Blogging Miss Universe 2007

MISS PHILIPPINES ANA THERESA LICAROS MAY NOT HAVE GOTTEN A SLOT IN THE MISS U TOP 15 BUT FILIPINOS ARE STILL HOPEFUL SHE WILL BAG AT LEAST THE MISS PHOTOGENIC AWARD. AFTER ALL, FOR TWO CONSECUTIVE YEARS, WE ARE WINNING THAT AWARD.

Based on her pictures, it was pretty obvious that she won't make it. She is not making a statement at all. There is even picture of her with 2 other candidates where in she is just slouching. Bottomline, unfortunately, she doesnt have that winning form.

Japan got the title as Miss Universe!

I am so happy for Ms Philippines for bagging the Ms Photogenic award. Our votes were not wasted. Anyway, the prize for that award is almost the same as that of the runners up (the difference, of course, is the long exposure during the pageant). I've seen it in the Miss U website. You can take a look at it too. Again,Congratulations to Ms Licaros! Just have fun for the rest of your stay there in Mexico and take care!

why did the crowd boo ms. usa?

Miss Japan as Miss Universe. Isn't that something else I think she is the first japanese to win the crown. I WAS laughing whe came out in the swimsuit competition, she was fierce in her walk. She work hard for this competition to WIN or GET the CROWN

Yea, why was Ms. USA booed when it was her turn to answer the question...? When I saw Ms. Philippines, I also kinda had the feeling that she would not make it. She doesn't have the "umph" factor... she's just another pretty face in the crowd...nothing extraordinary to make you look twice. But congrats to her all the same for that ms. photogenic title. Congrats to Ms. Japan!

nice to see east asians on the top of the list.. :)

congratulations also to ms. licaros!

japan was ms universe in 1959

Ms. Phils kinda seemed overconfident during the videos being shown by ch2. i agree, she doesnt have the x factor. is this ms japan the same who joined last year who wore the samurai costume? i think she was 3rd and that (2006) ms japan was quite a sore loser (making faces after her name was announced only as 3rd) pero di naman pwede un diba? as for the ms photogenic title... well im a bit doubtful about it already coz we have been winning it twice in a row already. and to think internet voting ito. im sure there were alot more photogenic girls but sige na nga, lets give it to her! haha!

Congrats to Ms. Philippines for winning the Ms Photogenic Award eventhough she did not make it to the finals. Better luck next time for our future representative in this pageant.

hi ann, cutesy, not sure why the crowd booed miss usa, but i don't think it was because they personally disliked rachel smith.

could have been anti-american sentiment. i know some critics have complained over the years that american bets are almost guaranteed to make it to the finals, even though they felt some of these candidates weren't deserving.

poor rachel.

We have been winning Ms. Photogenic since the Internet voting began in late 90s. Siguro para makatipid tayo, wag na lang nating papuntahin kandidato natin para makatipid. Magpadala na lang tayo ng picture. hehehehe

Anyway, congrats to Ms. Philippines and Ms. Japan. :-)

In Ms. Philippines' interview:
Q-What do you want the judges to know about you?

A-I am a very dynamic person. When I decide to do something I commit myself to it and I really follow through.

Parang kulang ng substance...

Anyway, congrats for winning the internet vote- heavy Miss Photogenic award!

USA was booed because of her stand regarding Mexican illegals in the US.

Miss Philippines won the award not because she was voted by majority of people of different nationalities around the world but because of the votes came from majority of Filipinos.

when miss japan got in the 15 semi finalists, I was already entertaining the thought if the judges were "paid" or pressured in a way to include her. miss greece was stunning. and a lot others were nicer.

mexicans are rude. why boo miss usa, she is there as a person and not as a political symbol. besides they are the host country. so is this how foreigners in mexzico being treated? what a shame??????????

Miss Japan could be the ugliest miss universe title holder ever! She doesnt deserve the crown!!!

hi xxxriainxxx thanks for clearing that up :) really appreciate it.

cheers!

