2017 has been an eventful year in the world of pageantry from the staging of the 65th Miss Universe pageant in Manila in January up to its homecoming in Las Vegas last November 26 and every minor and major pageants in between – it was whirlwind and almost chaotic for both pageant fans and pundits!
France took the Miss Universe crown ending its 63-year title drought.
In a sold-out Mall of Asia Arena in the Philippines, you could hear the crowd clamoring for Haiti’s Raquel Pélissier to succeed the DCI crown from the outgoing Miss Universe, the Philippines’ very own Pia Wurtzbach but Iris Mittenare of France was just too strong a competitor to be denied. It was a well-deserved win after an impressive showing during the preliminaries and a flawless performance in the finals night. Iris was the rightful winner!
Rachel Peters Conquered the Binibini Stage!
Rachel Peters is one of the frontrunners during this year’s Binibining Pilipinas and she was faultless during the finals night leaving the rest of the contestants vying for the lesser crowns.
Miss Earth 2017 is the Philippines!
Philippines winning the crown thrice in four years was mired with criticisms of it being rigged but truth be told, in a world full of mere beauties – having the brains to boot is a novelty that will be rewarded, given the right time.
Venezuela’s Ninoska Vasquez overperformed.
Ninoska was touted to be one of the two strongest delegates for the crown. She was perfection all throughout the pre-pageant night activities but fell short with her stage-presence during the finals. Rather, she may have done it a bit too much that left the judges uncomfortable?
Fahsai underwelhmed.
Along with the Venezuelan beauty, Paweesuda Drouin of Thailand nicknamed as Fahsai was expected to be part of the elemental court but during the crucial Final eight interview portion of the competition, she stumbled when she picked the hashtag Millenial possibly costing her the Miss Earth crown.
Karen Ibasco lorded over the heavy favorites!
The Philippines is almost always sending brainy girls in this pageant. That is the biggest asset of Karen Ibasco as the host nation as she set on reclaiming the crown back to our home turf.
She may not be the most conventionally beautiful girl in the bunch but the girl does eat mic for breakfast and only reads the dictionary. Hah! Kidding aside, Karen was untouchable after the final 8 interview.
The Muy Caliente performance of Teresita Marquez at the Reina Hispanoamericana!
It was the debut participation of the Philippines and sending Teresita Marquez was perhaps the wisest decision from the organizer of the Miss World Philippines under its new national director – Arnold Vegafria.
Terestita also known as WinWyn Marquez was unstoppable in Bolivia so it’s very easy to see why she won the pageant becoming the very first Asian to do so!
Miss World 2017
via Miss World Facebook page.
Manushi Chhillar snatched the sixth Miss World crown for India tying the title with the most wins along with Venezuela.
One word – Luminous!
Indonesia finally won their first major beauty pageant crown!
Kevin Lilliana was the main frontrunner from the get go of the competition and it’s no wonder that she end up giving her country its first win in a major beauty competition!
The Worst Staging of Miss Universe in History!
Aside from its rather simple pre-pageant activities and the horrendous preliminary competition inside a hotel, the 66th edition of the pageant was nothing to write home about. It’s probably the worst staging of the pageant that I could remember!
Was Davina Bennett Robbed?
After a stellar performance all throughout the night, Jamaica’s Davina Bennett who sported an afro was denied the crown, only winning third overall. Despite strong showing, it seems like the competition was already pre-determined to be all about Demi-Leigh Peters of South Africa.
via Miss Universe Facebook page.
Overall, I’m satisfied with the winners of each respective major pageants and I hope to see more competitive girls in 2018!
PADDYLAST INC. 