How to handle Miss World next time

Every country has their own fetish or fanaticism and Philippines are of no exemption. If the Britons are fanatics of football and the Americans are glued to Super Bowl, Filipinos are dead–serious for beauty pageant in this side of the planet. It is of no wonder also that most of pageant bloggers are from the Philippines.

Recently, Filipinos flock to social media to voice their dismay over the result of Miss World 2016. Filipinos are expecting Catriona Gray to bag the second blue crown. She ended up as third runner up.

Filipino fans are nitty-gritty to every detail of the pageant. They will follow every guideline that the pageant has set forth even if it makes them to the point of being gullible. Thus if there has been a "tweak" or "misdirection" or "shady event," expect a bunch of bashers in their "beast mode" tone in a very unforgiving, intimidating and annoying manner. It's like denying Jews the existence of Holocaust.

So, how did it all start?

Miss World has a so called fast track challenge. A "fast track" allows the candidate to secure a spot as "semi-finalist." Catriona was able to get three out of the five challenges. Below are the details of the Fast

Track Challenge:

Beauty with a Purpose – It is a video showcasing the advocacy of the candidate.

Talent Competition – a presentation as to what other abilities does the candidate has more than just her pretty face.

Multimedia Award – the presence of the candidate in social media as well as the vote of supporters worldwide.

Top Model Challenge – is how the candidate carries herself to a given wardrobe.

Sports Challenge – showcases the physical wellness and collaboration of the candidate to team work.

During the Finals night, Miss World has to cut the Top 20 to Top 10 and it was done in random order where the chosen candidate has to be interviewed straight on stage which means that she don't know if it was her turn and as to what question will be ask to her. Catriona once again survive the Top 10 thus she was able to advance to the Top 5. On the Top 5, the remaining five candidates were asked of a pre-recorded question by one of the eleven judges. Below is the video of Question and Answer:

Catriona's answer was metaphorical because she writes a blog but that doesn't necessarily mean that she wasn't able to answer the question. The winner is Miss Puerto Rico (Stephanie del Valle). Stephanie's answer was direct to the point and so as the answer of Miss Kenya too. Assuming that Stephanie's answer is superior to Catriona, does Catriona's answer less sensible than the first runner up then? If Catriona's answer is less sensible than the first runner up, is it also less sensible than the second runner up? The video speaks the gospel of truth!

Filipino fans are perfectionist in English grammar that is why Philippines have become the "Outsourcing Capital of the World." They could easily spot errors, facial expression, voice tone and content of statements. And for them, the reason you will compete abroad is to win otherwise just stay at home. A competition is not a free paid vacation or to get freebies. That is why if you wear a "Philippine" sash, you have to deliver result and Catriona was able to deliver it beyond the expectation of Filipinos and beyond the guidelines set by the pageant organizers. Thus when the result didn't match with the expectations even if procedures were well followed then justification has to be made and if things are irreversible, expect a great deal of clamor on social media until the dust settles down.

Are Filipino grateful winner but sore losers? Answer is Yes! The reason why there is “training camp” is to be able to observe, learn from mistake and modify the next training to achieve perfection! That’s how it works in the Philippine pageantry!

The reason why a Philippine candidate is always winning in international pageant is because there is always a "post–pageant" assessment of candidate (i.e., what went wrong? what could have been done better next time?). This would then serve as an avenue for improvement so that the next time another candidate will compete internationally, all the flaws that was not perceived previously will then be remedied. In the case of Catriona, what went wrong? What could have been done better in order for her to clinch the crown?

Joanna Eden didn't win at Miss Supranational and there are dissatisfied bloggers but it didn't prosper because most people knew she didn't perform well at the very start. The term that was used to her was "She was just blending." She was not a stand out thus her placement was well justified. When Katherine Espin was crowned Miss Earth in Philippine soil, Filipinos support the decision because even before she set foot in the Philippines, her Instagram was already being trolled and when she lay foot on the competition, most Bloggers thought "She's the girl!" Did Filipinos tolerate the tantrums of Imelda Schweighart during the competition? Absolutely No!

When Kuh Ledesma sat as judge at Miss Universe 1991, she was prevented to have any interaction with then Miss Philippines, Alou Camua. When Manny Pacquiao sat as judge at Miss Universe 2014, MJ Lastimosa didn't advance as finalist. When Lea Salonga sat as judge at Miss Universe 2012, Shamcey Supsup ends as 3rd Runner Up. Lea even said that she wanted Shamcey to win but as she puts it, "Miss Angola's answer blew us away."

When Lorraine Schuck of Carousel Production (Miss Earth) was being set up by a Russian television to let Miss Russia win the competition, she didn't give in to the bribe considering it was in millions of Euro. She also said that she is willing to have the result examined if there is a court order for it but she will not do it for "personal reason" only because it will "expose" the judges. This might be the reason also why they stop flashing the breakdown of score during the competition. Flashback to 1999, Miriam Quiambao received a "2.2" score from one of the judge at Miss Universe and it was easily identified who he was.