Miss Philippines has the intellect but she's not stunning. None of the top 5 really deserves to be crowned as this year's title holder. This MU format is no longer producing a deserving winner. MU's pageants from 1990-2000 has a better format to produce a more deserving winner!

Shame on those Mexicans who booed Miss USA. They should put politcs aside. Now you can see how low they are.

Did you see Ms. Philippines reaction when she was declared Ms Photogenic? She seems to be not proud of the award; obviously, madami kasing mas deserving pa.

I believe that Filipinos should outgrow the maturity and learn to vote for the most deserving contestant; and not because we patronize our co-Filipinos. If she really deserves it, she will emerge the winner no matter what.

In contests like beauty pageant, there are winnners and losers. It depends on the taste and preference of the judges. Just this time that Philippines wasn't the preference, maybe next time.
Still congratulations to our representative- Ana Theresa Licaros for bagging Ms. Photogenic.

Ang kagandahan ng sariling atin ay hindi maikukubli sa mundo, dama ito higit sa lahat ng mga taong nagpapahalaga sa tunay na pagka Pilipino. Mabuhay ka Ms. Licaros...

Ma Theresa, you have done well, personally, I salute you for being our representative to the Miss Universe 2007 Beauty Pageant, this is the most important - that you were able to present yourself very well to the best that you were able to make it. The Philippines is Home, your are always welcome, take care always and God bless!

YOU did your very best, Miss Philippines! Congratulations for winning the Miss Photogenic Award, the best you did was to represent the Philippines in the Pageant. You have done well. Cheers!

well,well,well if Ms. Philippines won the Miss Photogenic tiltle because of voting thru internet.....sana next time yung Miss U title by internet voting na rin para manalo naman tayo...J wahehe :)

How are we going to place in the TOP 5 ?It is better to ask the Organizer of the Bb.Pilipinas....MAYBE there's a Palakasan System pa rin talaga pagdating sa ganyan competition.May kanya -kanyang bata sila pagdating sa pilian ..Sa pag hurado MAYBE di fair ang hatol kaya ayan hanggang sa botohan thru internet nalang ang pinas..Is a wake-up calling ...
Imagine South Korea,Thailand,Japan ang naging favorite pa ....Kung ang pinas ang pumasok sa TOP 5 sguro sya ang naging MU ksi lahat di marunong mag -english except Miss USA pero no chance dahil di sya favorite at booed sya ng mga taga mexico...Anyway Congrat's to Ms.Philippines for bagging Miss Photogenic

why cant u just be happy that our representative bagged the ms. photogenic title? after all, i believe that filipinas are really beautiful. isa pa malakas talaga discrimination sa ms. universe. very seldom na may asian judge jan kaya karamihan puti nananalo. good thing, this year maraming asian ang pumasok. di lang nila siguro feel ang bet natin ngyon. this is japan's 2nd time winning the title. in fact, mas nauna silang magkaroon ng ms. universe sa atin. check the ms. universe site. but very disappointing ang crowd when they booed ms. usa. mahirap talaga controlin ang reactions ng audience. what i noticed is papangit ng papangit ang ms. universe presentation. dapat improving, di ba. but every year it's getting worse.

I feel alot more of politics than having a beauty pageant!!! How come Miss Japan won the title! I don't really understand the taste of the judges...even a beauty pageant is corrupted!!! huh

The just-concluded Miss U '07 left a bad after-taste in my mouth in that during the relinquishing of the crown by the former holder to the new winner you could clearly see and sense the lack of magnanimity of the former to the latter. As if she wanted to hang on to the title and not let go of the priviledges (greedy bitch). Or she wasn't in accord with the judgeing and she herself was betting on somebody else to win. Or she just could not accept that the country that most felt was robbed when she won is now getting the rightful due. All point to Zuley being a poor loser who could not cover her personal feelings with her new facial poundage. This, coupled with the most blatant exhibition of inhospitability and bad manners on the part of the Mexicans created a rather unpleasant viewing of what would have been a puffy piece of entertainment. What a shame!

