SPAIN - Celia Sevilla. Though I'm not familiar with the other pageants she competed in, she declared herself as an experienced pageant veteran, and it does show with her polished presentations all throughout all the way to the Preliminary Competition. She also has a gorgeous face and strong communication skills, so it looks like she has an inside track to the Top 20.
SWITZERLAND - Marine Sayard. This brunette is on the plain side and she is a raw interview and a less-than-polished presence onstage. It will be an uphill battle er to make any inroads into the Top 20.
TAIWAN - Erica Xiao Ting. See HONG KONG, but with a plainer face and slightly more polished stage chops.
THAILAND - Thawwporn Phingchamrat. She[s actually a complete package of great looks, charisma, intelligence, communciation skills, and stage presence, so it's not surprising she's making a stellar impression. Now, some might criticize her performance during the Preliminary Competition as they felt she turned up the sex factor a bit too high, but I feel she still made a standout impression and is likely to secure her Top 20 finish. But it's turning out to be a brutal bloodbath for her to secure a Top 10 finish.
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO - Rebekah Hislop. I find her a tad plain and less-than-polished in all aspects. Not helping matters is that during the Preliminary competition she registers more like a 50-year-old matron than her actual age of 28.
TÛRKIYE - Beyhan Kubra. She's not as polished as other contenders but I'm surprised in the closed door interview that Nawat and Teresa devoted a huge amount of interview time chatting with her, in particular places to visit in her country and the fact that her country straddles both Europe and Asia. Take note that she was included in the Asian group instead of European as would likely be the convention for other major pageants. Though most of the major city of Istanbul where this lady is from is on the European side, the city itself is split across both continents as it straddles across the Bosporus Strait.
UKRAINE - Yulia Klimenko. This comely brunette is also a complete package and delivered a convincing performance in the Preliminary Competition that she seems to have an inside track to the Top 20.
UNITED KINGDOM - Chloe Ellman Baker. She's a strong speaker and a polished performer so she is performing at a high level that is making her a Top 20 possibility. If this were a less-competitive batch, she would've made more serious inroads.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - Sthepanie Miranda. She's a Latina with some black mixed in, which explains her mocha complexion and huge wavy hair. She was a Miss USA Top 16 semifinalist back in 2020 representing Ohio, then because she was actually born in Puerto Rico she tried out for Miss Universe Puerto Rico were she ended in the Top Five, and now won Miss Grand USA and here she is, and she is firing on all cylinders that she is another of the major crown contenders. It seems Final Five is a lock for her, so the question is how high will she finish and can she win it all to deliver a 2nd crown for her country?
U. S. VIRGIN ISLANDS - Heather Marie Thompson. She was actually born and raised in the Continental United States (in particular, New York), but it seems flexible residency policies in the US territory allowed this Caucasian lady to represent what is normally a predominantly black Caribbean territory. She's polished on all aspects so she can be a Top 20 possibility.
UZBEKISTAN - Amaliya Shakirova. This model with significant training here in this country is making a great impression in all aspects, that she has an inside track into the Top 20.
VENEZUELA - Valentina Martinez. We do expect this powerhouse country to perform at a high level and this lady is no exception. However, seeing her as a Top 20 shoo-in, that's a big question as this year is loaded with fierce performers, and although she is keeping toe-to-toe with the best of them, there are just too many of them that her Top 20 placement is far from secure.
VIETNAM - Lê Hoàng Phương. The host candidate is making a splashy impression and is covering all bases. She seems to be on-track to finish in the Top 10, but the competition is very fierce for those limited slots.
With all 69 candidates accounted for, let me trot out my leaderboard:
TOP CONTENDERS: ANGOLA, COLOMBIA, INDONESIA, MYANMAR, PERU, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
SHOO-INS: CZECH REPUBLIC, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, NETHERLANDS, NIGERIA, PHILIPPINES, THAILAND, UZBEKISTAN, VIETNAM
LIKELIEST: AUSTRALIA, BELGIUM, BRAZIL, CANADA, COSTA RICA, GERMANY, GIBRALTAR, GUATEMALA, HONDURAS, INDIA, LAOS, MALAYSIA, MEXICO, NICARAGUA, PARAGUAY, PUERTO RICO, RUSSIA, SOUTH AFRICA, SPAIN, UKRAINE, UNITED KINGDOM, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS, VENEZUELA
PERSONALITY FACTOR: GHANA
EXCELLENT: ARGENTINA, BELARUS, BOLIVIA, BONAIRE, CHILE, CUBA, DENMARK, FRANCE, IRELAND, ITALY, PANAMA, ROMANIA, TÜRKIYE,
VERY STRONG: ALBANIA, CAMBODIA, ECUADOR, EGYPT, EL SALVADOR, GREECE, HAITI, JAPAN, KOREA, NEPAL, POLAND, SEYCHELLES, SINGAPORE, SWITZERLAND,
STRONG: HONG KONG, TAIWAN, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
Here is my "Fearful" Forecast:
FINAL FIVE: ANGOLA, COLOMBIA, INDONESIA, MYANMAR, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
TOP 10: CZECH REPUBLIC, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, NIGERIA, PERU, VIETNAM
TOP 20: CANADA, HONDURAS, INDIA, NETHERLANDS, PHILIPPINES, PUERTO RICO, SPAIN, THAILAND, UKRAINE, UZBEKISTAN
BUBBLING UNDER: AUSTRALIA, BELGIUM, BRAZIL, COSTA RICA, GERMANY, GIBRALTAR, GUATEMALA, LAOS, MALAYSIA, MEXICO, NICARAGUA, PARAGUAY, RUSSIA, SOUTH AFRICA, UNITED KINGDOM, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS, VENEZUELA
STRIKING DISTANCE: ARGENTINA, BELARUS, BOLIVIA, BONAIRE, CHILE, CUBA, DENMARK, FRANCE, GHANA, IRELAND, ITALY, PANAMA, ROMANIA, TÜRKIYE
It looks like a six-way race for the crown, with COLOMBIA (Maria Fernanda Lopez) having the slight edge to win it all. But still, don't count out the petite fellow Latina from neighboring PERU (Luciana Fuster), or it could be the dusky Afro-Latina from the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (Sthephenie Miranda) or an Asian like INDONESIA (Ritassya Wellgreat) or MYANMAR (Ni Ni Lin EEain), or the shaven-head African from ANGOLA (Eugenia das Neves). And if you think the race for the crown is brutal, the race for the Top 10 slots is equally as brutal as 14 ladies are fiercely fighting for those 10 slots. I see a very exciting contest underway.
JUST ME!
JOSEPH
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