Originally, the 2024 edition of Miss Grand International was intended to be staged in Myanmar. However, Myanmar is currently mired in a civil war that even if it has not actually affected main urban centers like Yangon, it is still a dangerous proposition to hold an even there. About August of this year, the pageant founder and head Nawat Itsaragrisil was able to announce that this edition will still be held as scheduled, but this time there would be two joint host nations, Cambodia and Thailand, the former providing some preliminary events but the finals would be staged in Bangkok, Thailand.
There were 75 countries that confirmed. However, there were two ladies who no-showed for unspecified reasons: LATVIA (Sabina Saharova) and PORTUGAL (Inês Isabel Perestrello). Both seem to be attractive ladies who may not generate standout impressions needed to make serious inroads into the final, but might be worthwhile contenders at best if they made it.
So, 73 delegates departed for Cambodia for the anticipated initial events in that country. But after the sashing ceremony, Nawat was apparently so displeased with the hosting that he unilaterally decided to cancel the remaining events in Cambodia, fly all the delegates to Thailand where they would recreate and stage the remaining events. Two of the contestants withdrew in the process of relocation:
CAMBODIA - Sotheary Bee. The team from Cambodia decided to take advantage of the hosting honors to field one of their best representatives yet. She garnered enough buzz that Nawat invited her in his so-called "Top 10 Pre-Favorites" dinner. But then, according to the Cambodian organizers, Nawat then became extremely demanding and imposed a host of last-minute changes that the Cambodian team found impossible to meet, and as a result Nawat huffily canceled all Cambodian events and with this acrimony in the process, this lady had to withdraw.
COSTA RICA - Macarena Chamberlain. This Latina with jet-black tresses is attractive, but I don't quite see charisma, so if she had stayed the course she would've been an also-ran. Apparently all the behind-the-scenes drama with teh change of host did adverse effects on her mental health that she decided to withdraw from the competition instead of joining the rest to fly to Thailand.
After staging a glitzy press conference in Bangkok and staging a swimsuit competition in Pattaya, two more cotnestants decided to withdraw:
HONG KO9NG - Kaylie Cheung. This autonomous Chinese territory has not fielded strong contenders to this pageant, and this lady is just at that level with her predecessors. After the gala Bangkok press conferece, she dropped out of competition as she was absent in the swimsuit event. No reasons were disclosed for her withdrawal.
UKRAINE - Kateryna Bilyk. Unlike HONG KONG, this lady participated in the swimsuit event, but then afterwards, announced her withdrawal and expressed in social media that the conditions were too restricting and did not allow freedom of movement, that it is detrimental to her mental health. Nawat, as usual, issued his counter-statements and denounced her, claiming breach of contract.
So what about the remaining 69 delegates who stayed the course? Was there more drama that awaits, or will the events ran smoothly by then? Read on as wwe review them...
COMING UP: ALBANIA to COLOMBIA
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