by Jetset Alejandro
Better and Better Be Soonest
The fifth edition of
the Miss Grand International pageant was held in Phu Quoc, Vietnam. It opened
with a film clip showing the outgoing Queen in a backdrop of the beautiful
places in Vietnam. It was already apparent from the introductory film clip
alone that the tourism potentials and culture of the country will be
highlighted in this pageant. After the film clip, the focus was on the
candidates for their production number. They were all in a blue dress with the “Vietnamese
mũ hình nón” or the conical hat together with outgoing Queen and were dancing
to an upbeat number.
INTRODUCTION OF THE CANDIDATES:
After the production
number, the candidates walked on the ramp towards the center and presented
themselves one by one.
The camera missed the
candidate of Laos while it was already focused on Lithuania.
Once the candidates
were all presented, the hosts were also presented. The main hosts were Xian Lim
and Nicole Cordoves. I am so thankful for the MGI Productions for getting 2
Filipinos onstage to host an international pageant like this. But I found these
two quite wanting. Although both hosts very capable and very professional
I found their rapport inconsistent. Lim and Cordoves do not play with words.
Whenever a candidate is called, they keep on repeating the words “Give it up”!
I have seen Lim host pageants in the Philippines but this is first time, I have
seen him saying words like these. Is it on the script? And Cordoves follows him
with her shrill voice that borders into irritation. The two should have
rehearsed more to establish camaraderie between them. There was no innate or
automatic magic developed between them.
They have no pageant
annotator/commentator. It would have been better that Lim should be the main
host and Cordoves the pageant annotator/commentator. When the Top 10 is already
announced, she joins Lim onstage and they both do their combined hosting
chores.
THE VENUE AND THE STAGE:
The pageant was held
at a stadium in Phu Quoc . By standard, the stage was grand. However, I find
the stairways that the candidates traverse too risky. The stage design
with Vietnamese prints seen through the use of LCD walls is quite impressive.
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| The Miss Grand International 2017 stage is grand. |
THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE TOP 20
Prior to the
announcement special awards were given:
 |
| Best in Costume is Miss Indonesia |
Best in National
Costume - Indonesia
Miss Health and Beauty
by Dr. Tan Award - Miss Grand Vietnam.
Top 20
Ukraine, Australia, Czech and Paraguay
 |
| Misses Ukraine, Australia, Czech and Paraguay |
Mexico, Philippines, Vietnam and Brazil
 |
| Misses Mexico, Philippines, Vietnam and Brazil |
Puerto
Rico, Thailand, Costa Rica and Peru
 |
| Misses Puerto Rico, Thailand, Costa Rica and Peru |
South Sudan, Netherlands, China and Russia
 |
| Misses South Sudan, Netherlands, China and Russia |
India, Laos, Venezuela and Indonesia
 |
| Misses India, Laos, Venezuela and Indonesia |
The presentation of the
candidates seems to be slow and lacks verve, vigor and excitement. The
announcement of the Top 20 it lacks dynamism and energy . Is it because of the
audience? We can only hear them erupting into applause with Vietnam. I also
noticed that there seem to be no element of surprise among the Top 20
candidates. Were they told not to be overly dramatic? Were they told to act in
the same manner? I know I was only watching on live-streaming, but most shots
were long shots.. They should have taken a close up look of the candidates when
the they are called. Other pageants I have watched pans the faces of the
candidates then with the announcement of the country focuses on the candidate
on close up and follows them till the center of the stage.
INTRODUCTION OF THE
BOARD OF JUDGES:
Official judges of
Miss Grand International 2017
1. Ms. Teresa Chaivisut – Vice President of
Miss Grand International Organization
2. Miss Ariska Putri
Pertiwi – Miss Grand International 2016
3. Miss Claire
Elizabeth Parker – Miss Grand International 2015
4. Miss Lees Daryanne
Garcia – Miss Grand International 2014
5. Miss Janelee Marcus
Chaparro Colon – Miss Grand International 2013
6. Mr. Le Si Hoang –
Master of Arts & Designer
7. Ms. Giang My – Miss
Den Hung of Vietnam
8. Ms. Ly Nha Ky –
Businesswoman & Artist
THE SWIMSUIT COMPETITION:
During the swimsuit competition, the
stage was still dark and the hosts were already talking. It takes out the
technical finesse. My suggestion for this case, is that the hosts should have a
place at side and lights should only be focused at them while they are talking
and when the candidates are ready the focus will be placed on the candidates
with slowly the lights on.
