At the end of a very topsyturvy pageant, where too many layers of preliminary competitions within the competition, and a weird set that had all of the beautiful contestants sitting behind desks, looking like a telethon board waiting for phone calls, a very exotic 26-year-old VANESSA PONCE DE LYON “Miss Mexico” captured the judges nod, and, finally won the “MISS WORLD 2018” crown and title last week in Sanya, China.

TOO MANY LAYERS

118 Beauty Queen representatives from all over the world were gathered in China for about a month of pre-pageant activities; photo shoots, cultural tours, interviews, rehearsals, and fittings were a must. But, the activities were crowded by several preliminary competitions like the Head to Head challenge, the Sportswoman competition, Top model Award, Top Designer Award, the National Costume Competition, Dances of the World Challenge, Talent competition, Multi-Media competition and the Beauty with a Purpose Award, which serves as the benchmark for the Miss World Organization, where each contestant has to present a successful charitable/community project that they’ve worked on in their individual countries. The winners of these preliminaries are automatically placed in the top 30, semi-finalists.

TIRING PROCESS

One contestant said that the rehearsals and traveling to several cities in China were tiring within itself. “Then to concentrating on doing well in all these preliminary competitions made me lose focus on the main event. By the time the finals came around I was totally exhausted.” It became even more confusing when they announced that there were five winners of the `Beauty with a Purpose’ award and five Continental `Queens’ were announced. Each continent had a winner and those became the top five finalists.

UNPROFESSIONALISM

In a failed effort to be relevant, this year’s `Miss World’ pageant on television turned out to be a comedy of errors. The production was lacking on every level, missing audio whenever the cameras switched to the activities that the contestants participated in was very unprofessional, there was no easy flow between segments, and, a lack of the smooth transition between the five-stage hosts (too many hosts), added to the confusion. Even to the end, when it came to the announcement of the winners turned out to be a botched affair. Only the first runner-up and the Queen were announced.

GO BACK TO BASICS

The Miss World Organization need to get back to basics and produce what they were known for – a simple straightforward beauty pageant with “Beauty with a Purpose” serving as the highlight of the pre-pageant activities. The Head to Head challenge needs to be scrapped, with 13 judges and weeks of pre-pageant activities, there was enough time to access the contestant’s intelligence level in private Q&A sessions, behind closed doors. All the other `stuff’ is unnecessary. Tell me, where does `Miss World’ use her Sportswoman abilities when she’s traveling for a year on her `Beauty with a Purpose’ mission?

TOP FIVE WINNERS

So, back to the final night – at least they picked the right winner. Vanessa Ponce de Lyon is a beautiful winner who has spent years working with several charitable organizations in her homeland of Mexico. She’s completing a degree in International Business and is on the Board of Directors at a Rehab Center for Girls, as well as a Volunteer for `Migrantes en El Cominos.’ Vanessa was also named “Miss World Americas.” The new “Miss World” will be joined by her four runners-up on a world tour in 2019 promoting `Miss World’ and their `Beauty with a Purpose’ Platforms. In second place was Nicolene Pichapa `Miss Thailand.’ named “Miss World Asia & the Oceanas.” Third was Maria Vasilevich `Miss Belarus,’ named “Miss World Europe.” Coming in fourth place was Kadijah Robinson `Miss Jamaica’ named “Miss World Caribbean” and Quiin Abenako ‘Miss Uganda’ named “Miss World Africa” placed fifth.