Pregnancy, overage issues hound Miss Intercontinental

BY ARLO CUSTODIO

JANUARY 22, 2019

Less than a week before the new Miss Intercontinental is crowned on January 26 at the Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena, the 47th edition is being hounded by controversies that might see less than 87 candidates on stage vying as successor to Veronica Salas Vallejo of Mexico.

In several pre-pageant events, the press noticed at least one candidate in an interesting stage, fanning rumors that she could soon be sent home.

A number of delegates from Europe and the Americas on the other hand seemed to look older than they had said they were, and were therefore thought to bid the pageant an early goodbye.

Seeking answers to the issues, The Manila Times talked to Miss Intercontinental executive director Bill Calubaquib following the National Costume Competition at Okada Manila’s Crystal Corridor on Saturday night.

Miss India Suman Chellani PHOTOS BY DJ DIOSINA

“There will still be 87 candidates during the finals. Miss India is not pregnant, she has some liver problems that could have bloated her tummy. She was already suffering during her national pageant, and her sickness manifested when she got here. It was because of the observation of her bulging waistline that she did not join the Swimsuit Competition, but she was in all the rest of the events,” Calubaquib explained.

As to the overage issue, particularly referencing to Miss Russia who looked a decade older or even more than the maximun age requirement, the pageant executive chuckled, pointing out that Asians are naturally younger looking compared to other races.

“The maximun age requirement is 27 and there are three or four candidates who are within that age right now. For Miss Russia, she’s only 25. She looks like a Barbie doll because she is actually ‘Russian Barbie.’ Walang mababawas sa candidates, 87 pa rin sila na rarampa sa Janury 26,” he averred.

Calubaquib also said that a Russian network wants to buy the rights to the pageant and the people behind the company confirmed that their candidate is indeed Miss Russian Barbie.

He likewise clarified that Binibining Pilipinas Charities, the franchise holder of Miss Intercontinental in the Philippines since 2015, is very supportive of the endeavor of the Japanese franchise holding the pageant in Manila contrary to reports!

Miss Russia Tatyana Tuzova

Becoming ‘Russian Barbie’

Model-fashion designer Tatyana Tuzova had been collecting Barbie dolls since childhood, and decided to make that image when her parents, friends and acquaintances told her she looked like the toys she had been stockpiling.

In her official biographical sketch, Tuzova wrote that she was born in Moscow into a family of musicians, and that she learned how to sew outfits for herself early on.

“I dyed my hair, then with the help of lenses changed the color of my eyes, [and] lost weight. I always understood that appearance in life is not the most important thing, so I devoted a lot of time to studying. Today, I have two degress as music teacher and public relations manager. I turned a hobby into a job. I recorded two solo albums, five video clips, gaining millions of views on YouTube; constant shooting and touring the cities of Russia, Europe and America. After this, people started to call me ‘Russian Barbie,’ then I won several prestigious awards: the Russian Music Box Music Award, the Women’s Success Awards – the Designer of the Year, the European Best Top Persons Award – [and] Best Pop Singer of the Year 2018.”

Miss Malaysia delves into Filipino roots

While there are those who frown at half-bred Filipinos representing the country in international pageants, did you know that there are also half- or even full-bloodied Filipinos wearing sashes of their home or adopted countries?

Representing Malaysia in this year’s Miss Intercontinental is Scarlett Megan Liew Zi Ling, 23, whose mother is from Toril, Davao City, and her father is ethnic Chinese Malaysan national.

Suprisingly, although this is her first time to set foot in the Philippines, the Sabah native fluently speaks not only Malaysian and English but Tagalog and Cebuano as well.

“My mother taught us at home, emphasizing that we should know the languages she herself speaks. This is my first time to come to the Philippines, kasi sabi ng nanay ko, we should visit the country only when we can do it by ourselves na,” she told The Manila Times at the sidelines of the National Costume Competition.

The middle of three siblings — she has an older brother and younger sister — she said that it was her maternal grandmother who would visit them in Malaysia. She placed Second Runner-Up in her national pageant and was appointed to carry the flag of Malaysia in the Miss Intecontinental pageant.

Good will and friendship is what beauty pageanty brings forming bonds strong among last year’s Miss Interncontinental candidates in Egypt. (From left) Miss Canada Mattea Henderson, Miss USA Racquel Basco and Miss Japan Kumi Miyamae are reunited in Manila to attend coronation night on January 26.

In the same pageant last year, representing Japan was Kumi Miyamae, whose mother hails from Baler, Quezon. She placed in the Top 16. She’s now co-organizer of the pageant being held in Manila along with her mom. Her good friend, Racquel Basco, whom she cultivated close friendship in the pageant held in Egypt last year, represented USA. Basco, whose father hails from Alabang, is full-bloodied Filipino but born and raised in the US.

https://www.manilatimes.net/pregnancy-overage-issues-hound-miss-intercontinental/500071/