A short production
number was performed by the candidates to highlight the swimsuit competition
for the Top 10. I noticed that the candidates were arranged alphabetically
again instead of the candidates coming out in the order they were called in the
Top 20. But I believe this is a good technique as it will give the judges a
more systematic way of recalling the candidates if they missed out one or two
during their judging. They can go back easily using the alphabet.
Miss Australia was
quite tentative with her walk even she gave out a very bright
personality.
Miss Brazil has a
beautiful countenance. Most candidates of Brazil have direct and uninhibited
demeanor. Miss Brazil has a subdued projection but her sensuality is
simply oozing.
Miss China takes the
stage just like a model. Gone are the candidates that project an imperial
walk. This Chinese representative simply it at par with the vivacious repartee
of the Latina candidates.
Costa Rica is a bomb.
She has a great body and she knows how capitalize it.
Miss Czech Republic is
that girl with a beautiful face, beautiful body and with a dignified walk. Her
seeming innocence is but a breathe of fresh air in a competition where subdued
and uninhibited moves surely clash.
India is charming,
confident and simply radiant.
Indonesia is a vixen.
With that slim and toned body. She has a walk that is a toned down version of
Miss Philippines.
Laos is charming. She
walks with grace but there is a shyness that you feel in her.
Mexico simply burned
the runway. She was graceful and overpowering.
Miss Netherlands is
another pretty candidate. She was simply great.
The candidate from
Paraguay is so sexy and she is resplendent in her moves.
Peru has a lithe and
toned body. She is very graceful and walked the runway with aplomb.
Philippines showed a
very bubbly performance. She executed her moves with aplomb. She was described
by the host to be rocking it. Literally she did.
Puerto Rico sashayed,
glided and moved with confidence and assurance on stage.
Russia is another
beautiful candidate with very regal demeanor.
Miss South Sudan is
another girl that sashayed the stage with regal demeanor. She is very charming
and exuded a radiant personality.
Thailand did just
fine. I find her a little short compared with the other girls.
Ukraine is another
very beautiful candidate with a good elan and style.
Venezuela is vavaboom.
She has a very toned body and moves on the runway with grace and controlled
demeanor.
Vietnam is very pretty
and she does very well in the runway.
After the competition
in swimsuit, all the candidates came out to witness the awarding of:
Best in Swimsuit:
Costa Rica
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| Costa Rica bagged the Best in Swimsuit Award. She failed to advance to the Top 10 though |
The winner of the Miss
Popular Vote Award will get the 10th slot for the Top 10. Thus, the judges
selected only the Top 9. Although in my personal choices, Indonesia was already
in my Top 10.
 |
| Indonesia is the Peoples Choice or Miss Popularity. She gets a slot to the Top 10 automatically. |
Personally my Top 10
choices are: Puerto Rico, Philippines, Peru, Czech, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico,
Russia, South Sudan and Venezuela.
 |
| Peru, Philippines and South Sudan |
The judges’ choices
are: Czech Republic, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Ukraine, South
Sudan, Thailand and Vietnam.
 |
| Ukraine. Czech and Vietnam |
 |
| Puerto Rico, Thailand and Venezuela |
THE SPEECHES
All the Top 10
candidates delivered impassioned speeches. But if I have to rate them and give
a Top 5, I would choose the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Peru, Venezuela and
Thailand. I would have wanted to include South Sudan but due to apparent
miscues on her speech she lost the emphasis. She must have been very nervous
that she lost her train of thought. But I admire her regal bearing
despite that flub.
FINAL WALK AND FAREWELL SPEECH
Ariska was given her
glorious moment before she turned over her crown. Her court of runner-ups were
equally emotional as she delivered an intense and heart-rendering speech. In
another emotion-filled ceremony, Mr. Nawat took away the crown from her and
replaced it with another replica that would signify that she was once a Miss
Grand International.
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| Outgoing Miss Grand International 2016 |
THE EVENING GOWN COMPETITION
The candidates paraded
in their evening gowns. I noticed that Philippines and Venezuela changed to
other gowns aside from the ones they used during the preliminary competition.
For this round, I ranked Puerto Rico, Peru, Ukraine, Philippines, Venezuela,
Czech Republic, South Sudan, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.
THE TOP 5
The Top 5 were Czech
Republic, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. I noticed a pattern in
the announcement of the Top 5. If you would notice, when the Top 9 were
announced, the first 5 candidates announced were the Top 5. It looked like
there were no movements in the ranking when the final 5 were announced. I even
got the feeling that Miss Grand Czech Republic will be the winner because she
has a beautiful, innocent and angel-like face. But I know that the deciding
factor was their answer to the question.
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| Top 5 Miss Grand International 2017 |
The question was very
difficult. It was stated this way: “If you have to issue a law to punish
criminals of war and violence, how would you punish these people and
why?"
Even as a viewer, It
was a little difficult for me to organize a ready answer for the question. That
is to the undoing of Czech Republic being the number one person to answer. It
was a generic answer that surely relegated her to 4th runner-up position. As I
heard the 4 other candidates answer the question, I felt that no one had an
edge over the other in the depth and thematic content of their answers. I knew
the judges will decide on the totality of the 4 candidates in question. Hence
when they announced the ranking, I believed that was the better thing that they
could come up with although, I was thinking it would be a Peru versus
Philippines contest. The people in Vietnam must have been enamored with Miss
Venezuela that she gets very high ratings from the press, pageant pundits and
fans despite her inability to communicate in English. As one Miss Universe
contestant before had said and I paraphrased, it is not your ability to speak
English that makes you Miss Universe but it is your ability to reach out
despite being handicapped with the language. It having the heart to feel the
people. Although, Miss Venezuela did not win the title, I knew the people felt
her being and thus her higher ranking than the others.
Congratulations are
therefore in order:
Fourth runner
-up - Czech Republic
Third runner-up.
- Puerto Rico
Second runner-up. -
Philippines
First runner-up.
- Venezuela
Miss Grand
International 2017 - PERU
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| Winners Miss Grand International 2017 |
POSTSCRIPTS:
1. This is the first time I
made a review for Miss Grand International and I still
find it quite amateurish. The pacing is too slow for me and does
not build up into a crescendo. I find the proceedings too flat.
2.
Camera work needs a lot of improvement. I
don’t know if the live-streaming uses only one camera but pageants like the
Miss Universe uses a lot of high definition cameras for their pageants. I have
said my piece about close up shots and wide angle shots in the
3.
The reactions are so standard. It lessens the
excitement that the people are expecting.
4.
The hosts should have also studied previous
pageants held in Vietnam. The Vietnamese audience as compared to Filipino and
Mexican audiences is very different. They are more sedate compared to the
raucous Filipino or Mexican fans. The next time that you would like a livelier
audience in Vietnam, employ the “hakot” system so that more Filipino fans are
watching. I was wondering why there are only a few who went to watch in
Vietnam.
5.
Some candidates were wondering why Miss
Philippines failed to win the title. Their reactions are really suspect when
her name was announced as second runner-up.
6.
Many people are wondering why India did not
advance into the Top 10. The same reaction of this writer why a lot of
beautiful candidates did not make it to the Top 20. In my Top 10 alone, Brazil,
Mexico and Russia did not make it. India was not among my choices so to speak.
This is the beauty of choosing winners in a beauty pageant. We have different
standards of beauty. I understand other fans when they complain why past
winners and many Vietnamese sat as judges. They saw the possible prejudice in
judging. But their fears were unfounded. There is a leveling factor. They asked
a difficult final question.
7.
The fans, critics and organizers favorites
seem to jive with one another. I saw pageant sites choosing Miss Philippines,
Peru and Venezuela in their Top 5. Nobody predicted Czech Republic to be in the
Top 5. Personally, I predicted Czech Republic is a shoo-in but she bombed at
the Question and Answer portion. Miss Puerto Rico is another favorite of mine.
Truthfully, I only saw the reason why fans and pageant experts like Venezuela
during the swimsuit competition. She’s truly a beauty.
8.
I have a question on the 10th
semi-finalist. Was the 10th semi-finalist the most popular among the
Top 20? Or was she the most popular among the77 candidates. If she is the most
popular among the 77 candidates, then it is defeating the very the essence of the
Top 20. It would have been better that the most popular or the People’s choice
should be included in the Top 20 and she should compete with the other
candidates for a slot to the Top 10.
9.
In the end, what was underscored in this
pageant is consistency. There is a saying, if it’s good and there is nothing
wrong, why fix it? Miss Peru showed consistency from the start. She was even
magnanimous to translate for Venezuela when she was asked how does it feel to
be one of the last two standing. Miss Peru was empathic in expressing what Miss
Venezuela felt. That alone made her the winner. It set her apart from the
rest.
10.
The Philippines had sent 4 to the Top 5 in the
5 outings of this pageant. In 2013, Annalie Forbes was 3rd runner-up; 2014
Kimberly Karlsson wasn’t lucky enough; in 2015 Parul Shah bagged 3rd runner-up
while in 2016, the Philippines almost won but settled with a first runner-up
finish with Nicole Cordoves. And for this year, a 2nd runner-up finish for
Elizabeth Clenci.
