Miss World 2018: Head to Head Challenge Review - Groups 13-16

Though the names of the 20 groups´ winners have already been announced, GB keeps on revealing its own opinions and scores on the Miss World 2018 candidates, based on their interviews wit Frankie Cena and overall impressions. Our 4 judges are Albin Beart (who also wrote the review you are about to read), GB´s own Andre Sleigh and Henrique Fontes, and Miss World expert and writer Sally-Ann Fawcett.

After reading the reviews, make sure to check our updated Leaderboard!

Group 13: NEPAL BOSNIA & HERZOGOVINIA GUAM MOLDOVA LUXEMBOURG

I am almost reluctant to write this review. Given the absolutely absurdness of the voting camp for Miss Nepal this year (as of this writing, she has nearly 40% of the votes on the MW website alone!) it seems a foregone conclusion who is going to win this H2H challenge. I feel sorry for the other girls, they never had a fair chance, although to be fair, Nepal does deserve the vote here. Shrinkala Khatiwada became a favorite soon after she won the Miss Nepal contest earlier this year and she has cemented that status since her arrival at Sanya. In this episode of the Head to Head challenge, she impressed with a polished look and presence and a confident, well articulated response. My only concern is that, after her opening comment, she got a little stuck and her final response left something to be desired. Shrinkala had an excellent response in the Miss Nepal finale, so I know she is very well spoken, but it wasn't on full display here. Still, she is one of the more well balanced contestants, and I think she will go far in this contest. GB SCORE: 9,383

Miss Bosnia fascinated me. Her video was awful, like a teen vixen and terribly blase. But in reality she was anything but. She was so relaxed and charming and her body language through the entire segment was so relaxed, I wanted to wear it for life! She is also absolutely gorgeous, like a raw Mila Kunis. It will be interesting to see which way the organization views her, but I just loved her. From this entire group, she just stood out for me. GB SCORE: 7,893

Moldova (GB SCORE: 8,207) was beautiful, but like Luxembourg (GB SCORE: 8,389), she was a bit overshadowed in this group. Guam (GB SCORE: 8,388) was super cute and I love her presentation video.

Group 14: PUERTO RICO BELARUS CURACAO MARTINIQUE NETHERLANDS SINGAPORE

My clear favorite in this group is Miss Belarus. She has it all - beauty, charm, intelligence, attitude (and a fabulous intro video!!). Belarus has been overdue for a spot in the MW semis and this girl could not only make the first cut, but go much further! I'm buying a ticket on her plane! (GB SCORE: 9,030)

Curacao came next, she was so well spoken, so focused, and she has that wonderful hopefulness about life that was infectious. Not convinced by her looks, but she was well presented here. (GB SCORE: 8,089)

Singapore also made a surprisingly good impression. I never quite know what to expect from Singapore, in spite of its high levels of wealth and education, I feel this country routinely under performs. Vanessa did a great job, her answers had depth and she looked great but I don't know if there is enough impact in the whole package. (GB SCORE: 8,316)

Martinique reminded me of Wendy Fitzwilliams in some angles, but she lacked Wendy's confidence. Pretty girl though! (GB SCORE: 8,127)

Puerto Rico (GB SCORE: 8,662) and Netherlands (GB SCORE: 8,809 ) were solid and very adorable, although not “top of the notch”.

Group 15: THAILAND UKRAINE GREECE HUNGARY AUSTRIA MONGOLIA

This group exemplified the inherent challenge of pageants. Give me Miss Austria's face, Miss Mongolia's brain and Miss Thailand's heart and I will give you a perfect delegate. Unfortunately, each girl only gets to check two boxes!

All eyes in this group were on Thailand and she came across as a polished and complete delegate, with a balance of looks, passion and eloquence. But I felt something was missing. Confidence? Charm? Maybe it was just nerves. (GB SCORE: 9,142)

Mongolia was a bit of a revelation. I was very impressed with her ability to respond so fluently in English and her final answer was excellent. She is missing the striking beauty of her predecessor though. (GB SCORE: 8,316)

On the other hand, Austria had that Miss World beauty in spades and was very charming to boot! Unfortunately for her, it ended there. There was not much depth to her answers and I think she will quickly realize that good intentions are not enough currency at Miss World. It's a pity though - just on looks alone, she should be top 5! (GB SCORE: 8,870)

Perhaps the girl who had the best balance of beauty and brains was Hungary. I think she is stunning, and I found her personality and story to be quite captivating! Who can ignore a girl from an Ostrich farm! But like Thailand, she lacked some charm, and where she scored over Thailand in beauty, she lost ground in purpose. (GB SCORE: 8,548)

Solid effort from Greece (GB SCORE: 8,255) and Ukraine (GB SCORE: 8,193), who both had the potential to really stand out physically (anyone else getting a baby Jennifer Lawrence vibe from Greece?) but their styling and overall responses put them more in the middle of the pack.

