Jennifer Hammond
Miss Intercontinental
Placement: Top 15
Date / Venue: 16 October / Sri Lanka
Jennifer Hammond opened the pageant season armed with
preparedness. The pressure is there because of the ascending performance of the
Philippines at Miss Intercontinental. She is also the first Binibini to compete
internationally. Most thought that she will already clinch that missing crown
but it didn’t work to her advantage.
During the competition, most Filipino fans already knew
from the start that Jennifer will not be given a fair fight. Every time it was
her turn to be focused, the camera will zoom or pan to the audience giving her
less exposure.
Jennifer was not elected from some “minor pageant” in the
Philippines. She was chosen from Binibining Pilipinas (a national beauty
pageant). During the years when representatives at Miss Intercontinental were
being chosen from other beauty pageant, it was not an anticipated event. It was
only when Binibining Pilipinas got the franchise that it got the momentum.
During the finals night, one of the judges was Miss
Russia who was a previous winner. Miss Italy was still speaking during the
question and answer and Miss Russia already stand up from her chair. During the
swimsuit competition, while the girls are strutting their move, none of the
judges were writing scores which is sort of strange.
Upon Jennifer’s return to the Philippines, she was so
disappointed that she has to temporarily shut down her social media accounts. She
was also absent in some of the “send–off” of her Binibini sister to their
respective competition.
Nicole Cordoves
Miss Grand International
Placement: 1st Runner Up
Date / Venue: 25 October / Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
I was not expecting Nicole to make it at the Top 5
either. The least I’m expecting is a Top 10 finish. I thought that her
performance was mediocre. She does have good communication skills from the fact
that she is a former speech writer for Department of Finance but I feel that
her walk was as if she has just given birth.
Nevertheless, she was able to persuade the judge with her
answer. In fact, her answer is far more superior to the winner given the fact
that the question is a taboo to put it in context. Sex, politics, religion and
race are topics which are considered “taboo” in any conversation.
Although the advocacy of Miss Grand International is
close to impossible, I can say that by far, it is “the most organized” pageant
to date. Some of the practices that I like about this pageant are the: (1)
Pinning of sashes – where candidates don’t just pull their sash on racks but
rather there was a formal ceremony for which at the same time, candidates would
be able to know “who’s who,” (2) “Meet and greet” session – where candidates
will sit down on stage in group of five to introduce themselves. This will help
them overcome their stage freight and at the same time become comfortable with
other candidates and to make friends too.
Filipino fans don’t like the owner of Miss Grand
International yet despite it all; Philippines were given a placement year after
year in the competition.
Kylie Verzosa
Miss International
Placement: Winner
Date / Venue: 27 October / Japan
As I previously mentioned, if Kylie will win the Miss
International crown, she will break the curse of Ateneo graduates for not
placing at Miss International. Kylie’s eye was fixated to the crown. She wants
it badly. Kylie sacrificed her love life in exchange of the crown. And she came
triumphant. She now brought in the 6th Miss International crown for
the Philippines and the 13th crown of Big Four pageant.
Following Kylie’s journey to the crown, it became clear
to me what the organizers of Miss International is looking for to which I will
keep to myself as to what it is. Pageant fans prefer Kylie to clinch the Miss
Universe Philippines sash but after following the journey, I now realize why
BPCI gave her the Binibining Pilipinas International sash instead. And if there
would be no changes on Miss International standards and BPCI will be sending
another competitive girl in 2017, a back to back is not farfetched.
With Kylie’s win, Aces & Queen finally completed all
the “Big 3” crowns only on a span of three years.
Joanna Eden
Miss Supranational
Placement: Top 20
Date / Venue: 02 December / Warsaw, Poland
Pageant fans thought that Joanna Eden was a perfect match
to wear the Philippine sash at Miss Supranational. Most thought that she will
deliver but it was the other way around.
She did perform well during the preliminary rounds but
after she was given the opportunity to proceed further, she seems unfocused,
disconnected and uninterested. She seems to lose her momentum during the finals
night. Her performance during the final show is as if she just would like to
finish the show and go home. It is unknown as to what prompted her to such
performance. Is she missing her boyfriend already? Was she pressured? Was she
affected with bashers? Whatever the reason is, it transpired in her
performance.
Joanna was one of the youngest girls crowned by BPCI. I
feel that she still lacks the emotional maturity to be sent for an
international pageant. Thus, therefore, BPCI should raise the age limit of the
candidates to between 20 to 26 years old. Kylie is right when she advises
future beauty queens to “finish your education first.”
If BPCI will continue to hold the franchise of Miss
Supranational, all the girls they will be sending will end as clappers. After
seeing the last four edition of this pageant, it is a modelling competition
embedded in a beauty pageant context. Thus candidates who should be sent to
this pageant are someone who has previous modelling experience which is the
likes of Kelsi Merritt, Kim Ross Williams or Gwen Ruais.