Let me quickly add that the crowning of Miss Japan had some kind of a dark undertone to me who read that somehow she caused our Bb. Pilipinas to be on the defensive in the Press during the days leading to the finals and which negated her claim to being BRAINY (summa and all...). Here's a shortened account by an insider: 5/15 - It's in Asia, after all! It's been confirmed that Miss Philippines never said that she would not be photographed with the Asian delegates because the Philippines "is not an Asian country". Apparently what happened was that when Miss Philippines saw the Asian group being photographed, and she was not in it, she approached the photographer and asked "hey, how about me? Am I not Asian"?.

Miss Japan's limited knowledge of the English language caused the misunderstanding. On your left, the lovely Asian ladies striking a pose, including the almost controversial Miss Philippines!

Also, apparently, the French handler of Miss Japan blew up the incdent even worse by claiming in her blog that Ms. Licaros was heard disclaiming her being asian. Was Frenchie trying to undermine the another asian candidate to ensure the success of her protegee? Only she and her conscience can answer this.

If you ask me, I'm not exactly over the moon with Miss Japan's win!

surprisingly, the japanese are so elated with riyo's victory! it's on tv last night despite some of the heavier issues like the suicide of the agriculture minister. a filipino concept of beauty is different from that of the world's! riyo, for me, is a deserving winner! beauty pageants have also evolved... but bb pilipinas is still in the jurassic era! none of the dinosaurs in that period survived... same is true with our miss universe bets every year!

It's another sad year for us in the history of Miss Universe. Maranmi na tayong pinadala na bongga talaga pero hindi nakuha. Siguro padala tayo ng pangit pero smart. Mas mapansin pa siguro siya dahil pangit nga siya. Haaayyy....

The result is reflective of discrimination and too much politics.
Kaya sikap na tayong mga pinoy na maiahon bansa natin sa kahirapan. Inspite of our world class human resources, we are still treated the least because we are poor.

miss philippines loooks very ordinary. pls let it be known that hindi na uso and mahinhing filipina. your hairstyly is sooo outdated and no life. how did you get to this contest...during the madam marcos era we always have candidates with class and brain and pedigree...now kahit sino na lang. miss photogenic...who cares
time to get rid of the miss philippines franchise holder.

Dana, last year's Miss Japan Kurara Chibana was 1st runner up and was allegedly robbed of her title much in the way that many people feel Ms Brazil was robbed of her title this year.

Miss Universe is so political now, not worth watching. So disappointing. I agree with what someone said about Philippines not looking proud when they announce her as photogenic. She is a lovely girl but there were some there that was just magnificent! Congratulation to Miss Philippines anyway :)

oh well..other contestants are really beautiful ..i first thought Valenzuela will get d title coz most of the winners are latinas in d past and very shapely..i dont think brains is important or diplomas..all i was thinking now is as long as a person speaks english and understand d question being asked and with sense then thats it...pinays nowadays -their looks are very common not unless a mixed race..but anyhow congrats to MISS JAPAN..my bet was KOREA..

btw, didn't you notice that at least 3 or 4 of the judges have some Japanese/Chinese blood in them? was that a contributing factor why a japanese won? (just a thought) :-)

Did you notice Ms. Philippines' reaction when she her name was announced as Ms. Photogenic? It was like, uhm, Ms. Photogenic again!? Sad to say, her being a Summa Cum Laude didn't show in the competition. I really wished for her to at least be included in the semi-finals, though she didn't stand out like Ms. Tanzania who shaved her head, or Ms. Japan who was infront of the opening number.

I liked Ms. Thailand, though she didn't make it.

P.S.
Did you also see Venezuela who moved forward when Korea was announced 3rd runner up?

i prefer KOREA and BRAZIL!!!!

