By now, we already know how our Philippine bet Dindi Pajares fared in yesterday morning’s Miss Supranational pageant. Congratulations, Dindi, you truly did an amazing job representing the country in the international arena. Thanks and congratulations are also in order for John Adajar, Mr. Supranational Philippines, for representing us well. John truly made us all proud by winning a game of paper, scissors and stone with pageant organizers!

Even after the conclusion of this international pageant, whose selection of a Philippine delegate is under the Miss World Philippines fold, pageant fans are kept in suspense as to which of the 44 remaining MWP contenders will eventually be crowned winners of the annual search (the Miss Tourism winner might just be announced soon via another peer vote among the candidates). Of course, the biggest question is: who will bag the most prestigious title in its vault, the Miss World Philippines sash, and succeed 2019 winner, Michelle Dee? Surely, fans have to stretch their patience a bit more, after the competition’s coronation schedule, originally pegged at the end of July, had to be postponed indefinitely to give way to the more restrictive quarantine classification we have been placed under because of the COVID19 delta variant. So, who has the inroads to the major title?

A good friend, who is also an insider in the pageant has this to say about the remaining candidates: “It’s an exciting year we have in MWP this year because there is no runaway favorite just yet, at tis point of the competition. It’s still anybody’s ballgame,” he said.

What about those touted to be the frontrunners in the competition? A survey among those closely following the pageant say there may be some truth to what our source said since there are no “perfect” candidates this year. And what exactly is meant by that? It seems every girl has an Achilles’ heel to overcome to seal the deal for the MWP title.

Let’s take the case of strong candidate number 1. While she has the star factor and popularity that the global Miss World Organization is looking for (think Megan Young), this girl is said to be a good performer on stage—ONLY. Offstage, she usually keeps to herself and is just focused on herself and the competition. She is said to minimize mingling with other contestants and gives organizers a distant vibe. Maybe that’s her game plan: lie low and strike at the right time; know when to peak. Organizers say, however, that it will be best for her to give her peak performance all the time—on- and off-stage.

Strong candidate number 2, on the other hand, is said to be criticized for being bratty. She, who has that sweet, angelic face, is said to have a behavior that is the opposite of her looks. Her attitude allegedly annoys her co-candidates most of the time such that their complaints have been elevated to the top pageant officials. One time, right in front of her competitors, one top pageant official supposedly asked the girl pointblank: “Masama ba talaga ugali mo?”

Strong candidate number 3 is really, pretty. She’s slim, talented and is even well-spoken. She can also be representing the country internationally. However, rumors abound about some of her shady and unbecoming behavior prior to joining the pageant. More than just having posed provocatively in a well-circulated men’s magazine, there are also a lot of eyewitness accounts from people who have seen her enjoying and expressing a different kind of “high” in the party circles. People likewise wonder how the conservative Morleys will accept her heavily tattooed swimsuit body.

The fourth top crown contender, strong candidate number 4, is a darling. MWP is surely not her first pageant and given her age, which is nearing expiration, she is really ripe for a national crown. While obviously highly-competitive in her own right, bad rumors about how the organization is giving her special treatment is going around among her co-candidates. For instance, no less than the pageant’s official nurse allegedly serves as her personal assistant in some preliminary competitions. What’s worse, the said nurse is also very open about her favoritism of girl number 4.

Contender number 5, whose chances, I’ll have to categorize as “pretty strong” is said to be vying for the title of being Miss “Ma-Issue” rather than Miss World Philippines. She has had issues with so many of her co-candidates in the duration of the pageant. While she started strong in the contest, her attitude is said to be turning off a lot of the people behind the competition. That’s sad, since she can actually emerge a winner on coronation night if not for her being “controversial.”

Strong girl number 6, is also a possibility. She’s got a good pageant track record and background. However, from what she’s been showing so far, it seems that she’s just coasting along. This makes some fans say, it’s hard to entrust one of the country’s top beauty crowns to someone who is always “lutang.”

So there. The imperfect “queen hopefuls” of this year’s MWP pageant. Despite this, however, I’m sure the owners and organizers of MWPO will have to choose the rightful and perfect winners come coronation night, whenever that may be (some people say, it may finally happen on the 19th of September, depending on what CQ we will be under in the coming days).