Miss Earth and Miss Universe use an "accounting firm" to tabulate their result for greater transparency. Miss Earth uses Syccip, Gorres and Velayo (SGV) as its tabulator while Miss Universe uses Ernst and Young. Notice that during the Miss Earth announcement of Top 20 the Accounting representative is standing side by side with the host to make sure that it was not tampered. During the finals night of Miss World 2016, the host of the show introduced “Blink Forest” as “keeping tally” of the competition. I don’t know if by introducing the name “Blink Forest” would technically represent an accounting firm or a private individual picked in random.

Miss International doesn't acknowledge the presence of an accounting firm in their competition but you will always notice that there is one man who is on guard at the back of the host who is monitoring what they are announcing.

At Miss World, it has always been the "Morley's" who were announcing the winner. It is unknown whether they are using an accounting firm to tabulate the result. And if they do use one, they (Morley's) may have a "veto" power to reverse it (Veto is a “Latin word” which means “to forbid” or stop an official action). Those that were elected by the panel of judges doesn't necessarily equates to a winner. They technically serve as "dummy" then. On the other hand, these judges will then "moonlight" as "shock absorber" if there has been a clamor over the final result relieving Julia Morley of any accountability. Any inconsistencies leading to circumstantial result will now become infallible. It is also for the same reason that the result is always "unpredictable."

It is also noticeable that there have been around three "permanent" judges for several years now who are unknown how they are designated and there are other two “recurring” judges. A phenomenon which has been practiced back in the 70's at Miss Universe. It is also unknown whether these judges were asked to sign a waiver that prevents them from questioning the final result which assimilates the form of a “veto power” because if there was indeed a discrepancy then the judges would have voice it out right away the way Perez Hilton did at Miss Universe 2015.

From the format of the pageant, it seems like the Morley’s are establishing more like of a “United Nations Security Council (UNSC)” type of organization. The “permanent members” of UNSC are United Kingdom, United States, China, France and Russia and they all have “veto power.” Notice that the judges on the competition originate from those same countries as UNSC. The only country missing on the panel is France.

The screen shot below is an article which appears at Washington Post where Julia says that the pageant was “self–financed” to the tune of $5 million and $6 million from license holders. And this license holder is the National Directors of participating countries. There are 117 countries who participated on the pageant and if you will do the math:

                $5,000,000 ÷ 117 = $42,735

In other words, each participating country has to pay this amount just to be able to participate in the said competition even if there is no guarantee that they are going to win. And these include countries like Haiti where it could have been used for other welfare development. Unless otherwise, some National Director was giving more since after all it’s not a “one–size–fits–all.”

Unlike Miss Universe or Miss Earth where the sponsors are multinational companies, I believe that Miss World sponsor are wealthy private individual who may or may not have direct say on the decision making process in the selection of the winner.

Backed in the 80’s, Miss World was not an anticipated event in the Philippines. In fact, Miss Asia–Pacific was more popular then. Until a TV actress in the name of Ruffa Gutierrez won as Second Princess in 1993. That’s when Miss World started to gain momentum in Philippine air.

Many thought that the Blue Crown will never land on the head of a Filipina Beauty Queen until Megan Young won the title in 2013. But what significant event was happening during those times. For three consecutive years since 2010, the Philippine has been placing as finalist at Miss Universe and Miss World was no longer on the vocabulary among bloggers of Philippine pageantry. Putting the Blue Crown on the head of a Filipina would be the best way to penetrate the Philippines once again.

Liliana Tanoesoedibjo (National Director of Miss Indonesia) who sat as one of the judges was blamed for the non–placement of Catriona although it is purely circumstantial. Liliana was also one of the judges when Megan Young won in 2013. In 2014, Valerie Weigman lost in the Top 10 where Liliana was not one of the judges. In 2015, she returned as judge where Hillarie Parungao was part of the Top 10 and recently Catriona entered the Top 5. Liliana might be the only judge who was pushing for an Asian girl to dominate the Top 10 and yet she was the one who was serving as “shock absorber” for all the rants on the net while the real culprit was enjoying her money!

Filipinos who watch the pageant live in Maryland comprises the biggest chunk of the audience. It was a big slap on the face when Catriona was left empty–handed on stage! And since these audiences are scattered on the auditorium, they witness the different reactions of their fellow audiences as well as the judging panel. They can attest that there was indeed something wrong!

Catriona’s defeat at Miss World is a bitter pill to swallow for now. Bloggers who were once hibernating suddenly resurrected from their swamp to express their dissatisfaction. While it is indeed true that there is nothing can be done at present, perhaps, in the future there will be.  

We still need to continue to participate despite the result. But as I have suggested to MWP, we need to recycle a “first runner up” on its 2017 edition, the girl from the other training camp. A girl who previously competed in one of the Big 4 pageant.