69TH MISS UNIVERSE: AT THE HOMESTRETCH (PART 3)

GHANA – Chelsea Tayui. Her beauty is of the unconventional sort, but she’s a reasonably polsihed competitor. She exudes the vibe of the reigning Miss Grand International Abena Appiah, as it seems that based on her accent she actually resides in the US (Abena represented USA at Miss Grand International while she previously represented this coutnry at both Miss Universe 2014 and Miss Earth 2019). Her key strength is her communication skills, and I think that factor still scores high with the selection committee.

GREAT BRITAIN – Jeanette Akua. She has experience in British reality TV, as she was a contestant in both Britain’s Got Talent and X-Factor as a singer. I’m not certain how the selection committee would respond to her unconventional brand of beauty, but her personality could give her an inside track to the Top 21.

HAITI – Eden Berandoive. I consider her a worthwhile contender, polished and strong in all aspects.

HONDURAS – Cecilia Rossell. Like BAHAMAS and BARBADOS, she’s a member of the P.A.T.I.S. crew.

ICELAND – Elísabet Hulda Snorradóttir. I don’t see her duplicating the Top 10 finish of her predecessor, Birta Abiba Þórhallsdóttir, but she’s polished enough to be considered a worthwhile contender.

INDIA – Adline Castelino. This country is not quite the powerhouse it used to be in its 1990s-2000s heyday, especially exhibited by a drought from 2015-18. But we might see a revival of those glory days with the caliber of this lady. She has the classic glamour and modern buffness alongside a strong advocacy and communication skills that are too compelling to ignore. She could conceivably make a play for the Final Five.

INDONESIA – Ayu Maulida Putri. She’s undeniably polished and looks likely to continue this country’s strong performances since 2013*2. She’s a great communicator and she’s polished. Now, I’m not bullish that she could equal the Top 10 finish of her predecessor, Francesca Cull, but still she’s a delegate worth saluting.

*2 It would’ve been a continuous streak, but there was a mild blip when they missed the cut in 2017.

IRELAND – Nadia Sayers. This redhead is polished enough to be considered a worthwhile contender, though making the Top 21 would be a longshot.

ISRAEL – Tahila Levi.. She’s good looking, but there was something baffling that took place in the preliminary competition–she paraded in the swimsuit round first ahead of the rest of the delegates (who were presented in traditional alphabetical order), and then sat out the evening gown round. Is she still in the competition, and why did this happen? It was rumored the escalating political situation between her country and the Gaza Strip is to blame, but at this point I can’t confirm.

ITALY – Viviana Vizzini. She exudes glamour and sexiness, and is a polished competitor. I consider her a Top 21 possibility, even if ther are a whole bunch of compelling choices out there.

JAMAICA – Miqueal-Symone Williams. She could bring forth a black-to-black win like what occurred in 1998-1999. She’s a stunner, and she’s a strong communicator, and delivered the goods during the preliminary competition.

JAPAN – Aisha Harumi Tochigi. Just like her 2015 predecessor, Ariana Miyamoto, she’s half-black, this time Ghanaian instead of African-American. She’s generally polished and a worthwhile contender, but I don’t foresee her equaling Ariana’s finish.

KAZAKHSTAN – Kamila Serikbai. She’s attractive, though her figure is a tad too skinny for comfort. Her strongest highlight was in evening gown when she sported a cropped top with ball skirt combo.

KOREA – Hari Park. She is a very polished contender, but her best strength is her communication skills, especially as she has great facility with English. She’s a worthwhile contender.

KOSOVO – Blerta Veseli. See ALBANIA, but blonde.

COMING UP: LAOS to POLAND

69TH MISS UNIVERSE: AT THE HOMESTRETCH (PART 2)

CANADA – Nova Stevens. This refugee from South Sudan makes a striking impression with hrr ebony complexion and cropped haircut, and she delivered strongly onstage during the preliminary competition. She will likely seal the deal as she’s one of the best communicators in this batch. Can she make a play for the Final Five and possibly Canada’s third Miss Universe crown?

CAYMAN ISLANDS – Mariah Tibbetts. She’s good looking and articulate, but she wasn’t quite up to snuff during the preliminary competition.