No amount of postmortem can do away with the fact that we lost big-time again but at least we can pinpoint to some glaring and plausible reasons why we've been lingering in the pageant losers' limbo for a long time: indeed as pointed out by a lot of bloggers here and everywhere in the net, it is the steadfastly archaic and counterproductive approach to the task of turning not only good but outstanding candidates on the part of the Bb. Pilipinas franchise holders . Also the dearth of a support system for whoever they send to represent the country is apalling. Contrast this to what Riyo intimated in her blog regarding the physical preparations and moral-propping that her handler, Ines Ligron, constantly exposed her to even up until the night before the finals:

"Ines comes to see me everyday at the rehearsals inside the auditorium.
There is an extremelly high security all the time, as we are representing countries instead of being an individual. Ines can see how I project on stage, and she can give me feedback in the evening, we can then correct and I am able to improve by the day.

We leave the hotel at 6:30 am everyday, we rehearse on stage all day and when I come back to the hotel at around 9:30 pm, Ines comes to our floor which is highly secured and we work together in silence and in the dark in front of the security guards watching us, while the other delegates are mostly sleeping. It is hard of course, but I feel prepared for tomorrow night.

Deep inside I feel strong because I know that there will be no mistake on the final day but good preparation, my strenght is a team work versus individuality compare to the other girls and I am aware of it.

Sharing another secret.... tomorrow my hair will be done Charlie´s angels style, very glamour. I will wear a precious set of jewlery from BULGARI. "

As you can see, the girl was churned out like an ATHLETE before her match. After all a pageant is a CONTEST...on top of that, to be decked out in Bulgari blings (which I suspect were loaners because of how she describes them as precious - an owner would not say so), no wonder she exuded such confidence. BULGARI and the latest GUCCI togs - enough for a girl to snap her fingers at everyone!

Binibining Pilipinas takes so much stock on intelligence when choosing their winners.

The thing is, it should be a complete package. Brain, beauty and body.

Most of the time, mas napapansin ang ganda ng mukha at katawan kesa katalinuhan. Intelligence is a factor of course, pero, this is beauty pageant, and mas lamang ang kagandahan.

Siguro, sa iba na lang ipadala ang mga matatalino, at ipaubaya na sa mga magaganda (mukha, katawan, pag rampa) ang mga beauty contest.

First of all, congratulations to Miss Philippines and Miss Japan! I'm happy to see that Asians are finally winning again but frankly I believe that MU07 was distasteful. I did not like the show this year. Unlike before when MU was very colorful and credible.

Well, Filipinas are one of the most beautiful women on earth so let us not despair. I believe magkakaroon tayo ng revolt of the beauties. Babawi muli ang Pilipinas. I'm sure that much more beautiful and deserving Filipinas will show up soon. Next year might be bright for us. And, I'm waiting for our first Miss World winner!

God bless the Philippines!

Stop patronizing the Vote-O-Genic Award .... MY God the voters should be ashamed in voting someone subjectively (supporting does not mean letting our own bets win)..... Crazy pageant fanatic pinoys craving for recognition!!!!

n every contest der's a winner n a loser. chose ur winner d tym u'r a judge.

,eOw! congratulations to Ms. Philippines. We're so much proud of you! We do really accept of what was the result, but the fact is, Ms. Philippines is deserving to crown. that's all!

INDIA still dominates the Beauty Market. They have 4 Miss World, 2 Miss Universe and FORD's Super Model of the World Winner. They made it again in the top 10. We only have to rely on text votes to win an award... I am sad. Talong talo ang Pinay sa pagandahan....

We (FILIPINOS) only win MISS PHOTOGENIC Awards because it is based on text votes. INDIA is dominating the BEAUTY MARKET. INDIA has 4 MISS WORLD, 2 Miss Universe, and the Prestigious FORD's Super Model of the World Winner.. INDIA made it again in Top 10 in 2007 Miss Universe. Congrats MISS JAPAN...