Miss Big Four 2015

 

The Big Four was opened this year by Miss International pageant in Japan on 05 November. Edymar Martinez of Venezuela won the pageant. She was the 7th Venezuelan to win the pageant and the 22nd crown of Venezuela on the Big Four.

Philippine ambition to tie up with Venezuela in terms of the number of winners at Miss International failed when Janicel Lubina just ended at the Top 10.

On 05 December, the 15th edition of Miss Earth was then held in Austria. It was a back to back victory for the Philippines to win the crown. The result was not amenable to pageant aficionados considering the fact that Miss Earth is owned by a Filipino. The thing here is, there are panel of judges who selected the winner and not a personal preference of the directors of Miss Earth. It is also evident with the final answer of Angelia Ong in the pageant which is impressive.

Missosology run a story entitled "The Decline of Miss Earth" stating reasons such as poor pageant presentation and the quality of food that they serve.

The mere fact that Miss Earth was able to replicate the pageant outside its comfort zone is already a big leap in its endeavor. It took Miss Universe 22 years before it was held outside United States territory. And it took Miss World 41 years before it was able to outsource it's pageant outside British territory. Miss Earth was able to do it after 9 years only.

As for Miss Earth being criticized about the food it was serving is actually subjective, one food maybe delightful for one candidate and not for the other. In the first place, for as long as the food being served is nutritious, there shouldn't be a problem about it at all since candidates need to be on a diet.

This year's Miss Earth presentation was average. It was not as grandiose as it used to be in its previous editions. It was dull. When I saw the livestream at Rappler, I thought, it was a Rappler initiated recording. It was actually the Miss Earth presentation already. For one, it was inconsistent. During the evening gown competition, the camera is supposed to have a 180 degrees turn, it was able to do it on one candidate but not to all. The scenery projected on its LED TV's was not three dimensional to create an illusion of reality on stage. Miss Universe & Miss Grand International all used LED TV and the reason why the effect has been grandiose was because they used three dimensional images to complement the sheerness of the stage. Miss Earth's background images are very animated.

Second, there are audiences in front of the stage with placards and the cameraman wasn't able to capture the right angle of the candidate. It was sort of an amateur presentation thus the Miss Earth was then tagged "decline." Miss Earth should be able to rebound its presentation next year and should be able to feed their candidates like pigs!

Miss World was once again held in China and Miss China wasn't able to enter the Top 10. It was also the third year that Venezuela didn't make it at the Top 10.

The swimsuit competition was phased out thus the presentation was a bit boring. If not for its elegant stage, Miss World would have been a flop.

It's as if everything was already determined in the preliminary round of the pageant for Miss World. First they call in the Top 25. Without any challenges or round of competition, they cut the Top 25 to Top 10 just by looking at the monitor whether the candidate's name was on the left or the right. They then cut the Top 10 to Top 5, again, without any round of competition. That makes then the Top 10 just a formality. Everything was already pre–judged.

It was the first crown for Spain (Mireia Lalaguna) for Miss World. Should they win the Miss Earth, they will enter the Elite 4.

Closing the Big Four was Miss Universe on 20 December 2015. This is the first edition of Miss Universe under IMG and perhaps the most unforgettable.
 

 

This is the first time in history where the host of the show made a mistake in announcing the winner. Steve Harvey was the host of the show. He announced Ariadna Gutierrez as the winner when she is supposed to be the first runner up. The actual winner is Miss Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach.

Perez Hilton who was one of the judges in the competition confirmed that Steve Harvey was gambling and drinking the night before the pageant, perhaps one of the reasons why he is incoherent on the day of the pageant.

What happen on the pageant was pure "negligence" on part of the host and not an "honest mistake" resulting in humiliation of Miss Colombia on national TV.

The card that was flashed on the screen was also clear as to what is the actual placement of the candidates thus what is clear is that Steve Harvey was not really concentrating on his job. He only has one job to do and fail to do it.

 

Miss Earth is now within reach for USA. This is the second year they placed on the pageant. Hopefully, they win next year’s Miss Earth.

Miss Greece (Theodora Nte Morais Moschouri) was asked to leave Miss World pageant because of “unacceptable” behavior while Miss Canada (Anastasia Lin) was not allowed to enter China because of her anti–Chinese government remarks.

Miss Taiwan (Ting Wen–Yi) refuse to wear the "Miss Chinese Taipei" sash at Miss Earth.

Miss Slovenia (Ana Halozan) was able to arrive in Las Vegas for the Miss Universe pageant but wasn't able to participate because of Bell's palsy. She was acknowledged at the pageant even though her face was asymmetrical.

Miss Germany (Sarah Lorraine Riek) gave some bitter remarks about the victory of Miss Philippines after the pageant. It wouldn’t be of wonder since her first runner Anja Vanessa Peters is Filipino–German.

On country's performance and representative, here are some footnotes:

Miss International is still aloof for India.

Miss World is still slippery for Brazil.

Given this events that happened with the Big Four pageant this year, it is high time now that a Code of Ethics be established with the candidate and or pageant organizer prior to entering the competition.

First, it should be known that a candidate is no longer herself but a representation of her country. As a representative of her country, she should be able to act to the most diplomatic manner as possible.

Second, for countries where there is territorial dispute, the pageant organizer should set a clear guideline as to what sash it will tag the candidate and their reference in doing so. Since Miss Earth is affiliated with United Nation Environmental Protection, it should only recognize United Nations member states.

Third, the pageant organizer should state clearly the content of the contract if a candidate will win the competition. What if the candidate doesn't want to travel if she wins? What if the candidate doesn't want to do modelling assignment to a brand she doesn't believe in? Then it’s just a waste of time crowing a girl who will later on be dethroned or will eventually resign.