CHILE – Daniela Nicolás. I actually love this blonde, as I find her gorgeous and she’s very articulate in both English and Spanish to boot. But her choices during the preliminary competition left my head scratching–first, she’s the only one who opted for a one-piece swimsuit–if INDONESIA is willing to bare her midriff, why not her? Her black evening gown choice is also polarizing–some might view it as a hot mess. Could we blame these from her autoimmune disease? Otherwise, I want to be like Tyra Banks in her infamous tirade at America’s Next Top Model: “WE WERE ROOTING FOR YOU!!!”

CHINA – Jiaxin Sun. She could be a sleeper surprise for the Top 21 as she seems to be performing well in all aspects of the competition. She was polished in both rounds of the preliminary competition, and she’s a strong communicator with good English speaking skills.

COLOMBIA – Laura Victoria Olascuaga. It’s hard to believe the long-established Señorita Colombia is no longer the franchise holder for this pageant. Nevertheless, this product of a new franchisee is performing at a high level and she has an inside track of making the Top 21.

COSTA RICA – Ivonne Cerdas. I find her features a bit too angular for comfort but she delivered a strong performance in the preliminary competition that some are buzzing she could make the Top 21. Her story of being an engineer for Intel despite being dyslexic may give her a bit of edge in the interview round.

CROATIA – Mirna Naiia Maric. She’s a pretty lass and has a great swimsuit figure. However, she falls a bit short on the interview side and her gown choice was less-than-remarkable.

CURACAO – Chantal Wiertz. She’s competing at a high level that she could be a Top 21 possibility. She’s a strong communicator, has a buffed figure, and she made a big splash with her baby blue evening gown.

CZECH REPUBLIC – Klára Vavrušková. She won Miss Earth – Water back in 2019 (same batch as the reigning Miss Grand International, Abena Appiah, who represented Ghana and made the Top 20 that time). She performed at a level that could be worthy of a Top 21 finish, but there are more compelling choices ahead of her. She probably would make more serious inroads if this pageant was still run by Donald Trump.

DENMARK – Amanda Petri. We’ve seen some relatively less-than-polished delegates fielded by this country in recent years, but this isn’t one of those, as she is emerging as a worthwhile contender.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – Kímberly Jiménez. She proved to be a high-level competitor, performing strongly in the preliminary competition and displaying strong communication skills in her Up Close video. She is another Top 21 possibility.

ECUADOR – Leyla Espinoza Calvache. She’s undeniably polished, but like COSTA RICA her features are a tad too angular for comfort. She’s not quite COSTA RICA’s level, but she’s undeniably a worthwhile contender.

EL SALVADOR – Vanessa Velásquez. There are some pageant fans who feel she has an inside track for the Top 21. I’m not convinced as others were, but I do think she’s a consistently strong performer.

FINLAND – Viivi Altonen. An alumni of Miss Supranational 2019, she’s a worthwhile contender who made a splash during the national costume competition as she delivered an LED light show on her garment.

FRANCE – Amandine Petit. She exudes Hollywood-style glamour, and that quality can help her win over the eight-woman selection committee.

COMING UP: GHANA to KOSOVO

69TH MISS UNIVERSE: AT THE HOMESTRETCH (PART 1)

The Miss Universe pageant, like everyting else around the world, is not immune to the COVID-19 pandemic. They would’ve held it in November-December 2020 if the organization has its way. With the deployment of vaccines recently, they felt that at this time it is already reasonably safe enough to stage a full-fledged pageant. Some might disagree with this, which is why this edition attracted the lowest delegate turnout since 2003. Anyway, the actual schedule of activities was confined to a small 10-day window just like in 2019.

As much as there are still passionate adherents to this pageant, there are dark clouds on the horizon that is already affecting this edition and may affect future editions. For starters, Endeavor/IMG, the parent company of the Miss Universe Organization, has reported some serious financial issues that caused it to delay its impending initial public offering (IPO), and part of this is that it sold the Miss USA operation to an organization led by Miss USA 2008, Krystle Stewart. Many speculate that this pageant will also be sold off soon, but to whom remains speculative. Then, for the first time ever, no US TV network will be broadcasting this pageant–only a minor cable channel, FYI, will be carrying this pageant for the mainstream market; at least the Latin-oriented Telemundo network still continues its support. Even the sponsorships seemed to be largely unknown in the US–in fact it looks like the sponsors are more catered to markets with a current pageant fanbase–for instance shoe sponsor Jojo Bragais is a Philippine designer, and Lazada*1 is a shopping app focused on the Southeast Asian market.

