Miss Supranational 2023 first runner-up Pauline Amelinckx returns to PH

Pauline Amelinckx (Images by Annalyn Jusay)

Filipino-Belgian beauty queen Pauline Amelinckx made her victorious return to the Philippines Tuesday night after placing second or first runner-up in Miss Supranational 2023 held in Poland last July 14. A total of 65 candidates vied for the crown which was won by Andrea Aguilera of Ecuador. Pauline arrived via an Emirates flight from Dubai. She thanked her fans for "all the love and support." "We made it!  I think we did so well for the Philippines this year and I'm so proud  of our achievements. This is not a one-woman journey, this is because of all your love and support too. I'm so grateful for how far we were able to bring the Philippines on the Supranational stage. I'm excited to be back home and to reconnect again with everyone here. I feel like I've been gone for so long. It's been a month but it feels like forever at this point. I'm just so happy to really be home," she stated. Pauline, who is half-Belgian, revealed that she toured several places in Europe with her team after the competition. "After Poland, we went to Budapest (Hungary). It was beautiful and breathtaking. After Budapest, we went to the  Czech Republic, in Prague and after that, we went to France and now I'm back in the Philippines."
Pauline said the Miss Supranational pageant gave her "so many happy memories" and "created a special bond" with her fellow candidates. "We promised to each other that if we were in each other's respective countries, we'd message each other and we'd meet up and that's a promise I hope to keep also," she also said. Asked to give her advice to her future Miss Supranational Philippines successor and other beauty queen-aspirants, Pauline said: "It's really gonna be about how dedicated you are, to see yourself grow and flourish in this journey, and I also implore you to at least have enough courage to take always  that very first step . Every journey seems  so scary and so impossible sometimes because of how big or how grand the responsibilities maybe, but once you take  your first step, you'll realize that you're actuall;y stronger than you think and with the help of so many people around you, you'll  be able to catapult yourself more than you'll ever imagine."