The 61st Miss International Pageant featured a grand final that is arguably the tightest, most streamlined pageant in this millennium. What normally would be a four-to-five hour slog eventually reduced its total runtime to three-and-a-half hours, and the only lagging lull took place when the judges deliberate to determine the winner, as that process took about 25 minutes. Here were the ways how they managed to tighten up the proceedings.
- They turned the delegates'' introduction into a pre-taped sequence. In a polished and edited video, each delegate stated their names, their countries, and their professions/occupations.
- There was no swimsuit competition whatsoever in the final--but there was another polished and edited pre-taped segment presenting the delegates in their swimwear, apparently filmed in the same lush garden area as the introduction segment. It served as the transition moment while the delegates changed from their national costumes to their evening gowns. It should also be noted that after the Top 15 was called, there was also no swimsuit competition anymore--whatever impression the judges have in their costumes, evening gown, and pre-taped swimsuit segment is what they would go by to decide the Final Seven.
The final opened with a three-minute DJ set by Danshi Dance which then segued to the pre-taped delegate introduction segment. This was followed by a brief interlude by Danshi Dance and then segued to YouTube pianist Harami-Chan, who passionately performed her medley of pop and jazz melodies as the delegates emerged and gathered about in national costumes swaying along to Harami-Chan's music, and after all ladies gathered in a tableau and Harami ended the set, the male host, Tetsuya Bessho emerged to interview Harami-Chan as the delegates went backstage, and after that chat he went to the host podium where he was accompanied by co-host Rachel Chan. After some hosts' banter, Rachel went on to introduce the board of judges. Then, set to another DJ set by Danshi Dance featuring among a few other tracks, Cardi B, Bad Bunny and J. Balvin's 2018 smash "I Like It"*1, Eurythmics' 1983 ckassuc "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", and Australian/New Zealand EDM duo Shouse's 2017 single*2 "Love Tonight", the delegates again individually paraded in thier national costumes.
*1 Prominently using the sample of a classic 1967 Pete Rodriguez song "I Like It Like That". The song became popular in pop culture since the 1990s when an all-star group called the Blackout Allstars (compsed of Latin music legends Tito Nieves (lead vocal), Ray Barretto, Tito Puente, Paquito D'Rivera, Dave Valentin, erstwhile pop star but forever percussion legend Sheila E., and jazz saxophone legend Grover Washington, Jr.) covered the song.
*2 It belatedly became a pan-European smash in 2021.
After the costume parade, they trotted out the outgoing queen, Jasmin Selberg, who gave a very sincere and heartfelt speech about her reign (which proved to be a very productive reign as she got to travel to many countries), talking about how she started her reign like a child, wondering how she even got to win the pageant, and then about how fans labeled her the "humble queen" and the "kind queen", and that inspired her to leave as her legacy a legacy of kindness and to stand up to bullying and to other bad things going on in the world right now. With her speech and message, she reminded me of the character of Cheryl Frasier (played by Heather Burns) in the 2000 Sandra Bullock film Miss Congeniality, who eventually became the winner of the fictional Miss United States pageant, as Jasmin exuded that utterly sweet and empathetic vibe (of course, not the flaky part) of that character..
This was then followed by the pre-recorded swimsuit segment, set to Dua Lipa's 2021 hit "Break My Heart". Then, back to live competition with the evening gown parade, with all delegates walking to Sara Bareilles's 2009 single "Gravity". The hosts then announced the winners of the continental titles (which is actually congeniality prizes) before the Top 15 were announced. After a 6-minute break, Harami-Chan was back with her baby grand piano to perform a piano ballad medley of Keala Settle's 2017 The Greatest Showman hit "This is Me" and Celine Dion's 1996 ballad "To Love You More"*3.as the Top 15 paraded in their evening gowns again.
*3 Featuring Japanese violinist Taro Haikase, it became a huge hit in Japan and most of Asia like our country.
While the judges deliberated to select the Final Seven, Harami-Chan stayed onstage and added an organ/synthesizer and performed a lively pop medley featuring a very disparate mix*4 of songs from various eras that don't seem to make sense performed together on paper but somehow Harami managed to make them flow well into each other. As she performed, the non-finalists emerged from backstage to come up and dance along to her music.
