Miss Universe Catriona gray opened the show from a
pre-taped segment featuring all 40 contestants wearing casual white tops
and trousers and showing them posing in several famous historical sites in the
Philippines the segment lasts about two and a half minutes long and ends with
Catriona describing the qualities and purpose of a Binibini
I thought the opening number was amazing I like the nationalistic elements would
with Philippine cadets marching and caring Philippine flags I like the theme
song raise your flag which is based on the
answer that Catriona Gray gave during the top twenty round of the Miss Universe
2018 when how Steve Harvey asked her if you were to write a song about your
experience here in Miss Universe what would you call it and she answered, "Well
you know Steve as a Miss Philippines I've always felt the love and the
support of the Filipino people and I think brought half of my country here tonight and so I would name the song "Raise Your Flag" because I stand here not as one but as 104 million Filipinos!"
hey Cat did you know that 4 million new Filipino babies have been born since then?
The song is also a tribute to Philippine Independence Day held on June
12 when the country declared is independence from Spain so what do I
think of the opening outfit well you certainly didn't see any boring Sherri
Hill dresses that's for sure the girls wore a military inspired
sleeveless write dress with gold fringe epaulets and the outfit complements the
military theme of the number.
I don't know the name of the choreographer but guys if you know his
name please comment below. Anyway whoever he is he did a fantastic job
teaching the girls challenging down steps and hand gestures that include
raising their fists doing the salute wow talk about empowering women or in this
case empowering FIlipinas. Luckily no one tripped
slipped or fell and kudos to Miss Bacolod for stepping out of the
formation and doing her own thing you go girl
and don't you just love it when the girls scream their names and the places
they represent it's not only a beauty pageant it is also a screaming match I
love the stage, it was colorful and huge and allowed plenty of space for the
girls to move around speaking of the co-hosts Ana Curtis could pass as one of
the contestants to a new beauty and dynamic stage presence
she was very expressive and I love that she had four outfit changes during the
entire show and she was also very encouraging of the girls who were
nervous or had mediocre communication skills Richard Gutierrez on the other
hand well his sneak demeanor served as an antidote to Anne's infectious
enthusiasm but he did look dapper in his tuxedo. Oh, and just in case you didn't
know, Anne and Richard used to date each other and Richard is the younger brother
of Ruffa Gutierrez, Miss World Philippines 1993.
Now let's talk about the top 25 swimsuit competition honestly I didn't like the pace of the swimsuit
competition at all it felt a little rushed and it didn't allow the viewers
enough time to appreciate the contestant from specific angles I would have
preferred to see the 25 semi-finalists wear different colored swimsuits
perhaps representing the six colors of the rainbow flag to pay tribute to Pride
Month hey I noticed it in one contestant whose bikini bottom was running up her
butt she obviously forgot to use butt glue
oh and there were eight or ten girls including two of the six winners whom I thought were out of shape, lacked tone
or needed to lose 10 to 15 pounds anyway I thought that Emma Tiglao ruled
this competition. her catwalk, stage presence, projection, poses and attitude
were Miss Universe worthy
the gown worn by Aya Abesamis was designed by legendary Filipino designer
Rene salud the same designer who designed the gown worn by desiree
verdadero at Miss Universe 1984 pageant Desiree happens to be Aya's mother
notice the similarity in style between mother and daughters respective gown
ten more girls were eliminated after a swimsuit and evening gown competition
this was followed by a question-and-answer portion where each
of the remaining 15 semi-finalists had to respond to a question asked by a
judge who had to pick the regional name of the contender and a question from a
box held by Nicole Cordoves, Binibining Pilipinas Grand International 2016. One
of the judges was Gloria Diaz - first Miss Universe from the Philippines they
seem to love Gloria because she judges almost every year and fans always
anticipate her question and especially her reaction to contestants' response
Gloria got to ask Miss Malabon Jessica Marasigan a question on pollution
Philippines has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world but we are also
ranked one of the top three or four most polluted ocean. we're full of plastics
now... oh my god
did Gloria just throw she ate a plastic people it seems like it well she's right
I met many shallow and cold-hearted people in the pageant industry myself
even though all the girls spoke good English many of them did not really
answer the question asked to them it is the age of gender equality can you say
that Filipino men still practice chivalry or courtesy towards women but
we Filipinos women and men are able to be are able to show the capabilities of
the heart of a Filipino that we are able to show to the people that we are not
just Filipinos with ordinary capabilities but we are Filipinos with
extraordinary capabilities I don't think she understood the question at all and
played safe by giving a safe answer another contestant
Maria it's a delicate area was asked this question and we need to be able to
stand here confidently representing not only myself but the 800,000 Sorsogonans
is something that speaks courage empowerment and thank you she
started by greeting the audience in her native dialect Bicolano and then
answered the question in English but instead of giving a specific example of
a risk you know like spending less quality time with her family or being
separated from them for a long time or even giving up her favorite foods to
lose weight I mean those are real and risks that you have to take in order to
get a crown instead; she gave a generic response and it was really very
disappointing though I have to say she has
one of the most exquisite faces in the competition and I would like her to
come back next year. Even heavy favorite Gazini Ganados failed to deliver a
substantial answer to her question hello hi if you win the crown tonight
what can you do to get more women in the workplace if I win the crown tonight
what I will do is to promote my advocacy my focus 'is for us women to
fight for our rights and for the elderly care... Gazini attempted to relate her
advocacy caring for the elderly to the question at hand but she didn't quite
succeed in doing it. her answer was also a generic and abstract.I would have
liked her to say something like, "Lack of elderly care is a big problem in the
country and if I win a crown tonight I would use my advocacy to persuade women
to enter the caregiving industry and to take care of the elderly who have been
neglected or forgotten by their own families." BAM!
one of the frontrunners the Vicki Rushton was asked the question, "Why is mental
health as important as physical health? She started okay but later choked after
the pageant she posted on her social media to someone from the audience was
making faces at her which distracted her from completing her thought. Well, be that
as it may but an essential part of training for the Q&A segment is how to
overpower hecklers and rude people from the audience. I actually felt bad for
Vicki and virtually all of her fans expected her to win one of the six
titles especially after she won most of special awards. "Mental health is as important as physical health because of her
inner being. Being having self-love is important and
as a woman... as a woman I can inspire and empower the people to take care of
themselves, to take care of their mind as well as their health because they are
they will be as effective
I feel that Bea Patricia Magtanong gave the best answer she
listened to the question she understood the question and she gave a clear and
coherent response. her question was, "If you have the opportunity to meet
somebody globally influential who would that be
and why? "I really idolized Angelina Jolie because she was blessed with such a
thriving career in Hollywood but then as a woman she was able to use that
influence that voice and that audience to advocate for the causes that she
believes in like world hunger with a UN and someday if I am given the chance I
would like to be just like her. thank you!" Overall the general tone of the answers
is somewhat serious I would have loved to see one or two girls apply wit or
humor in the response and that would have surely earned them a universal
applause.
Catriona's farewell speech will go down in history as one of the best if not the
best farewell speech ever given by beauty queen. She spoke with so much
sincerity and passion it was very moving and it actually got me teary-eyed the
essence of her speech was about conquering conquering yourself
conquering others and conquering for a purpose. you can read the transcript of
her entire speech in the description box below. "Each and everyone of us is a king or queen with the ability to conquer the
universe whatever that may be for you." in conclusion I think the Philippines has
selected another strong batch of new queens and I have a feeling that the
country will win at least three international crowns in 2019. we'll just
have to see and find out till the next time bye