Miss Supranational 2021 ends with a well-deserved victory for Namibia!
There´s no better feeling for pageant followers to watch a show that ends with a fair result, and that´s how the 12th edition of Miss Supranational ended: the winner was stunning Chanique Rabe, a 24-year-old fashion designer and model from Namibia. She became the first African woman to be crowned Miss Supranational and the second Namibian woman to win a Grand Slam title. Michelle McLean won the Miss Universe title 29 years ago, in 1992, in a competition hosted by Thailand.
The Miss Supranational 2021 final took place at the Strzelecki Park Amphitheater, in Nowy Sącz, Małopolska, Poland. 58 inspirational and aspirational young women from 4 continents competed for the title and the US 35,000 cash-prize. With Amelia Michael Sky, South Sudan debuted in Miss Supranational. We must remember that because of the coronavirus pandemic, the pageant skipped 2020.
After a series of preliminary competitions, a Top 24 list was revealed, containing the following names:
Namibia, Chanique Rabe; Puerto Rico, Karla Guilfú Acevedo; South Africa, Thato Mosehle; Venezuela, Valentina Sánchez; Dominican Republic, Eoanna Constanza; Belgium; Louise-Marie Losfeld; India, Aavriti Choudhary; Indonesia, Jihane Almira Chedid; Netherlands, Swelia Da Silva Antonio; Philippines, Dindi Pajares; Poland, Natalia Balicka; Romania, Michela Ciornea; Brazil, Deise Benício; Czech Republic, Angelika Kostyshynová; Ecuador, Justeen Cruz; El Salvador, Linda Sibrián; France, Judith Brumant-Lachoua; Haiti, Pascale Bélony; Japan, Emiri Shimizu; Kenya, Phidelia Mutunga; Panama, Darelys Santos; Peru, Solange Hermoza Rivera; Thailand, Queenie Benjarat; Trinidad and Tobago, Jenelle Thongs.
The “big misses” in the Top 24 in the opinion of pageant observers were Colombia, Valentina Aldana Dorado, England, Sophie Marie Dunning, Russia, Angelina Gorbunova, and Rwanda, Anitha Kate Umuratwa. They were all expected to advance, but in overall terms, the list was quite fair.
After a fashion parade and some academic and other achievements information on each of the 24 quarter-finalists were revealed, the judges picked the Top 12. They were:
Namibia, Chanique Rabe; Puerto Rico, Karla Guilfú Acevedo; South Africa, Thato Mosehle; Venezuela, Valentina Sánchez; Dominican Republic, Eoanna Constanza; Belgium; Louise-Marie Losfeld; India, Aavriti Choudhary; Indonesia, Jihane Almira Chedid; Netherlands, Swelia Da Silva Antonio; Philippines, Dindi Pajares; Poland, Natalia Balicka; and Romania, Michela Ciornea.
The exclusion of Brazil, Panama and Czech Republic certainly shocked those who had been following the pageant closely. Nonetheless, most of the semi-finalists, who went on to compete in swimsuits and gowns, deserved to be up there.
It was time to announce the Top 5, and they were: Namibia, Chanique Rabe; Puerto Rico, Karla Guilfú Acevedo; South Africa, Thato Mosehle; Venezuela, Valentina Sánchez; Dominican Republic, Eoanna Constanza.
At this point, Indonesian fans were not happy with the elimination of their representative, an internet favorite, while the candidates themselves were surprised not to see Miss Philippines advancing. They thought she did everything perfectly and looked very sharp from day 1 of the competition! But then again: who would you remove from the 5 chosen ones? After all, they all looked amazing and performed really well.
The Q&A round was very inspiring, with great and solid answers by all ladies. In our opinion, Miss South Africa nailed it when answering about cyberbullying with some great advice to those who suffer with it: “In the end of the day, it´s just social media, so ignore it”.
But in our view, the judges´ choice was absolutely fair, as Miss Nambia also gave a good answer and in overall terms, topped the group. Puerto Rico, the 1st runner-up, was some tough competition, and would have been an excellent choice as well!
This was the final ranking:
12th Miss Supranational - Namibia, Chanique Rabe;
2nd place - Puerto Rico, Karla Guilfú Acevedo;
3rd place - South Africa, Thato Mosehle;
4th place - Venezuela, Valentina Sánchez;
5th place - Dominican Republic, Eoanna Constanza.
The continental queens, the highest-ranked candidate in each region among those who did not make it to the top 5, were:
Africa - Kenya – Phidelia Mutunga
Americas - Brazil – Deise Benício
Asia and Oceania - Indonesia – Jihane Almira Chedid
Caribbean - Haiti – Pascale Bélony
Europe - Poland – Natalia Balicka
Miss Indonesia, Jihane Almira Chedid, won the Miss Congeniality and Best National Costume Awards. Miss Photogenic was Miss Belgium, Louise-Marie Losfeld.
Anntonia Porsild ended her reign just like she stated it: in high style! She has certainly left a great mark on Miss Supranational´s history.
Presenters were Anna Matlewska and Ivan Podrez, while backstage commentators were Janick Maceta and Yaliza Burgos. Polsat, Zoom TV India, Metro TV Indonesia, CNN Philippines, The Filipino Channel, NET 2 TV Ghana, Silverbird TV Nigeria, ATV Suriname, and Globovisión (Venezuela), broadcast the show live. It was also webcast live on Miss Supranational´s Facebook channel, and on the Miss Supranational app, with some great numbers, with millions of people having watched the show in over 190 countries.
Congratulations to Chanique Rabe of Namibia, the new Miss Supranational! We wish her a wonderful year ahead!
GB´s comments: The winner absolutely deserves the crown and shall be an excellent queen! In overall terms, the results were very fair. Compared to previous years, the show lost a bit of quality in terms of camera work, lighting, and mostly, the stage, a trademark of this pageant, was not as impressive as in its past editions (still, it looked fabulous). As far as its soundtrack, we´ve seen better and more exciting choices in the past.
On a much brighter side, it´s important to say that the contest brought in important elements that have made Miss Supranational much more relevant and proper for the current days! Those who follow the contest remember that not long ago the finalists did not even have to answer a final question, and when they did, they were the least to say, not very challenging. (The 2015 winner was asked, “do you like ice cream?”). The leaving beauty queen now gets to have a proper farewell speech and walk, something that also did not happen in the pageant. There was much less focus on “perfect bodies”, which was replaced (thank God!) for a focus on great minds, combined with beauty (and there´s nothing wrong with that).
As for the hosts, our contributor Nick C, of Turkey, said the following: “If Miss Supranational wants to go one level up, they should invest in experienced hosts, preferably native English speakers”, which was some constructive criticism. We like Ivan, but it was not his best year, perhaps because of a repetitive script, with lots of cliches (something that has not changed over the years). Bring back Davina Reeves! When Davina hosted the show next to Ivan, in 2017, it worked just fine!
Nick also had some good stuff to comment: “The stage is great, I like the fact that they used Eurovision singers. Good answers by the finalists, Anntonia looks sublime”.
As we can see, though there´s room for improvement, there´s much to celebrate about this year´s pageant, especially about the fact that the organizers put this whole thing together in such difficult times, keeping all people involved safe. Kudos to Miss Supranational!
Photos: Miss Supranational.