When She Exposed Her Breast

A lesson on committment

Jessica Barboza first represented Venezuela at Miss Earth in 2009. She was able to secure a second runner up placement at the end of the pageant. She was then sent at Miss International in 2011 where she finished as first runner up. She now holds the distinction of a very few beauty queen who was able to secure two international placement in two of the biggest pageant to date. 

Bruna Zanardo won the third runner up placement at Miss Earth 2016. She resigned three months after to compete for Miss Sao Paolo. She then won first runner up failing to represent her state at Miss Brazil where the winner will be the official representative at Miss Universe. 

Lesson learned: 

A beauty queen who knows how to value committment go far while those who don't loses everything. 

Is there a curse to a Back to back?

When a Venezuelan crowns a Filipina

In 2014, Jamie Herrell of the Philippines won the Miss Earth title. She was crowned by Alyz Heinrich of Venezuela. 

In 2016, Kylie Verzosa of the Philippines won the Miss International title. She was crowned by Edymar Martinez of Venezuela. 

Miss Big Four 2016

Team USA is the only country to place in all Big 4 pageants in 2016

Miss Universe

Miss Universe 2016 kicks off in the Philippines without any hassle on 30 January 2017. The candidates started arriving in Manila on 13 January although Miss U.S Virgin Island arrived four days earlier followed by Miss Brazil and Miss Sierra Leone. Miss Colombia was the last delegate to arrive.

The owners of Miss Universe Organization, IMG/WME almost pulled out from the Philippines as host after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gave remarks comparing his war against drug to Hitler. The owners of IMG / WME are Jews thus there is sensitivity when it comes to Holocaust. Although, I should say that their level of interpretation is primitive because hitting deliberately the Jews would not even be on Duterte’s agenda because his wife is a Jew.

Miss France, Iris Mittenaere won the title at the end of the pageant. Iris was the second delegate from France to win the title since 1953 when Christiane Martel won the same title.

It is apparent that there has been a modification in this year’s presentation which is somehow tantamount to the selection of the winner.

Some of the observed changes were;

(1)  Only 13 semi–finalists were picked instead of the usual 15 where the 13^th girl was a product of online voting.

(2)  The semi–finalist was presented in group of three during the swimsuit and evening gown competition.

(3)  From 13 semi–finalists, it was cut into 9 to 6 and finally to just 3 finalist.

It was also thought that the interview portion now comprise 60% of the total scores thus there are a lot of girls who unexpectedly made it as semi–finalists. Given this development, it is very apparent that there has been “re–alignment” when it comes to the branding of Miss Universe.

On my point of view, Miss Universe is now solidifying its “Confidently Beautiful” brand by capitalizing on the achievements or perceived future value of the candidate and amplifies those achievements through her title. I believe that they no longer want a candidate who will usually end up as a “model” or an “actress” thus there is less focus on physical attributes and if the winner was indeed beautiful then it is just an added bonus. It is also by this branding calibration that Miss Venezuela failed to make it on this year’s pageant. Andrea Tovar of Colombia was just lucky enough that Philippines’ Maxine Medina was poor in communication thus she was able to make it on the Top 3 and she need to cherish that moment since it may not happen again because of this “re–branding” of Miss Universe.

I will have to give Miss Universe a four and a half star for its presentation this year. The only thing I don’t agree with the pageant is presenting the semi–finalist in group of three since it tends to limit the space of the candidate to maneuver their move. If the Miss Universe Organization will continue the same type of presentation, they should have at least allowed the “group of three” to strut on that 180 degrees circle if it is the comparison that they are after for.

Miss Earth

The organizers of Miss Earth were able to rebound this year from their mediocre presentation last year. The production significantly improved although a lot of fans were disappointed with its online streaming of the pageant. The “food issue” last year was already resolved and the candidates are happy with the food they are being served from their hotel host. The stage significantly improved although it would have been better if they made it “three dimensional” the way they do at Eurovision contest.

It’s as if the moon and the stars were aligned that a “Latina quartet” got the entire placement in the competition headed by Ecuador’s Katherine Espin who were proclaimed winner that night followed by Michelle Gomez of Colombia. It was a sweet revenge for Stephanie de Zorsi of Venezuela who was not able to compete in 2014 but got the third place this year. It was a back to back 4^th runner up position for Brazil on the other hand.

