Shamcey Supsup, our very own representative to the 2011 Miss Universe pageant finished 3rd Runner-Up (4th place) in the recently held iconic beauty competition in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Angola’s Leila Lopes took home the crown.
Miss Philippines placed a notch higher this year. In 2010’s Miss Universe, Philippines represented by Venus Raj placed 4th Runner-up (5th place). Compared to Shamcey, Venus was an early favourite to win the crown but failed to make it due to a major, major miss during the final question and answer.
This year the Bb. Pilipinas organization led by Stella Araneta learned their lessons well. It was Q&A where we lost thus they will never commit the same mistake again. True enough Shamcey was a beauty to behold during the last round with one of the anchors commenting that her answer “blew me away”. She was very articulate, the only girl who answered without an interpreter by the way & responded with confidence & humility. Her answer to Vivica Fox’s question, “Would you change your religion to marry the man you love who has a different belief?” reflected her personality & conservative upbringing. I must say Shamcey’s parents are very proud with her response telling the judges & the whole world that she won’t change her religion because first & foremost her first love is God, her Creator.
Shamcey’s answer was not surprising considering that she is a Filipina & was schooled in a conservative Catholic school back in her province at Gen San. Her answer was neither wrong nor right. It was a matter of personal opinion. The main factor why she did not take home the crown would be because her answer may not have universal appeal. It was a very safe answer. She could have won the crown & everyone’s applause if she took a risk & explored options in her reply.
A better answer in my opinion would be to say that religion is not a hindrance at all in relationships. Although it is a factor for a successful relationship it should not be the entire basis at all. She could have added momentum by opining that we only have one God & His love is universal thus two people with different religions as long as they have pure love for each other may succeed in their relationship because they are being unified by just one God & to show practicality & flexibility in her personality she could have said, strong relationships are based on mutual understanding & respect for each other & with a strong foundation of pure love for each other definitely there will always be means for two different people to meet halfway harmoniously. If she thought that way, I would say, she could be our 3rd Miss Universe. But I am not Shamcey. And we think differently.
Personally, I was satisfied with her answer. The feeling, of course is really different when you’re up stage. I can’t even tell if one will be able to think straight once fielded with a very simple question upon realizing that your country is counting on you & a billion people worldwide is waiting both for your victory or downfall. What brings me with so much pride is that Shamcey didn’t fail us. She was able to dispel rumours that Filipinas are just pretty & have nothing between their ears. She regained last year’s Q&A disappointment with Venus Raj & Miriam Quiambao’s unprepared reply in 1999.
Miss Angola didn’t finish her answer but it was filled with substance. She was able to point her message well. I think she earned a high score from Lea Salonga alone who questioned her who has been very vocal about rooting for a candidate not only with beauty, grace & charm but with substance. Angola’s Leila Lopes answered with charm. She was smiling all throughout her response & with such firmness stood by her own opinion but justified herself graciously.
Angola’s Lopes was a strong candidate even from the beginning. She stood out during the preliminaries with her stunning beauty, perfect posture, grace & elegance especially during the evening gown competition. Her nearly perfect bronzed skin spelled I OWN THE UNIVERSE in her own way.
I did not have a personal bet to win Miss Universe this year. As compared with last year I was really betting my two cents on Venus. Down to the last round I thought Miss China will be the one to win the crown purely because of business reasons. Donald Trump has set his eyes on doing business with other countries & giving China the win mark would surely be a first step in tying up his business plans with today’s rising economy, China.
Miss China was a dark horse in the pageant. However she proved her way to the Top 5 with her disarming beauty. She is such a sight to captivate. She is also one of the tallest & sexiest. In her evening gown she spelled fierce & elegance. Too bad her answer during the last round ruined her chances. Her reply was quite unorganized & too limited.
Miss Philippines was not my personal bet at all. To be honest, I was not that confident that Shamcey will make it. I was more confident with Venus before. But good thing she proved me wrong. Her performance in the preliminaries definitely was a good one & fielded her with such excellent scores.