*1 Yes, this entity is owned by huge Chinese conglomerate Alibaba, but still, it’s something that I doubt has plans of making a dent in the US market anytime soon.

Despite the bleakness of the times, I still want to salute the 74 intrepid delegates who provided glimmers of hope for an eventual return to normalcy. I also have to note that there are many of them who are veterans of other major international pageants, almost like the all-star showdown of batch 2004 (yes, Wonder Woman Gal Gadot’s batch, even if Gal was not yet the star that she is now).

ALBANIA – Paula Mehmetukaj. She’s solid and attractive, but not memorable enough to be in contention for the Top 21.

ARGENTINA – Alina Luz Akselrad. Osmel Sousa, the former doyen of the Miss Venezuela organization and legendary queenmaker, is now the franchise-holder for this country and the neighboring smaller nation of Uruguay. It looks like he’ll reap some rewards with this lady as she is firing on all cylinders. I can’t conceive a Top 21 without her, and she can make a play for the Top 10, similar to what happened in the 63rd edition (officially 2014, but was staged in late-January 2015).

ARMENIA – Monika Grigoryan. She’s pretty, but compared to most of her peers she’s not quite as polished.

ARUBA – Helen Hernandez. She’s solid, but not in contention to impact the Top 21..

AUSTRALIA – Maria Thattil. This lady of Indian descent has some pageant fans hyping her as a possible crown contender. Her gift of gab is her strongest attribute, though she also has charismatic good looks and deliverd strongly onstage during the preliminary competition. The only factor that might hinder her from becoming a crown contender is her height, as she is significantly shorter tan most delegates. But then again, that didn’t stop Olivia Culpo from winning back in 2012, right?

BAHAMAS – Shauntae Miller. She’s one of the tallest contestants at 6′, but she’s registering more as a member of the P.A.T.I.S. crew.

BARBADOS – Hailey-Anne Williams. This wavy trressed lady is another member of the P.A.T.I.S. crew.

BELGIUM – Dhenia Covens. She is good-looking and personable, but she was one of the underperformers in the preliminary competition, especially with the busy yellow gown she sported during the evening gown round.

BELIZE – Iris Salguero. We typically would see this country in the bottom of the pack, but this lady has enough polish to avoid that fate–she’s more middle-of-the-pack for me. Her polised presence could be attributable to her experiences competing at Miss World 2016 and Miss Earth 2017.

BOLIVIA – Lenka Nemer. She is competing at a high level that she could make a possible play for the Top 20. She simply did everything right all throughout. What I would remember most about her is her national costume presentation–clad in an indigenous dress, she made this very unusual, tilted spinning walk that intrigued me immensely.

BRAZIL – Julia Gama. Many people are excited about her when she was announced that she’ll be representing this country in this pageant. It could partly be attributed to her Top 10 finish at Miss World 2014, but she did deliver on the hype anyway that it’s inconceivable to visualize a Top 21 / Top 10 without her.

BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS – Shabree Frett. We typically view this country as a cellar-dweller, though it’s not the case this time, even if she’s far from being a Top 21 contender.

BULGARIA – Radinela Chusheva. I find her featurs on the angular side, and she registers as a tad over-baked.

CAMBODIA – Sarita Reth. There seems to be a heavy amount of hype about he prospects of making the breakthrough for her country by making the Top 21. Yes, indeed she’s the best Cambodian sent to this pageant thus far, with her good looks, polished presence and strong communictaion skills, but there is a major quibble about her slight swimsuit figure that perhaps it would take the popular vote for her to advance.

CAMEROON – Angele Kossinda. She previously competed in Miss Earth 2017 where she made the Top 16. It’s conceivable she can make an auspcious debut for her country in this pageant as many raved about her dramatic evening gown presentation. Whether she would place or not, she has made an impact.

COMING UP: CANADA to FRANCE