Miss Earth 2015 commenced with all glory in the startling ambience of Vienna, Austria! After a long time, the pageant was organized outside the home turf, with many dignitaries gracing the judging panel all across the globe! The night was full of surprises, with the most pleasant surprise being Angelia Ong!
After the scintillating performances of the Women of Earth, defeating 88 other contestants, Angelia Ong from The Philippines won the crown at the Miss Earth pageant giving it a back to back for the Philippines, the first ever back to back in Miss Earth history. She is the third Filipino to win the title. She won the crown over many heavy favorites of crowds and critics for instance, Panama, Myanmar, USA, Thailand, Mongolia and Australia, whom all and sundry was vouching to win. In its fifteenth edition, the back to back was not expected, but with her power packed performance, Angelia left no stone unturned to make the impossible turn into possible!
The hosts of the night were Oli Pettigrew, Katia Wagner and Joey Mead King. The vigour and vivaciousness of the hosts to keep the audience intact and engrossed was incredibly impressive! Soon the hosts announced the name of Eco-Video Winner which went to Brittany Payne! Despite of Mongolia receiving massive hits on the video, achieving uncountable eulogy for her brilliant work, USA’s win came as a pleasant surprise.
December 5 was the night of surprises! Thereafter the Top 16 semi-finalists were announced and the bucket full of surprises arrived before the audience, astounding them with Thailand, Panama and Guatemala’s exclusion from Top 16. While both Panama and Guatemala were leading the medal board of pre-pageant activities, respectively, their omission was certainly unbelievable! Nonetheless, many huge favourites like Mongolia, Philippines, Australia and USA were in the spotlight and hence compensated the sorrow of Miss Panama, Miss Thailand and Miss Guatemala’s exclusion! On the other hand, Guam and Austria’s entry into Top 16 semifinalist spot were somewhat deplorable!
The Swimsuit and Evening Gown segments were a massive hit at the pageant! While Mongolia swayed in sheer elegance during the swimsuit round, along with USA’s breath-taking performance at the swimsuit round, Brazil screamed classiness in a white embroidered beautiful gown. Mongolia’s gown was not that spectacular but the way she carried it made people fall in love with her grace! Colombia without a doubt was flawless in the Evening gown round!
Top 8 was announced soon, and the exclusion of Mongolia was the outrageous surprise of the event. Despite of her brilliant performance throughout, not seeing her making the cut was quite difficult to gulp down. Nevertheless, the most awaited segment of the pageant, the final Question and Answer round was presented with sheer magnificence!
Miss USA was asked: “If you were selected Miss Earth 2015 and you were given a chance to speak to President Obama, What would you ask him regarding climate change?” To which Brittany gleefully replied: “First of all, I would have to sit him down and tell him that it’s not just about him, it’s about our country because as Miss Earth it’s including being the voice, and it’s influencing and reaching out to every single person. So I would sit him down and make sure that we include every single person.”
Miss Australia was asked: “Do you have any environmental hero and why?” To which she elegantly answered: “I am from the land ‘Down Under’ Australia and Steve Irwin has been an incredible hero to me. I am sure all of you know he is an incredible activists, conservationists and lovers of animals. And I have aspired to be just like him. I believe that he was one person that inspired millions of people, children, adults with his humour, with his informative documentaries and that is what I strive to do as Miss Earth as well because I believe that knowledge can create change and when people are inspired with passion, they will act and that is what I love about Steve Owen.”
It was Miss Brazil’s turn now and she was queried: “When you come home from this pageant, what will you do in your country for the environment?” To which the beauty queen answered: “The First thing I would like to do is thank God for being here today and I would like to talk to my people because they don’t know how serious the situation is. In my country, the problem is education, our children don’t have education, we are going through a hard time right now and what I would is to tell the children that climate change is very dangerous and what’s going on right now is because of it.”
It was Miss Philippines’s turn to show her wit before the Earth as she was inquired: “The slogan for Miss Earth for the last 15 years is ‘Beauty with a Cause’ if you were asked to propose a slogan for the next fifteen years, what would it be?” The lady of poise left no occasion to show her intelligence, as she answered: “If I were to make a slogan for the next 15 years for Miss Earth that would be “We will because we can.” I want to let everybody know that all things are possible and all things are feasible if we work together. We will because we can”
Australia was now a heavy favourite for the crown and was believed to be as the next Earth Warrior by many! But again, it was the night of surprises! The winners were announced and Miss Brazil was adjudged as Miss Earth Fire, Miss USA was titled as Miss Earth Water, Miss Australia was crowned as Miss Earth Air and the winner was PHILIPPINES!
While Angelia Ong truly deserves a Back to Back win, but do you think Mongolia’s inclusion in the Top 8 finalists and Panama and Thailand’s inclusion in Top 16 would have changed the results? What would have been the results if Panama, Thailand and Mongolia were still in the running of crown as the final 8 finalists? