2013 was indeed a lucky year for Philippines in the international pageant arena. Lucky, not because our representatives brought home crowns left and right but because we have achieved a certain level of brand stability.
When judges make a shortlist of Final candidates (placers), they make it a point that the final list is balanced in terms of culture, race, geographical location, potential market for sponsors, and most of all, a story which could sensationalize the win.
Having said that, there are countries which define the competition. In the case of Miss Universe; Venezuela, USA, Colombia, Australia, Puerto Rico, and Brazil. India achieved the same status in the 90's but after the Miss Universe pageant was reformatted in 2001, India's performance has been very dismal for failure to re-brand their candidates too. Philippines was once a powerhouse in the 70's too. But when latinas were considered IN, Philippines lost it's ground and took awhile to regain it.
Whilst most of the time the ladies from these countries do not emerge as winners, they always make the cut and help define the dimension of the competition. Take the case of Venezuela who placed 2nd Runner Up consecutively in 1993 and 1994, while Colombia making a three-peat as 1st Runner Up in 1992, 1993 and 1994.
This simply means that, comes deliberation on the final round, there's always a contestant who stands out amidst these powerhouse countries ready to snag the crown. In the event that this stand-out or early favorite fails to sustain the competition, that is when an accidental winner is chosen -- Gabriela Isler, Miss Universe 2013 and Mpule Kwelagobe, Miss Universe 1999 among them.
What's the common ground between Miriam Quiambao and Ariella Arida then? The hesitation in the eyes when answering the question. The question and answer portion is not about who speaks better English than another. It's all about taking on the challenge wholeheartedly without hesitation. This holds true with other international beauty pageants.
International beauty pageant winners in the past and even the most recent have the same pattern and strategy in answering the question - being conversational and exuding confidence and grace amidst pressure. Melanie Marquez,Chelsea Smith, Alicia Machado, Brooke Mahealani Lee, Mpule Kwelagobe, Lara Dutta, Riyo Mori and Olivia Culpo. If their names don't ring a bell, look them up on Youtube and see for yourself how an eventual winner acts and looks like.
Hopefully, we stop the argument that just because our representative is making it to the Top 5 (especially in Miss Universe) is already good enough. We have to the make sure that in the event the dimension of the competition changes from how they look to how they talk, we can take up the challenge and bring home our third Miss Universe crown.