The surprise candidate to join the Top 16 was Miss Portugal. It was unexpected. She landed a spot purely because of the online polls. However during the swimsuit round for the Top 16 her beauty & physique cannot be denied. She even made it as far as joining the Top 10.
There were a few though on my personal list that didn’t make it to the Top 16. Bolivia had a face to behold but from what I’ve heard she flunked during the online interviews. Curacao was equally stunning as Angola & Trinidad&Tobago. I wonder what happened to her. Maybe she didn’t have a strong fan base.
Miss Bolivia's Olivia Pinheiro
Miss Curacao's Eva Van Putten
Slovak Republic, a very pretty girl was amiss as well. Perhaps the prettiest of them all, Miss Mexico also didn’t make it. Could it be because she was pretty enough to be a Hollywood actress? And that didn’t appeal to the organizers.
Miss Slovak Republic's Dagmar Kolesarova
Miss Mexico's Karin Ontiveros
Where was Miss Malaysia? Initially, we thought her as a strong front-runner. Dominican Republic & Greece, both of beauty queen stature also failed to make the cut.
Miss Malaysia's Debirah Henry
Miss Dominican Republic's Dalia Fernandez
Miss Greece's Iliana Papageorgiou
My unexpected finalists aside from Portugal were Kosovo & Netherlands. How come I weren’t noticing them with all the pre-pageant hooplas? They did not advance to the Top 10 though. They were not in my list for the Top 10. At least from that perspective I was right.
Miss Kosovo-Aferdita Dreshaj
Miss Netherlands-Kelly WeekersIf there is one category that I am good at judging at I would say it will be the swimsuit competition. Maybe because after all, I am a male & I am able to sense what men want when their girls flaunt in their bikinis.
All of my Top 7 bets from the Top 16 finalists made it to the Top 10. They were Costa Rica, France & Ukraine, my three highest scorers. Angola, Australia, Brazil & Philippines followed their lead. It was surprising that perennial pageant winners Puerto Rico, Venezuela & Colombia did not advance to the Top 10.
Miss Costa Rica's Johanna Solano
Miss France's Laury Thilleman
Miss Ukraine's Olesia Stefanko
During the evening gown my personal favourites were Australia, Costa Rica & Angola. All of them were stunning & very glamorous on stage. However Australia & Costa Rica didn’t make it. One thing I realized though, a woman’s true beauty really shines during the evening gown competition.
Today is such a victorious day for all Filipinos. I am sure every Filipino is real proud that we made waves in this year’s Miss Universe. Not only were we represented by the most beautiful Filipina but also our credibility in judging real beauties with substance were personified in Lea Salonga.
Aside from being this year’s Miss Universe 3rd Runner-up, Shamcey is a true winner indeed especially in the hearts of Filipinos because she just proved that Filipinas are well-rounded individuals who can be glamorous, sexy & beautiful at the same time without neglecting her roots, principles & values while being globally competitive.
For all beauty pageant aficionados Shamcey definitely sparked our country’s momentum more. She is an inspiration for being able to regain previous Miss Philippines candidates slump in the final question & answer. It will be more pressure to our country’s next candidate to the Miss Universe pageant because Shamcey, and Venus as well, quenched our decade-long drought in Miss Universe. Both girls did a very good job & the next contender, with all expectations soaring up is compelled to do better.
MISS UNIVERSE 2011: Angola – Leila Lopes
1st Runner-up: Ukraine – Olesia Stefanko
2nd Runner-up: Brazil – Priscilla Machado
3rd Runner-up: Philippines – Shamcey Supsup
4th Runner-up: China – Luo Zilin
TOP 10 Finalists:
Australia – Scherri-lee Biggs
Costa Rica – Johanna Solano
France – Laury Thilleman
Portugal – Laura Goncalves
Panama – Sheldry Saez
TOP 16 Finalists:
Puerto Rico – Viviana Ortiz
Venezuela – Vanessa Goncalves
Colombia – Catalina Robayo
Kosovo – Aferdita Dreshaj
Netherlands – Kelly Weekers
USA – Alyssa Campanella
I was also correct in betting for the Best in National Costume: PANAMA – Sheldry Saez
