Miss Universe 2018: the best from the Preliminary Competition

Millions of people watched Miss Universe´s preliminary show on the pageant´s Facebook fan page, supporting their favorite contestants. The show was ages better than the poor production we witnessed in Las Vegas last year, which might have been an exception to be forgotten. In Thailand it was dynamic and pleasant to watch.

One thing that caught our attention was the amount of botox, metacryl and other substances used on the faces of these young women. Miss Spain, who made history by becoming the first transgender woman to officially step on the Miss Universe stage yesterday night, looked more natural than 30% of the born women we saw yesterday, and it´s kind of scary, truly getting out hand!

These substances represent today what hair spray represented in the 1980´s, when all the product used in “Darth Vader hairdos”, so popular among beauty queens in those times, opened huge wholes on the ozone layer!

Back to the competition, what we saw yesterday was quite interesting. We still believe that Philippines and South Africa might end Monday´s show “hand in hand”, waiting for the final announcement. However, it will not be as easy as we thought it would be! Both did an amazing job, nonetheless, it was Canada who aced the swimsuit competition (the best!) and Vietnam who received a perfect 10 in evening gown (wow!). That´s correct, folks, Miss Universe is not over just yet!

This is what we saw:

The best of the night

Based solely on the preliminary competition, 10 women clearly stood out and can easily fight for the crown. There are some delightful surprises among them!

Mexico - Perhaps the face of the competition, this woman was pure perfection on stage! Without overdoing moves and faces, she delievered it perfectly and with much confidence and sex appeal. We absolutely love her. Can Mexico win Miss World and Miss Universe in the same year??

Puerto Rico - Under a new national organization, Puerto Rico is back in the game! Elegance, beauty and poise, were the ingredients used to describe Puerto Rico´s performance. She has the looks of a Miss Universe winner!

Canada - Superb! What we saw when she walked in swimwear was pure perfection, which makes us believe that Canada could do it again in Thailand (just like in 2004). Her gown choice was also excellent.

Belgium - In our eyes, Belgium was the only true standout from the Old Continent. She does not appear in many lists of favorites and hot picks, and after what we saw yesterday, we wonder why! She is gorgeous, unique, and did everything right. We expect Belgium to shine!

Nigeria - This statuesque African goddess delivered a memorable performance both in swimsuit and gown. We love her and hope African beauty will be appreciated as it deserves.

Kenya - Kenya is another African beauty who took our breath away. Her natural beauty (what a relief it is to see that there are some natural looking women still sompeting in pageants!) and elegance put her right on top, as one of the very best MU competitors in Thailand. Will the judges recognize it?

South Africa - Just like in Miss World, Africa showcases a very strong group of candidates in Miss Universe this year, and South Africa, a front-runner for the crown, seems to top it. The South African stunner did it as expected, showing much beuty and confidence in swimsuit, elegance and poise when wearing one of the most beautiful gowns of the night. Plus, she has the brains and the will to make a difference in society. Superb!

Kyrgyzstan - Participating in Miss Universe for the first time, this beautiful and exotic country localed in central Asia could be about to make a memorable debut! Beautiful Miss Kyrgyzstan looked like royalty when she came out in evening gown! She exuded confidence and class, owning the runway! Remember Botswana´s debut in 1999? Could it happen to Kyrgyzstan 19 years later?

Philippines - Catriona delivered what her fans expected: beauty, poise, confidence. She looked happy and at ease as she walked the runway with perfection. With all the pressure she carries on her shoulders, we believe she truly nailed it!

Vietnam - Don´t we love Vietnam? Her evening gown performance was memorable, one with so much class and extraordinary elegance, simply the best. We love her avantgarde and unique look! In overall terms, she might have been the best of the night, and perhaps the time has come for Vietnam to win its first ever Miss Universe and Grand Slam title. Eye on her!

Who will make it in each geographic region?

We start out by saying that we don´t like the fact that the Americas and Europe have 5 secured spots each, while Asia, Africa and Oceania, have all together the same 5 spots. Why? For instance, Asia and Africa have many more strong delegates than Europe, where we must make an effort to find 5 women to keep on the competition (it´s quite sad to see how much interest pageants have lost in the once so strong European continent…). We hope MUO makes it up for Africa and Asia with the “wild cards”, although we are almost sure it´s the Americas that will benefit from it, after all, that´s where Miss Universe is strong when it comes to television broadcasting.

The Americas

Here we see Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico as absolute shoo-ins.

The fourth spot, if we were judges and based on preliminary performances only, we would give it to Chile, who did an excellent job and looked quite amazing on stage.

And who would take the 5th spot? Hard question! Brazil, Curaçao, Ecuador or Venezuela should take it. For the sake of diversity, we go with Curaçao here.

USA made a horrible gown choice and got lost in the bunch, but for television rates in the US, we might see her up there as well (her face and personality continue to be amazing, this is a fact).

Colombia (we love Colombia and its beauty queens, but this girl is not as strong as most of her predecessores), Panama (lovely and the first indigenous woman to represent her country) and Peru (Peru did quite well in evening gown), are also American possibilities.

Europe

All we can say is that we really hope to say extraordinary Belgium up there! She is the real European contender.

As for the others, there could be many surprises and shocks, just like what happened last year.

Russia looked amazing in swimsuit, but what was that Macy´s Christmas Parade costume she wore in the EG competition? If the judges could overlook that, she will advance.

Bulgaria has sent its most competitive candidate in Miss Universe history. She might make history for finally making the cut for her country.

Sassy, electric and beautiful Albania, and confident and elegant Great Britain, should also be up there.

But let´s not forget Spain, the first trangender woman competing in Miss Universe. We did not get her weird hairdo last night and don´t think she was among the best performances of the night, but her amazing story and the deep meaning of her participation in the pageant, may push her through. After all, Europe´s group is not that strong anyway, so it wouldn´t be a major upset.

France, Greece and Denmark could also pull a surprise.

Asia, Africa and Oceania

This is quite sad, because there are so many excellent candidates in this region, that for sure some will end up being left in the ice.

Philippines, South Africa, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan and Kenya (or Nigeria) are our bets.

But to fight for a “wild card” spot, there are many option! Nigeria or Kenya, for sure, then we have Ghana, Japan, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Nepal, Namibia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea, Cambodia…

Thailand is not among the strongest candidates and it could happen again that, when hosting the Miss Universe contestant, Thailand doesn´t make the cut.

India is good, had a great gown, but showed zero charisma on stage. China is another good looking candidate who ruined it with a horrible gown choice and super weird facial expressions, like she was smelling something bad as she walked the runway! What was that??

The Wild Cards!

If Kenya is one of the 5 choices in Asia/Africa, then Nigeria must be one of the wild cards. Or the other way around.

We would love to see lovely and complete Sri Lanka and stunning Lebanon up there (the problem with Lebanon is that ever since it won the title in 1971, it never made the cut again, which is absurd!), along with Brazil, who is very sweet and had one of the best gowns of the competition, and then we close it with Venezuela, not one of the best Venezuelans we´ve seen, but quite strong.

Spain, again, may take a spot here, along with USA.

Miss Universe will be crowned in Thailand next Monday morning. Who will she be?

Stay tuned for our final List of Favorites!