Global Beauties' Miss World Telecast Review (Part 3)
The 67th edition of Miss World concluded on November 18th at the Sanya City Arena with the crowning of Manushi Chhillar from India as the 2017 title holder. Global Beauties' Andre Sleigh was there and in the coming days he will share his experiences about what happened behind the scenes during his time at the competition. For now, here is part 3 of his review about the final telecast.
SIGNS OF REJUVENATION
- YET FACING AN IDENTITY CRISIS
JUDGES
It was the usual crowd and Miss World is unapologetic about the fact that it is the organisation and people closest to it that selects the winner. Miss World is a job and I actually have no issues with this. They see the girls for a month and it is important to pick the most suitable ambassador for this brand. My main concern is that, yet again, a national director was invited to sit on the panel. This will never go down well with me regardless of who the director is.
MUSICAL ACT: Celine Tam
What an incredible voice! I loved this performance. Yes, you could argue that Miss World needs more current "big name" performers to excite viewers, but I am still in awe of this young girl's voice. She was super adorable on stage.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE TOP 15
I thought this was done quite well (even though there were some major shocks) but perhaps credibility and transparency will be ensured if they explain how this cut was made. Most pageants fans will wonder how this happened and this is when Miss World usually gets bashed. I liked the comments by Steve Douglas (especially references to inform viewers about past results) even though Miss Indonesia's Elvis comment was a bit of a head scratcher.
FERNANDO ALLENDE MUSIC VIDEO
All I can say here: this transported me back to the 90s. I like the idea of promoting Sanya in this way but this part felt majorly dated, extremely cheesy and slightly cringeworthy.
TOP 10 ANNOUNCEMENT
Yet another cut without an explanation of how the field was narrowed down to just ten. The announcement happened backstage, which was a throwback to the Miss World contests of years gone by. That brought on fond memories for me of the very first time I watched Miss World, so I liked that. The videos obviously helped the viewers to get to know the girls better, so I do like that too. But honestly, these cuts without a hint of an onstage competition happening is just not something that pageant fans appreciate or approve of. It's a well-known fact that there was supposed to be some sort of evening gown parade with color commentary about the girls' dresses but that was obviously cut to make time for something else - probably the Father Rocky tribute. It would have given the fans something to enjoy, so it's quite disappointing that it was scrapped. No one want wants to see an inexplicable announcement ceremony, so the Miss World Organisation should really come up with something more exciting in the middle part of the show. Splitting the announcement over a commercial break is also something that I am not in favour of as it breaks the excitement. Building excitement and prolonging it are two very different things.
FATHER ROCKY TRIBUTE
OK, it is time for me to be really harsh. As a long time devoted fan and supporter of Miss World and their charitable causes, I really enjoyed this segment. But let's be honest: is this the kind of thing that television viewers want to see. In short, will it let viewers tune in or switch channels? Sadly, we all know the answer. Viewers want to watch contests like Miss World for its entertainment value and this segment, beautiful and touching as it might have been, is just not going to attract viewers. If Miss World really wants to do this, they should start organising a separate awards ceremony (perhaps annually) to honour Miss World Heroes or they should have moved this to the pre-show. That it is if they REALLY want to produce an entertaining and exciting world class show...
COMING UP:
India wins 6th Miss World title and final summary