on its format, it is actually a forum where different members can form a thread to be able to analyze a beauty pageant or even predict a forecast about a possible winner in a beauty pageant. 

Venezuela stopped training foreign delegates for beauty pageant when it was slapped on the face when Amelia Vega of Dominican Republic won the Miss Universe in 2003 while Mariangel Ruiz (Venezuela) ended as first runner up. Amelia was one of the protégé of Osmel Sousa just like when Miriam Quiambao won as first Runner up in the 1999 Miss Universe pageant and Carolina Indriago ended at Top 5.

I really doubt that the Miss Venezuela was controlled by the government but it could be that its prime benefactor for Operations would be Venevision who was responsible for airing the Miss Venezuela pageant every year. Given this premise, it could bar foreign delegates to come to Venezuela to be trained for beauty pageant.

The case is different with the Philippine pageant training. Kagandahang Flores (KF) and Aces and Queens (AQ) are doing it out of charity. They don’t receive any monetary credit from the girls they are training thus girls on their camp come and go as in the case of MJ Lastimosa. They are not connected in any way to any beauty pageant locally but rather train girls before and after the local pageant. The only consolation they will be receiving is the girl’s market value for high end modelling contracts or movies if the girl will win by which they will have a commission for every successful booking they will make.

With the recent performances of Philippine trained titlist under this training camps, it is now clearer that Kagandahang Flores is more adept in training girls for Miss International and Miss Earth while Aces and Queens are more adept in training girls for Miss Universe and Miss World. Gouldian Team on the other hand is more adept in training girls outside the Big Four. Since training camps like KF and AQ are “non–profit,” they should then create an ethical standards via contract for girls they are training to follow. Part of it is that girls who will be switching training camps should pay the training fees that was spent on them and it should be pro–rated on an hourly basis. Aces and Queen successfully produced four consecutive finalist at Miss Universe. MJ Lastimosa left Aces and Queen to be under KF. She then ended up at the Top 10 only.

Since competition brings out the best in people, nobody can stop Gouldian from training foreign delegates under its wings. They have the capacity to relocate in another country from those who want their service. Peter Sereno is located in Australia where he is responsible for the victory of Jennifer Hawkins at Miss Universe 2002.

Bianca Guidotti who failed to make it at the Miss International 2014 should then enter the Miss World Philippine finals. There was nothing wrong with her performance at the Miss International pageant. As Bea Rose Santiago says, “it was not her night.” Bianca already have all the necessary training needed to compete, the only thing left is her determination to win and to convert that failure to success. Mpule Kwelagobe didn’t place at Miss World but won the Miss Universe 1999. Christine Sawaya didn’t make it at the Miss Universe but won the Miss International in 2002. Angela Visser didn’t place at Miss World 1988 but won the Miss Universe 1989. The Philippines needs to perform well at Miss World where it is at rank 19 overall. It is the only pageant at the Big Four where its rank is in double digit. By earning one more crown, it will jump to rank 10 and coincidentally will be the 11^th crown of the Philippines at the Big Four.

Another thing that is left not to be noticed for the performance of some of the girls in beauty pageant in 2014 is Venezuela’s waiting period. Is Venezuela’s long training period still effective? Venezuela didn’t make it at this year’s Miss International and Miss World. Maira Rodriguez who competed at Miss Earth was successful in making it at the Top 4 considering that she is just a replacement. She is not yet due to compete until 2015. Migbellis Castellanos was crowned more than a year ago and yet failed to make it at the Top 5 of Miss Universe. Rafeya Hussain of Guyana did a crash course training in August in the Philippines then compete in December and made it at the Top 10, outperforming Philippine’s Valerie Weigman who was training six months prior. Guyana’s last placement at Miss World Top 10 was in 1971 (43 years ago!) considering that it is just adjacent from the “Beauty Queen Factory of the World: Venezuela” in terms of proximity.

Hopefully, once a post–pageant assessment was done five years from now, these batches of beauty queen will write history. It is proven that there are those who didn’t win turning out to be more successful than the winner but likewise there are winners who were able to sustain their success after their reign. We will see then.