And this competition should be under the belt of either
Century Tuna Superbods or Miss Bikini International Philippines.
Miss Supranational is the larger and more exclusive
version of Star Search backed in the 90’s for their search for “Female
Spokesmodel.” Janice Dickinson said that to become a “Supermodel,” you have to
pass being a “Runway Model,” “Print Ad Model,” “Commercial Model,” and
“Spokesmodel” for a specific brand. If ANTM is a specialization for “Runway”
and Print Ad” Model then Miss Supranational is a specialization for search for
“Spokesmodel” thus it borderlines a modelling competition. Thus with beauty
camp training girls to become beauty queens and by applying the same approach
for candidates to be sent to Miss Supranational, it will not work! It’s not a “one
size, fits all.”
It is also for the same reason that India won the
competition twice because that is where they are really good at. On the other
hand, it is also for the same reason that they have a hard time clinching the
Miss International (MI) crown because if you will apply the same approach for
MI, it will not work.
Nichole Manalo
Miss Globe
Placement: 3rd Runner Up
Date / Venue: 26 November / Tirana, Albania
It would be biased to write something about a pageant
that I didn’t actually watch. I just checked some of the snippet of the pageant
and it’s not really my cup of tea. Most
Filipinos clamor about the fact that the 3rd runner up title given
to Nichole after two days was just to appease the fans.
The title “Miss Globe” itself was confusing. I was asking
in forums whether this title was the same title won by Maricar Balagtas and
Priscilla Mereilles and I can’t find the exact answer.
There was also the issue of Thailand’s National Director
seating as judge on the competition which most Filipinos thought as a sabotage
towards Miss Philippines which is unsubstantiated.
Maxine Medina
Miss Universe
Placement: Top 6
Date / Venue: 30 January 2017 / Manila, Philippines
Maxine was the last of the Binibini Queens to compete.
When she won the title, it is still unknown that the pageant will be held in
the Philippines.
Maxine gave a good fight for the title; however, her
waterloo which is being unable to organize her thought coherently became a
detrimental factor for her to clinch the crown. The question that was given to
her “What is the most significant change you have seen in the world in the last
10 years?” is already a bonus but she still wasn’t able to give a strong and
coherent answer.
Maxine is a total package. My intuition is that Miss
Universe wanted to give her the crown but they can’t tamper the result because
the answer given by the three finalists was indeed strong and convincing.
Opportunities for improvement:
(1)
Stella Marquez de Araneta should just crown two
titles for her pageant: Miss Universe Philippines and Miss International
Philippines and two runners up. If she would like to keep the other franchise,
she can hand picked out of the runners up or semi–finalist the way Osmel Sousa
is doing at Miss Venezuela pageant. Through this process the runners up would
be able to rejoin again if they wish to. With the current policy, once a
candidate was assigned a title, they wouldn’t be able to join again.
(2)
The age bracket of the candidates should be
adjusted to just the 20 to 25 years old range. Eighteen years old is a legal
age but they are technically still in school at this age. Girls of this age are
still within their teenage years where they have to enjoy life and still figure
out what they really wanted to do. Joanna Eden, at 19, doesn’t have the
emotional maturity yet when she competed in her pageant as I have observed it.
(3)
Boyfriends are disturbance if not a jinx to a
“Filipina” beauty queen. Jamie Herell, Angelia Ong, Pia Wurtzbach and Kylie
Verzosa don’t have a boyfriend when they competed on their pageants thus they
won. When I brought this in one of the pageant forums, one respondent told me
“your theory is irrelevant.” Was it? Then name a Filipina beauty queen who has
a boyfriend who wins a “Big Four” crown? Kylie Verzosa deliberately dropped her
boyfriend to concentrate on her training and she reaps the benefit.
(4)
Binibining Pilipinas should integrate more
challenges in this year’s competition which should include (1) “make–over your
roommate challenge” – where roommates will do the makeup of the other to test
their grooming skills and at the same time a bonding moment for each other and
to test their character too (2) group exercise challenge – where a group of candidate
has to present at least three exercise routines on their fellow candidates (3)
healthy meal challenge – where candidates in group of three will prepare meals
that are exceptionally healthy for the body that are ideal for a beauty queen
(4) reach out challenge – where candidates will spend a day in school or
orphanages to replace teachers in educating young children since educating
young children is not a rocket science anyway (5) woman wellness challenge – where
candidates will be grouped to gather information about health issues that
affects woman in today’s society such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer,
sterility, etc. and present it to their fellow candidates.
All of these challenges will
unmask the true character and qualification of each of the candidates as to who
really deserves the crown. Stash away the talent competition where not
everybody would be able to participate and replace it with these challenges
where there is no excuse not to participate. These challenges will also
comprise twenty percent of their scorecard. So, who says
that becoming a beauty queen is easy?
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