One of the things I like about Miss Earth’s production this year was the fact that they are hiding the translator from the camera which makes them secure from bashing. The purpose of the translator is to translate the answers of the candidates and there is no need for them to be visible on the camera. However, it is apparent from the voice of the translator that they are also nervous. Miss Vietnam would have been able to break the Latina quartet could have been her answer was translated correctly.

Some of the pitfalls from this year’s presentation are the following:

(1)  If last year, it is the cameraman who fails to make contact with the candidate, it is the candidate who failed to make contact to the cameraman this year which is apparent during the Evening gown competition where some of the semi–finalist doesn’t know where to look as the camera rotate around them.  

(2)  The cameraman is unaware as to where the location of the semi–finalist being called. He is just waiting as to whoever candidate will step down and start to focus on her causing the embarrassment of Miss Indonesia.

(3)  There must be something wrong with the sound system because some of the semi– finalists were able to hear their countries being called while others don’t.

These pitfalls can easily be remedied through vigorous practice. The candidates have a lot of itinerary on their travels that the schedule might have been tight but that should not be an excuse for repeated rehearsals.

Imelda Schweighart of the Philippines becomes “uncontrolled” during the competition. First, there was the issue of asking Miss Austria as to whether Hitler was born in Austria. While there is nothing wrong about a mere question, it is irrelevant to the advocacy of the pageant. Second, the issue of eating the seeds of Rambutan fruit causing stomach discomfort for some of the candidates who ate it. Third, the issue of the gown made by Leo Almodal that was supposed to be intended for Imelda but was worn by Katherine Espin of Ecuador because the gown of the latter was not finished on time. And last, the deliberate bashing of Imelda towards Katherine about cosmetic surgery.

Again, as I have pointed out last year, there should be a “Code of Ethics” among candidates that they should be able to abide or otherwise they will not be allowed to continue on the competition.

Some of the opportunities for Miss Earth are:

(1)  Environmental issue has a wide scope. It can’t be disseminated in just one night. The advocacy is weakly connecting to the people. Miss Earth should be able to strengthen its brand through its advocacy. Because of its wide scope, each year there should be a concentration on a specific theme, it could be “endangered animals” for this year, “water contamination” the following year, “air pollutants” a year after and so forth.

(2)  The environmental issue should leave a mark to the audience. Why not a swimsuit competitions wearing the wings of “endangered species of bird” with slide show about it? How about an evening gown on an “envisioned perfect Earth” on background? Sometimes thinking outside the box will do the connection.

(3)   I can’t help but to notice that every time a new winner was being crowned, there is always that frowning “unhappy” candidate on the background. Are they stressed? Are they sour raping?

(4)  Miss Earth and Miss Universe were held on the same stage but Miss Universe was able to make the location ten times bigger as viewed on television.

Miss International

Through the years, Miss International sticks to its gala type of presentation which truly reflects the Japanese prim and proper persona.

The Philippines won its 6^th Miss International in the person of Kylie Verzosa.

Most pageant fans thought that to win the Miss International, the candidate has to be facially beautiful, has good pasarela skills and a terrific background. Some countries has haven’t won the Miss International pageant yet. For India, it is the only missing crown for them to complete the Big 4 crowns and yet despite the fact that they are sending great candidates they still miss the crown.

As I watched through the different editions of the pageant, I came to realize that the organizers are not just looking for something superficial, it is more on “consistency” and to what aspect that consistency is, I just keep that to myself for now.

Team Philippines 2016

Pageant experience, not a guarantee for Beauty Title

Riza Santos represented Canada three times in international pageant:

Miss Earth 2006
Miss World 2011
Miss Universe 2013

In all of these pageants, she wasn't able to get a spot as Finalist. It is a connotation that having a pageant experience will increase the chance of winning a Title. In many ways, it's not.


 

Blonde Girls capturing Asia

On 17 September 1989, Aneta Kreglicka became first Runner at Miss International pageant held in Japan.

On 22 November 1989, she was then crowned Miss World 1989.

