When a young fresh face model from Australia with a high pitched voice and lovely lips burst onto our pageant consciousness back in 2016, it really felt like a real discovery. Her name was Catriona Gray and her pageant stardom was all set.
But one one could have predicted that we were watching someone who would one day become one of the most beloved beauty queens of all time. Flash forward three years and that’s exactly where we stand. Apart from enjoying a massive 6.3 million following on Instagram, cashing in on a lot of endorsements and spearheading numerous charity work across the globe, there seems to be quite a disconnect between her popularity and international travels as the reigning queen of the universe.
One glaring observation most pageant fans have been noting is the the growing dissent or indifference of the Latin community to her. Already halfway through her reign, she hasn’t traveled to the South American continent, which has been pretty much a travel staple of every Miss Universe titleholder over the years. Contrast it to her predecessors who, at this exact time, had already tasted some mouth-watering ceviche in Peru, tacos in Mexico or enjoyed her time being invited in a cultural festival in Ecuador.
If you will just scratch the surface of this issue, one would think that this just might be some effect or consequence of the ongoing online vitriol between the Filipinos and the Laitinos which has never ended since 2015. But there’s more to this issue that meets the eye. This author feels these thousands of trolls lurking online could hardy create a dent or impact on Catriona’s reign as Miss Universe.
It must probably be something else.
There seems to be a growing Latin snub but not because they hate the latest Filipina Miss Universe titleholder per se. However, it’s more of how their countries’ economic realities may really have something to do with it after all.
In this time of political and economic upheaval in that side of the world, one would understand why these countries could no longer afford a reigning Miss Universe to pay them a visit. In Mexico, Lupita Jones has been quite embattled with regards how she has run her newly-rejuvenated Mexicana Universal so far. In 2018, she ended her work ties with the Televisa company who had been airing her former pageant Nuestra Belleza for years. To add insult to injury, she also lost the Miss World franchise in the process. Currently, Azteca television network is airing her pageant which has been receiving mixed reactions from Mexicans for choosing to turn her pageant into a reality show.
In Venezuela, its political and economic crisis have become worse over the years. Even its humanitarian crisis continues to increase as well. More than 3 million people have fled this country with majority of foreign aid still being blocked. The Miss Venezuela Organization is also not spared with issues and scandal as well. Even though three former international pageant titleholders have already assumed directorship from embattled Osmel Souza, these women still couldn’t call the shots as they just seem to be appointed by Venevision television network (who owns and airs the MVO pageant) to do the work.
A similar franchise takeover is also happening in Puerto Rico right now. The Miss Universe Organization decided to award the Miss Universe Puerto Rico franchise to local television network, WapaTV, after it no longer renewed ties with former MUPR national director Desiree Lowry. Consequently, former Miss Universe titleholder Denise Quinones was appointed to replace Desiree in what appears to be a tug-of-war of ownership which stems from higher franchise bid contest from both sides.
And if you relate all these changes to a recent published Forbes report measuring the GDP projections of these Latin countries, it would even support this author’s argument that that all these countries mentioned just do not see the need to pay a reigning Miss Universe to visit their respective countries for now. And we all know by now how much the Miss Universe Organization has been charging organization from different countries about appearance fees etc. Now pageant fans will understand it better why these Latin countries get reigning Miss International Mariem Velazco to appear in their events instead. Apart from patronizing and supporting their own, it’s much cheap and economical to get her instead.
So the Latin snub on Catriona Gray is not deliberate at all. While the Latinos keep on jeering or discrediting every single move Catriona does online, no amount of taunting can mask the economic hardships of their respective countries. In order to stay afloat and relevant in this so-called game of crowns, it is sad how the Latinos have forgotten that during the time they were lording it over the yesteryears of Trump era, the Philippines was relatively doing well (2010-2014) and the collective impact their queens generated in that time is just the same or if not less than what Catriona has done in the past six months.
Sources: https://www.revistamuve.com/nota32.html
Photos taken from Manila Bulletin website & @alco_guerrero IG
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