Yesterday was placed as rest day for the 65th Miss Universe contestants. But it wasn’t really like that as rehearsals got underway with Runway Coach Lu Sierra doing her motivational talk and training of the girls.

Today will be the closed-door Preliminary Interviews – a nerve-wracking but much-awaited part of the competition. And setting aside first the results of the same (which will be held in secrecy), the Preliminaries will take place at the MOA Arena tomorrow night.

And what are my expectations? Just as I have mentioned before, there will be two (2) main lists on my personal judging – the Untouchables and the Desirables. I added a third – the Noticeables who will comprise the ladies who could spoil things up for the perceived strong contenders.

The six (6) ladies in the Untouchables list remain unchanged. For the purpose of the Preliminary Competition, they are the ones who are expected to deliver like thoroughbreds, and I am ranking them now as follows: Miss Thailand Chalita Suansane, Miss Brazil Raissa Santana, Miss Philippines Maxine Medina, Miss Colombia Andrea Tovar, Miss Venezuela Mariam Habach and Miss Indonesia Kezia Warouw. The rankings are there for the purpose of classifying their stand. But truthfully, the scores would be very close if I had to key in numbers. So regardless of the order by which I stated their names above, there could be different combos among the six of them on who should be #1 of #6.

As we go to my Desirables category, the number suddenly jumped from six (6) to nine (9). I reviewed them more meaningfully. It would be a shame not to include every single country name on my strong expectations list because they are also showing firepower, maybe not as intense as the six (6) in the first list, but still more than enough to observe their individual presentations with eagle eyes.

I am ranking my Desirables as follows: Miss Australia Caris Tiivel, Miss Dominican Republic Sal Garcia, Miss Argentina Estefania Bernal, Miss Barbados Shannon Harris, Miss Turkey Sila Çakir, Miss Aruba Charlene Leslie, Miss Belgium Stephanie Geldhof, Miss Guatemala Virginia Argueta and Miss Puerto Rico Brenda Jimenez Azaria. It’s really up to them to either deliver or deliver very well in both swimsuit and evening gown.

And how about my Noticeables? They are the ones who are ready to jump ferociously once the opportunity to shine presents itself willingly. They are still in the zone, and would do everything possible to inch their way up the ladder no matter what the odds are. I have six (6) to put here: Miss Netherlands Zoey Ivory, Miss Nicaragua Marina Jacoby, Miss Sierra Leone Hawa Kamara, Miss USA Deshauna Barber, Miss Mexico Cristal Silva and Miss Great Britain Jaime-lee Faulkner.

Honestly, I will focus on the performance of my Desirables and Noticeables during the Preliminary Competition. That should give me a good idea as to which dozen deserves the make the cut to the Top 12 for my Final Predictions which will come out Sunday morning. 😉