Miss Universe in COVID-19: How a Filipino show is changing the scene

Gulf News

Pageant director Shamcey Supsup-Lee talks to Gulf News about online show ‘Ring Light’  Read the full story: https://bit.ly/3kVthdd  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  #MissUniversePhilippines #Philippines #beauty

Transcript

00:00We need to bring more hope to people and through Miss Universe Philippines and our candidates,

00:07we want to be bearers of light to people.

00:20A lot of people are asking what's the relevance of beauty pageants in this time of crisis and I

00:27think we need to bring more hope to people and through Miss Universe Philippines and our

00:33candidates, we want to be bearers of light to people and that's why we came up with this

00:40charity wherein our girls will choose a beneficiary that they would like to help.

00:47I would always say it takes a village, it takes a whole community to create a beauty queen.

00:59From my experience, it was through the help of so many people, through my mentors,

01:04through my family. What really makes a queen is not just the physical aspect.

01:12You should have a heart for it. You should have a purpose. Why are you joining this? Why do you

01:17want to have this platform? It should be more than yourself. You should have a purpose bigger

01:24than yourself. We continually evolved in how we look for our representative in international

01:37pageants and I think for the Miss Universe title, we are really looking for a spokesperson.

01:44Somebody who can use their voice, use their platform to bring out issues in the society

01:51or to push whatever advocacies that they have. For the qualities, of course, there's beauty

01:57but beauty is not definite. Everybody has their own versions of what a beautiful Filipina is.

02:06But aside from that, we're really looking for somebody who is empowered, who's not afraid to

02:12voice out her opinions and be able to really affect a positive change in their community.

02:28I think there's a certain kind of pressure that the girls are facing because, of course, we

02:35were able to have two Miss Universe in just how many years? Of course, with Pia and Catriona,

02:43they really have shown how confidence can really work for you and a lot of girls get intimidated

02:50but I would always tell them, you know what? You should have seen them before they became,

02:55you know, Pia and Catriona and their journey. I believe that beauty queens are not born.

03:02They're made. You don't have to be perfect. You don't have to, like, when you wake up in the

03:07morning, you're already the queen that you think you are. But we are here as an organization. We

03:12are here to help you bring that beauty queen that's hiding inside. So we hope that through

03:19Miss Universe Philippines, we are able to help them find that, I don't know, that power, that light

03:27that's still hiding inside.

03:35That's one of the stereotypes. I would tell the girls, our candidates, that we are here to break

03:41stereotypes and to change how people see beauty queens. That's one of the reasons also why I joined

03:51Binibini. A lot of people were telling me, you know, why join a beauty pageant? You're already

03:57a professional. You're a top-notcher. You don't need that. But I said, why not? Why not? I mean,

04:07why should I be afraid of trying something out of my comfort zone? And I said that maybe

04:14it's my way of changing how people perceive beauty queens. That beauty queens can also be

04:23smart. We can also have, you know, opinions. We can also excel in our profession and be beautiful

04:31at the same time. We don't have to choose. We can be both.

04:34Prior to competing in Miss Universe, they would ask me, what will make you win? And I kept on

04:41thinking and thinking and thinking, what will make me win? I might not be the most, you know,

04:48the tallest, the sexiest, the most beautiful, and I don't know, in international standards.

04:54But I said, you know, what will make me win? It's the Filipino fans.

05:00The Filipino community. Because of their support, I think I have a chance.

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