Group 16: BELGIUM BULGARIA LAOS COLOMBIA PORTUGAL ZAMBIA

Miss Belgium was an easy winner here for me. She's really beautiful and she balanced it with an interesting story, a strong character and the ability to clearly and humbly articulate her thoughts! Her final response and her ability to put a lot of the hate she got after her win at Miss Belgium in perspective with the support she got showed that there is a great deal of emotional and mental maturity in this young woman. I think she could go very far in this contest. GB SCORE: 9,096

Bulgaria had a nice introduction and I liked her first response, but she lost it for me in the common question. She has an interesting look, with a little polish, she could have really stood out! GB SCORE: 8,313

Laos (GB SCORE: 8,036) and Colombia (GB SCORE: 8,221) are both good representatives, and they were both polished and complete, but ultimately did not stand out for me.

Portugal (GB SCORE: 8,875) and Zambia (GB SCORE: 8,282) on the other hand, were both very impressive. If Bulgaria lost it in her final response, Zambia wowed me with hers. Portugal on the other hand, was consistent across both segments. She was also very charming! Portugal was a finalist at Miss Venezuela a few years ago, and like Guadeloupe, a girl we might have seen in a previous edition of Miss World with a different sash! Today, if retains her Venezuelan preparedness, she elevates it with a European naturalness that could win Portugal it's first placement in a while.

THE UPDATED GB HTH LEADERBOARD - After Groups 1 to 12:

1 Nepal 9,383

2 New Zealand 9,264

3 Japan 9,219

4 Sierra Leone 9,184

5 India 9,183

6 Thailand 9,142

7 France 9,139

8 Cook Islands 9,127

9 Jamaica 9,118

10 South Africa 9,108

11 Belgium 9,096

12 Chile 9,035

13 Belarus 9,030

14 China 9,021

15 Australia 8,987

16 Senegal 8,970

17 Myanmar 8,965

18 Philippines 8,897

19 Brazil 8,875

19 Portugal 8,875

21 Austria 8,870

22 Malaysia 8,863

23 Mauritius 8,853

24 Netherlands 8,809

25 Ireland 8,795

25 Panama 8,795

27 Indonesia 8,765

28 Korea 8,752

29 Vietnam 8,693

30 Denmark 8,692

31 Canada 8,676

32 Puerto Rico 8,662

33 United States 8,653

34 Guadeloupe 8,623

35 Zimbabwe 8,569

36 Slovenia 8,566

37 Zambia 8,559

38 Egypt 8,548

38 Hungary 8,548

40 Armenia 8,532

41 Bolivia 8,518

42 Serbia 8,488

43 South Sudan 8,480

44 Dominican Republic 8,461

45 England 8,457

46 Nigeria 8,413

47 Scotland 8,402

48 Germany 8,392

49 Luxembourg 8,389

50 Guam 8,388

51 Guyana 8,377

52 Latvia 8,371

53 Finland 8,367

54 Venezuela 8,365

55 Lebanon 8,353

56 Mongolia 8,316

56 Singapore 8,316

58 Kazakhstan 8,313

58 Bulgaria 8,313

60 Montenegro 8,301

61 Peru 8,290

62 Cyprus 8,283

63 Czech Republic 8,263

64 Greece 8,255

65 Lesotho 8,229

66 Italy 8,228

67 Colombia 8,221

68 Cameroon 8,213

69 Moldova 8,207

70 Bahamas 8,196

71 Rwanda 8,193

71 Ukraine 8,193

73 Equatorial Guinea 8,189

74 Slovakia 8,166

75 Georgia 8,164

76 Martinique 8,127

77 Gibraltar 8,122

78 Cayman Islands 8,113

79 British Virgin Islands 8,112

80 Curaçao 8,089

81 Ethiopia 8,078

82 Paraguay 8,077

83 Bangladesh 8,058

84 Botswana 8,053

84 Nicaragua 8,053

86 Guatemala 8,049

87 Laos 8,036

88 Norway 8,010

89 Iceland 7,989

90 Wales 7,933

91 Barbados 7,912

92 Bosnia & Herzegovina 7,893

93 Belize 7,881

94 Albania 7,746

95 Ghana 7,518

GB Comment: Miss Nepal took the lead with some a considerable distance to 2nd place, New Zealand. This young woman is truly extraordinary and could take it all. Thailand did quite well and Belarus is a fantastic European “surprise”. There are several countries with no “sash power” among the very best this year, and we do hope to see them succeeding, simply because they deserve to. Can Nepal have its first Miss World and Grand Slam winner??