BEST FRIENDS AND FINALISTS. Miss Philippines Ariella Arida holds hands with two of her closest friends in the 2013 Miss Universe pageant — Miss Venezuela Gabriela Isler and Miss Spain Patricia Yurena Rodriguez. Also in the photo is Miss Brazil Jakelyne Oliveira. Photo by Jonas Gaffud
(Don’t you just love it that the accusation that Ara was racist has been put to death by the photo above? After she made a comment that ‘Latinas couldn’t complete a sentence in English’, as a way of defending her own English skills, a certain personality who loves to offend people got offended himself and on behalf of all Latinas accused Ara of all kinds of things. He seemed to have ignored the fact that in the same interview Ara identified 3 Latinas (Venezuela, Spain and Puerto Rico) as her main rivals for the crown. So much for being racist, huh.)
CHIANGRAI, THAILAND – The most beautiful Asian in the ‘Universe’ is coming home triumphant today after a 2-week stint in Russia that gave the Philippines it’s fifth 3rd Runner-up prize in the Miss Universe beauty pageant. Ariella “Ara” Arida’s homecoming party is set for the early evening today and I feel terrible for being so far away on a teaching trip and unable to be part of the welcoming festivities.
But distance won’t stop me from honoring Ariella. Here’s is an article published yesterday (Nov. 11) by Rappler that my dear friend (and human encyclopedia of pageants) Lex Librea wrote, with a little help from me. It’s a walk through and analysis of the Miss Universe 2013 beauty pageant. In it we talk about Ariella Arida’s performance and share our thoughts on the other contestants.
Ariella with Bulgaria’s candidate right before Ara left Moscow. Safe flight home and God speed…
How did I do in terms of predicting the winners? TERRIBLY! Unlike my near-accurate predictions for Miss World 2013, I got low marks for MU which leads me to believe that what some fans have been saying about the pageant – that’s it’s anybody’s guessing game – is true.
But my main prediction that Ariella would enter the Top 5 was on the mark. I also was right about Spain, Puerto Rico, Ukraine and the USA. My other prediction that the winner would most likely come from the Latina contingent was also correct with the Venezuelan win by Gabriela Isler. My comment that the Latinas were a strong force to reckon with was seen in the Top 5 with four of them being Hispanic.
My hubby commented – ‘thank God for Ariella; she prevented an Asian shut-out in the pageant.’
So true!
Thanks Ariella Arida for all the sacrifices you made and the hard work you put into winning the 2013 Miss Universe beauty pageant. We know that you did it #forthePhilippines!!!
Ariella ARRIDA ARRIBA!
