Male
pageants are likely done to mirror female pageants wherein the candidates don
their national or ethnic attires, compete in the swimwear segments and in the
evening wear contest. Take for example, Manhunt, Mr. International and Mr. Universe
Model. Their contests are staged in two rounds - a preliminary and a final
competition. The preliminary competition is done to select the candidates with
the highest scores and they become finalists who will compete on the final
pageant night in the same categories that they were judged in. They are judged
in the final performance and their ability to answer the question and answer
portion that will separate the chaff from the grains. In these contests too,
special awards like the best in national costume, Best Runway Model, Mr.
Photogenic, Mr. Friendship, Mr. Personality, Mister Body Physique and Mr.
Popularity are given. Some of the awards will catapult a candidate to the
semifinal round as fast track events. In 2005, the highest ranking candidate coming
from the continents of the earth apart from the Top 5 candidates are given
continental awards. In 2007, the winner of Mister Popularity in Manhunt
International automatically enters the semifinal round.
Mr. International and Mr. Model Universe follow the same patterns and there may only be different variations as to their selections. On the other hand, Mr. World seems to be in a different mold from these three male pageants. As to Andrew Wolfe’s account, Mr. World’s preliminary selections of the finalists are judged by Sports and Fitness, Extreme Challenge, Talent, Style, Multimedia and Communication and Intelligence. Each category has its own finalists and in the final reckoning these are tabulated and thus, the Top 10 are announced and will be chosen. The Mr. World contest appears therefore to be a complete package contest where an all-around candidate is chosen. I am reminded of the Mr. University contest sans the sports and fitness and extreme challenge category.
There
were issues raised during the staging of these pageants. The participation of
our candidate, John Mark Marcia to the Mr. Universe Model at the Dominican
Republic was affected by his late participation. The organizers attempting to
be transparent showed the tabulation of the judges when they crowned their own
representative in home soil and it appeared that John Mark Marcia’s appearance
is merely participation but not in competition.
On the
other hand, Mr. June Macasaet’s participation to the Manhunt international
contest did not create loud appreciation for his win at his national
competition. There were other favorites' during that time. However, some say
that he was the best that the contest would have gotten. And true enough, he
surprised all male pageant connoisseurs by proving to all sundry that he has
what it takes to be an international winner. He won the title after Kevin Balot’s
sterling performance in the Miss International Queen of the Year pageant where
transgenders all over the world compete for the crown in Bangkok.
I now
fully understand why Mr. Andrew Wolfe’s was personally selected by Ms. Cory
Quirino to be the Philippine representative. Andrew being a football player and
of Filipino-British parentage, is much more ready to conquer the wider stage of
Mr. World. And true enough, he almost conquered the world with his performance
which was only eclipsed by Mr. Colombia, Francisco Javier Escobar Parra who was adjudged as
Mr. World 2012.
As to Mark
John Gutoman who won the right to represent Philippines in the Mr.
International Contest, there many doubting Thomases if he would be able to
carry the torch further for the Philippines. Mark John is good looking and
intelligent but he is not prepared physically to compete. It is very
unfortunate that pageant fans did not support him during the internet voting so
that he would be able at least to enter the quarterfinal round.
With a
50% batting average for our male pageant participants in the international
arena, more interests have been drummed up and probably next year, candidates
with better portfolios will join the national pageants and win in them and thus
represent the country in a sterling fashion like June Macasaet and Andrew Wolfe
did.
Photo Courtesy: Ian Felix
Alquiros, Aski, Jr. Sala, Beautypageantnews.com
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