Another Polish will follow her footstep years after. Katarzyna Borowicz was Top 5 at Miss World 2004 and 3rd Runner up at Miss Earth 2005.

Polish girls are just really lucky being crowned in Asia! 

Miss Big 5

On 21st January, Missosology announced that Miss Supranational is now a major pageant along with Miss Earth, Miss International, Miss World and Miss Universe. If that is the case, Philippines would be the sole country with all Five crowns earned in just three years.

The Domino Effect of 2013

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.

The Three Sisters at a Glance

 

 

Team Venezuela 2015: Anyela Galante (for Miss World), Mariana Jimenez (for Miss Universe), Andrea Rosales (for Miss Earth) & Edymar Martinez (for Miss International)
 

 

Team Philippines 2015: Janicel Lubina (for Miss International), Hillarie Danielle Parungao (for Miss World), Pia Wutzbach (for Miss Universe) & Angelia Ong (for Miss Earth)

The Three countries that completed the Big Four Pageant: Brazil, Venezuela & Philippines.

We will take a look how each of the candidates will do well in the international pageant.

One common denominator with these three sisters is the presence of repeaters:

Mariana Jimenez competed at Miss Grand International 2013 where she was at Top 20,

Catharina Choi competed at Miss Earth 2013 where she was 3rd Runner Up where she represents Korea instead of Brazil. Catharina is Half–Korean, Half–Brazilian. By being able to compete in both countries, I assume, she has dual citizenship.

Hillarie Danielle Parungao competed at Miss Asia Pacific World 2014 where she was 3rd Runner Up.

These girls are scheduled to compete on the following dates:

Miss International:          05 November 2015          (Tokyo, Japan)

Miss Earth:                         05 December 2015           (Vienna, Austria)

Miss World:                        19 December 2015           (Sanya, China)  

Miss Universe:                   20 December 2015           (Nevada, USA)

Team Philippines

Janicel Lubina is a pageant veteran at the age of 20. She represented the Philippines once at Miss Scuba International and supposed to be at Model of the World but did not compete because of security breach.

Strong points: Superb modelling execution. She will ace the swimsuit and evening gown competition.

Weak points: Poor communication skill. During her send–off, the press asked her several question. She was able to answer it but on a local language. There was even an instance wherein she has to shift from English to Tagalog just to be able to express her thought. Janicel has the thought to express herself “emphatically” rather than “intellectually” which is what the judges are looking for. It’s just that the thought she organized in mind to say would not translate to English based on how she perceived it.

Angelia Ong was a batchmate of Pia Wutzbach at Binibining Pilipinas. She is a local pageant repeater.

Strong points: Majestic execution of Evening gown.

Weak points: No strong appeal in swimwear. Concise and generic answer to question and answer. If she continues to be in the same disposition, she wouldn’t even reach Top 8.

Hillarie Danielle Parungao has already won once in a “continental” beauty pageant which gives her enough experience to compete internationally. She is the perfect embodiment of “Beauty with a purpose” having an advocacy of her own in alleviating child mortality.

 

Strong points: Pre–pageant advocacy aligned with Miss World. Innocent faced. Regal in evening gown. As the swimsuit will already be eliminated at Miss World, she doesn’t have to worry about it. Her answer showed consistency even in ambush interview. She expresses herself well.

Weak points: Just like other Filipinas who competed internationally and ended up as Runner up, Hillarie is of no exemption; her answer to the final question is again the “intellectual” type when the judges are looking for an “emphatic” one. Megan Young won the Miss World because her final answer has the empathy that is aligned to the advocacy of the pageant.

Pia Wutzbach just like last year’s representative (MJ Lastimosa) is a third timer of the pageant.

Strong points: She struts well in swimwear and can play with her evening gown. Her facial expression is synchronized with her body movement. She has a good communication skill.

Weak points: The way she answer question is shallow in nature and lacks conviction. It lacks a deeper sense of meaning that will blow the judges to make her the winner. It doesn’t have enough substance that would answer the question “Why should we choose you to be the Miss Universe?”

Team Brazil 2015: Isis Stocco (for Miss International), Catharina Choi Nunes (for Miss World) & Thiessa Sieckert (for Miss Earth)

 

Alexandra Braun

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Katarzyna Borowicz