*4 The medley included The Jackson 5's 1969 classic "I Want You Back", Stevie Wonder's 1977 smash "Sir Duke", The Beatles' 1968 track "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da", Queen's 1980 smash "Another One Bites the Dust", Roy Orbison's 1964 classic "Oh, Pretty Woman", Daft Punk (featuring Pharrell Williams)'s 2013 smash "Get Lucky", Bruno Mars' 2010 smash "Just the Way You Are", The Carpenters' 1972 smash "Top of the World", ABBA's 1976 classic "Dancing Queen", Van Halen's 1984 smash "Jump", Billie Eilish's 2019 smash "Bad Guy", and a couple of other tracks I couldn't quite pick up.
Then, the Final Seven was announced, and in a new innovation for this pageant, instead of a prepared "cultural speech", it is now a Q&A round, where each finalist pick a question from a jar and then give their answers. After a 30-minute deliberation, they announced the special award winners and the final winners were announced.
It's interesting that after the winner was crowned, this organization initiated another new feature--they announced the full rankings of the Top 15 (plus the five that bubbled under) and disclosed the Top Seven in the National Costume, Evening Gown, and "Fitness" (the term they now use for Swimsuit) categories.
I will organize my review by starting with the delegates who not only missed the cut, but were not shortlisted in the competition categories (Fitness, National Costume, and Evening Gown) nor won any special award.
AUSTRALIA - Jazel Alarca. Based on her name and very Asian features, she's of Filipino descent. She's attractive but obviously did not make any standout impact so her missing the cut was expected.
BANGLADESH - Farzana Yasmin Ananna. In the popular vote polls, early in the race she was leading the Asia/Pacific region, so she almostgarnered a Top 15 slot. But she was overtaken first by fans of the PHILIPPINES and eventually VIETNAM. She would've needed that fast-track, as I thought she would've been in the same boat as AUSTRALIA.
BELGIUM - Jolien Pede. I find her a gorgeous blonde who actually was a polished presence onstage. I guess this year the preliminary and final night judging panel were simply not into blondes (with one Latina exception) this year unlike the way they had three last year (including the eventual winner).
BRAZIL - Beatriz Goulart. This country is usually a powerhouse, but this year they fielded a contender who is only solid at most and doesn't make much impact. This was why I only put her in my "Striking Distance" list.
CANADA - Melanie Renaud. Her predecessor, Madison Kvaltin (who is now representing her country in El Salvador at the Miss Universe pageant), made Top Eight last year, and I thought this lady has what it takes to duplicate her feat, but I suppose her underwhelming choice of costume (a baseball outfit, really?) and the fact that there are other strong contenders out there made her fall short of making the cut.
CHILE - Valerie Johnson. She's pretty, but I think she fell a bit short in terms of stage presence. It doesn't help matters that her choice of national costume was basically a pink babydoll dress.
COSTA RICA - Stacy Montero. Like CHILE, she's another pretty face but was overshadowed by standout contenders out there.
CUBA - Sheyla Ravelo. There are some pageant fans and pundits who felt this lady could have had an inside track to the Top 15 as she has the flowy brunette locks that this year's preliminary panel seems to prefer and some considered her figure va-va-voom. But somehow she didn't gain much traction with insiders and the preliminary panel, so she is relegated to this bin.
CZECH REPUBLIC - Dominika Němečková. I personally liked her looks that was why I put her in my Top 15 forecast, but it seems she just wasn't the insiders and preliminary judges' type, so she was a bit of a shock boot.
DENMARK - Julie brink. I think the way she styled her hair during the preliminary interview and fitness rounds may have doomed her from being in Top 15 contention. That top bun didn't quite flatter her.
ECUADOR - Georgette Kalil. She's a polished contender, but her face is not as charismatic as other Latina standouts out there, so this why she missed the cut.
EL SALVADOR - Daniella Hidalgo. I actually like her pretty face and thought she is the sort who could be considered "refreshing" in the eyes of the predominantly Japanese panel. But I suppose she didn't quite win over the insiders and preliminary panel, and hurting matters was her choice of evening gown--it was a droopy four-layered mess of a gown.
ESTONIA - Karolin Kippasto. I like this raven-tressed lady and thought especially since Jasmin has connections with her country, maybe this will give this lady an inside track to the finals. She probably fell just short of making the Top 20, but then I could've said the same thing about several others, like BELGIUM, CANADA, CZECH REPUBLIC, EL SALVADOR, and several others...
COMING UP: FINLAND to NICARAGUA
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