It was a drawn out effort deciding the next venue for the 71st Miss World. First there wre initial confirmation that it will be held in the United Arab Emirates, but that fell through and India stepped in. And the 71st edition was supposed to be held towards the end of the year, as was customary for this pageant throughout most of its lifetime. However, supposedly considerations towards the drawn-out Indian elections made them decide to move the initially scheduled November 2023 dates to March 2024 instead, perhaps a time when all those election concerns would die down.
At least with the dates finally secured, they staged a splashy press launch in February that featured a reunion of the last five titleholders, Puerto Rico's Stephanie del Valle (2017), India's Manushi Chhillar (2017), Mexico's Vanessa Ponce (2018), Jamaica's Toni-Ann Singh (2019/2020), and the reigning winner, Poland's Karolina Bielawska.(2021-2022). It's nice to see after the brouhaha of the last edition's staging that Stephanie is backin the good graces of the organization. It was here at this event that it was announced that moving forward they are calling this whole thing a "festival" instead of an "event" or a "pageant", as a "festival" is more encompassing of what they aim to cover in the entire proceedings.
The Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai, India proved to be a resplendently grandiose venue to stage the finals of this "festival". As expected, they pull off all the fireworks for the Bollywood opening number "What Jhumka?" that is remixed for the occasion to then featue the 112 delegates dancing along with the number in their national costumes. Although they try to cleverly edit the esteemed panel of judges and the audience reacting to the spectacle, this was actually a pre-taped segment, as the way the stage is set up featuring a center round area being occupied by the judges being empty during this number.
After that number, the hosts for the evening were introduced: veteran Indian presenter and producer Karan Johar and actress/Miss World 2013 from the Philippines, Megan Young. I don't quite gravitate well with Karan's hosting style, but Megan's luminous presence and Western-oriented hosting style makes it all a great watch. Sure, during a latter portion of this event Megan drew some online flak, I thought she was just being a compassionate, attentive, helpful host at that moment.
The next sequence of course was the introduction of the delegates. Like througout this "festival", they are presented by continents, starting with the Americas & Caribbean, followed by Africa, and then after a brief commercial break, Europe, and Asia & Oceania. Each lady strutted confidently in her evening gown as each are itnroduced by country to strains of instrumental music laced with Indian sitars.
Once the introductions were done, it was time to recap the previous events that transpired throughout this "festival" as Karan and Megan announced the Fast-Track winners. As is current tradition, they would highlight the winner of the Talent last, ss she would perform her talent live, with a production number. In this case, the winner was TUNISIA (Imen Mehrzi) and she was able to perform her song accompanied by a Bollywood-style production. I have a feeling her win was because her musical talent is the one most compatible to the Indian public's taste and that was why she was given the spotlight.
Most of the time, after the fast-track winners were announced they would then announce the Trest of the Top 40. But this time, they decided to kowtow and yield airtime to a sponsor, a tie-in promotion for te Indian Netflix series Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar. So the 13 fast-track finalists were clad in resplendent traditional Indian outfits and then they were followed by 13 of the stars from the aforementioned series the series' theme song "Sakal Ban". The outfits presented were undeniably regal and resplendent.
After the commercial break, there was another number with the 112 contestants strutting and dancing en masse to Shaan's "Tu Aaj Ki Naari Hai [You are the Woamn of Today", a fusion modern/traditional dance track, as they sported Indian fashions designed by famous Indian designer Archana Kochhar. I have to say I actually like the fashions paraded in this sequence--as introduced by Karan and Megan, a great fusion of music, culture, and fashion.
Right after that number, the remainder of the Top 40 was announced. Again, of course the annuncement were done region-by-region, and they were announced alphabetically--so if a country was skipped alphabetically, you know their Top 40 prospects were over.
As that brutal cut was announced, it's time I pay tribute to the Holly Carpenter Awardees--women who garnered significant positive buzz amongst the pageant denizens but did not figure in any shortlist. I'll first start with honorable mentions, this time from the:Caribbean region: GUYANA (Andrea King) and JAMAICA (Shanique Singh). Like in the main pageant, i will announce finalist from each continental region: For the Americas, we have two finalists, so you kno one of them is the overall winner: COLOMBIA (Camila Pinzón) and MEXICO (Alejandra Diaz). The Holly Carpenter Continental Champions for the other regions are: Africa - ANGOLA (Florinda José), Europe - MOLDOVA (Diana Spotarenko), and Asia & Oceania - KAZAKHSTAN (Tomiris Kakimova). So who between COLOMBIA and MEXICO is the overall winner of this award? My choice is COLOMBIA, because her credentials on paper should've gotten her more serious inroads with the judges and powers-that-be, but she somehow did not get any attention, so MEXICO is the continental campion by default.
It's time to announce the Ruth Ocumarez Awardees, which is lately more popularly known in many pageant circles as the El Tocuyo Award.: I'll first announce my honorable mentions, all coming from the continent of Europe: Four of them are a bevy of blonde lookers--two from the Nordic*1 region with ESTONIA (Adriana Mass) and SWEDEN (Stina Nordlander), and two from the British Isles with IRELAND (Ivanna McMahon) and SCOTLAND (Chelsie Allison) . Then, there is the lady rated the top performer for Top Model for Europe, SLOVAKIA (Sophia Hrivňáková)--I know some pageant pundits might want to place her as the European champion for this award, but I feel the continental title goes to one who had a higher finish in one fast-track and figured in the prestigious Head-to-Head challenge. So my champion for Europe would be NORTHERN IRELAND (Kaitlyn Clarke), Time to announce the finalists from the other regions: For the Americas it's the UNITED STATES (Victoria DiSorbo), for Africa it's GHANA (Miriam Xorlasi), and two finalists for Asia & Oceania, PHILIPPINES (Gwendoline Fourniol) and THAILAND (Tharina Botes).
*1 Yes, officially Estonia is NOT Nordic, but Estonia likes hanging around and counting itself as part of this contingent.
So who between The PHILIPPINES and THAILAND won the overall title for the Ruth Ocumarez Award? Because of her placement in four fast-track events, including two perceived as the best predictors for an overall high finish (Head-to-Head and Top Model), it has to go to the PHILIPPINES. It's such a big upset when she wasn't called into the Top 40 especially with all those placements in the run-up to the finals. The closest thing we have to this kind of upset was all the way back in 2015, when India's Aditi Arya failed to make the Top 20*2 despite amassing points for being shortlisted in Talent, Top Model and making Top Five in Multimedia, plus theoretically getting credit for having a Beauty with a Purpose (BWAP) project--considering she failed to make the Top 20 despite all those potential points indicate she had a poor interview score. So why despite being shortlisted in the Head-to-Head challenge (because she communicated her advocacy well) was Gwen shut out of the Top 40? Sure, some pageant fans and pundits were not that bullish on her charisma to begin with, but I have a gnawing feeling it seems the insiders and powers-that-be felt she probably came off as too "programmed" to do well in the competition aspects that they feel they don't have a sense of the "true" personality underneath all that--even if you ask me I think what she presented was really her. I suppose we have to console ourselves that she figured in four fast-track shortlists (Head-to-Head, Top Model, Talent, and for the first time ever for our country, Sports).
*2 From 2011-2015, they employed a points system where the challenge events are not necessarily fast-track events but were events that would help you amass points when you rank high or got shortlisted in that event, and if you amass enough ponts you get to make the final cut. Since 2016, you either win any of the fast-track event or popular vote or hope you win over the judges and insiders to make the final cut.
COMING UP: THE TOP 40.
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