Miss World 2013: Philippines takes gold!

Miss World 2013 ended with a positive balance. The contest drew much media attention first because of the controversy sorrounding the swimsuit competition (comething that hasn’t taken place in MW’s final for the last 17 years anyway), then because of Muslim’s threats against the event taking place in Indonesia. Miss World’s final event was indeed moved from Jakarta to Bali, which in the end, was a good thing: Bali probably is the most hospitable place on the planet, and certainly a great venue for the most prestigious beauty pageant in the world. Nobody got hurt, and we know politics were responsible for such uncalled for noise.

Here are GB’s final words and reviews on this year’s pageant:

The venue: Bali, Indonesia

GB Score: 4.6/5.0

Bali, Indonesia, was a fantastic venue for Miss World. Its people are probably the friendliest on the globe, always ready to welcome its visitors with a smile and nice words. Hotels and resorts are of high quality and not expensive, there’s much to see and do, shopping is great. Perhaps, if not for all the controversy created by the press (the only terrorism we saw was the one created by the media), the island could have gotten more involved with the contest and the candidates could’ve enjoyed and seen more of it, reason why it did not get a perfect 5.0 from GB. Nevertheless, it was great.

The preliminary events

GB Score: 4.8/5.0

The Top Model event alone deserved a perfect score! It was truly amazing and showed why Miss World stands today as the number 1 beauty contest on the planet. Indonesian designers are very talented, the music, the stage, the girls, everything was great. The Social Media movement, this year used to alert people about extinct local animals, was a brilliant idea. Beauty With a Purpose got space on local tv, being webcast to the whole world, sports and talent were once again unique and great. We missed the Beach Fashion contest, but due to local costumes, that’s the most Miss World could do. Miss World is the Grand Slam pageant with the best and most original preliminary events.

Official Website and Facebook Coverage

GB Score: 4.7/5.0

Fantastic job! Miss World has finally truly come closer to fans and made material available for the world media. Up-to-date information, photos, special video reports, were always there, making it easier for people to follow Miss World from a very close distance, just as if they were experiencing it live. Amazing job, and again, no other Grand Slam pageant comes close to what Miss World has been doing with its website and Facebook page.

Contestants

GB Score: 3.8/5.0

It’s wonderful to see so many nations represented in Miss World, by far a world record. However, when you get such amount of candidates, you get on one end, spectacular competitors, and there were several in this year’s pageant. Conversely, on the other extreme you also get quite a few bellow-average looking women. Some countries need to work harder when selecting their representatives. It was not the best year for Latin America, for instance, but it was very good to see Africa improving. It’s a pity that the judges did not reward it, and only Miss Ghana made it through to the semi-finals (ending in a remarkable top 3 position). Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Namibia, South Africa, Tunisia, South Sudan, and others, all had very competitive girls this year. It was also very nice to see a good number of countries from Oceania competing and the “Miss World Oceania” title back after over two decades.

The winner

GB Score: 5.0/5.0

The winner, Magan Young of the Philippines, deserved to win the title fair and square. She was always one of the favorites, right next to Brazil, and performed the best at the final night, therefore being the judges’ #1 choice. We are sure she will be a great Miss World, and GB will follow her every step throughtout the next year.

Results

GB Score: 3.7/5.0

If the winner and Top 6 were unquestionable, and also the Top 10, with most favorites in it (it was shocking though not to see Ukraine or even Italy there), but the same cannot be said about the Top 20. Although Miss World values Beauty With a Purpose and interviews tremendously, in the end it is a beauty contest, so seeing Canada, Aruba, Belgium and Dominican Republic in the Top 20, instead of stunners such as Japan, China, South Sudan, Denmark, Puerto Rico, Cyprus, Cote d’Ivoire, Sri Lanka, and a few others, can be a bit frustrating from a beauty pageant fan perspective. However, congratulations to the chosen ones, they certainly had their merits.

Pageant Presentation/Hosting

GB Score: 2.8

This was a weak point of this year’s final show. There were too many presenters, at times it was busy and confusing. The Indonesian couple, although charismatic (especially the guy), made a few mistakes and seemed lost at times. Kamal Ibrahim has lots of potential, but was visbly nervous and also made some mistakes. But MWO should not give up on him, there’s talent in there. Mylene Klass is no Angela Chow (we miss her!!!), but she did save the night being the most experienced one in the bunch. Steve Douglas did a great job with scores reports. He looked calm and put the right dose of excitement in his words. Good job. Overall, presentation was not tragic, but Miss World can deliver better.

Final Show Production

GB Score: 3.5

We still miss the extraordinary productions Miss World had in the late 1990′s and early 2000′s (our all-time favorite Grand Slam production remains Miss World 1998!), but it has been evolving, which is a good thing. This year’s production was more dynamic than the ones in recent years, and it was very nice to see some surprises and twists. Here is the good and the bad about it, in our humble opinion…

The good…

- It was a very dynamic show, with things happening one after the other, all well linked. There was suspense and excitement.
- Having a Top 20 instead of a Top 30 allowed MW to show all the women who reached that far in the competition, and it was great.
- Videos of the Top 5 showing their participation in Miss World before their final interviews were a great addition!
- The Top 10 got to have some stage action to help the judges picking the top 5, although they should enter the stage one by one, like it happened last year. The focus should be completely on each one of them at such critical moment.
- It was great to have the contestants on stage while musical attractions performed. The one with Blue was really fun to watch!
- The way in which the fast-track contests were presented and winners announced on video was faster and more dynamic than in previous years. It did not make the show boring. Great improvement.
- Miss World 2012 Wenxia Yu singing with Misses Indonesia and Australia was beautiful. It was one of those nice surprises Miss World had reserved for us this year.
- The classic crowning moment with Julia Morley announcing the winner and runner-ups is always great and a MW trademark!
- The People’s Choice fast-track to the final round of the competition was something new and interesting. Just about anyone can “come back from the dead” and fight for the Miss World title.

The bad…

- The parade of nations, or the way in which contestants are introduced, should go back to how it was in the late 1990′s. Each girl had at least 10 seconds in well edited videos. Perhaps each girl could have a video in which she briefly explains her Beauty With a Purpose work, and then the quick introduction on stage. Candidates who do not make the cut appear on TV for 2 seconds at most (when there’s no technical mistakes).
- There were some technical mistakes that events such as Miss World and Miss Universe really cannot afford. Kamal’s mic did not have the sound on at one point, Misses Botswana, British Virgin Islands, and others, did not get their “2 seconds” on the tv screen, and so on. Small details that make a huge difference for some people and for the show as a whole.
- The Leaderboard is nice and exciting, however, it can also be confusing and takes away much of the suspense, as well as candidates and their national directors and friends’ hope. It should be kept, but how about showing it with no scores or rankings? The “Top 20″ can be displayed in alphabetical order, and then the changes, who’s out, who’s in, could be announced without rankings or scores. It would certainly not influence the judges’ decision as well (strategic voting can perfectly happen under the current way it’s done).
- Hosting was not as good as expected, as discussed earlier.
- The semi-finalists should get more time on stage, performing, like they do in the Top Model preliminary event. People who love and watch pageants, expect that.

With all that said, always aiming to see Miss World reaching higher and higher levels, we can wrap MW 2013 up affirming once again that the balance was quite positive this year. We must congratulate the MWO for adapting to something unexpected (change of venue from Jakarta to Bali) and yet pulling a great and entertaining show, with a deserving and stunning winner.

Long live Miss World, and see you in London in 2014!!