Miss Universe Fever

Miss France was named Miss Universe

ALTHOUGH I'm here in California, I was able to update myself on the last Miss Universe pageant held back in Manila.

As everyone knows by now, Miss France walked home with the crown while Miss Philippines Maxine Medina only reached the Top 6.

Maxine Medina

Although the event was broadcast live all over the world, here in California, the show was aired three hours late so I already knew the results even before it was aired on Fox Channel 2.

Unlike last year's event where Pia Wurtzbach won, this year's show went on without a hitch and even host Steve Harvey redeemed himself with his witty humor that made up for his mistake last year when he erroneously announced that Miss Colombia won the title, only to say that Pia did win in the end.

But I felt that the Miss Universe would have attracted more attention had it been held on a weekend so that more people could watch. And since it was held on a Monday, naturally there was traffic around the Mall of Asia Arena where the event took place and President Duterte did not declare the day of the coronation as a national holiday.

The main reason why the Miss Universe was held on a Monday was because Fox wanted it to be aired on a Sunday primetime slot on national US TV. And it was up against a lot of competition such as the NBA games, the Pro Bowl of the NFL and even the documentary special of veteran newsman Tom Brokaw which was aired on NBC.

The people of France are surely celebrating their country's first Miss Universe win in 63 years. After all, it took 42 years before a Pinay finally won the title, which was Pia.

Now that Pia's days as Miss Universe are over, now's the time for her to focus on the next phase of her life. She has signed up as a model for an international agency and that could lead her to big-budgeted movie and TV roles in Hollywood.

And I wonder if ABS-CBN will still push through with its plan of bringing Pia back here to play herself in an episode of Maaalala Mo Kaya. Remember, previous beauty queens played themselves in that show like Venus Raj and MJ Lastimosa. Rival show Magpakailanman on GMA had Lara Quigaman play herself after she won Miss International in 2005.

Pia Wurtzbach

The Miss Universe will be replayed on ABS-CBN and GMA on their respective late night movie blocks next Sunday, February 5. TV5 meantime, will just concentrate on their sports coverages on that day such as the PBA and the UFC.

As for Maxene, she did her best and let's salute her for making it that far particularly since competition was very stiff and she was faced with tremendous pressure of performing well before the hometown crowd.

Probably Maxene will fully focus on her career as an interior designer just like Shamcey Supsup or return to being a model, which could lead her to show business. After all, Pia was an actress for ABS-CBN before she became a beauty queen.

The Philippines will choose a new Miss Universe come March or April when the next Bb. Pilipinas comes around. It should be interesting to find out which country will host the next Miss Universe later this year or early next year.

It was too bad that I didn't get the chance to watch the Miss Universe back in Manila. My mom has better plans for me here. But that's another story.