
George Sison (rightmost) with Bobby Requintina, Jesson Capuchino and I during our CNN Philippines guesting
And when Pia was announced as the rightful winner, George could only heave a sigh of relief because the life cycles proved him right once more.
In the batch this year, three of the favored (or relatively favored) ladies are in their first life cycles but in varying degrees: Venezuela, Thailand and Argentina. We all know that Mariam Habach celebrated her birthday last Thursday and she really upped her performance to the max during the Preliminaries. She was simply leading the charge whenever she stepped out onstage. Chalita Suansane, on the other hand, did her best to put in solid turns. And she managed, but not to the degree that the Venezuelan turned on the heat really high. Meanwhile, Estefania Bernal gave her personal best and might still end up teetering on whether she will make the cut or not.
Among these three ladies, Venezuela has the upper hand. But wait. Miss Philippines Maxine Medina is in her 6th cycle which is the realm of beauty. Our bet will be at her most beautiful up to Monday’s finals and her charm won’t be ignored by the judges.
So who really has the best chance of winning Miss Universe? I guess – aside from life cycles – she is the candidate who the judges will like the most, the one who ticks all the boxes on all the short- and mid-term priorities the Miss Universe Organization and IMG/WME or that one lucky Miss who will have all her stars aligned on Monday with her arms open wide to catch all the unexpected blessings that could come her way. đ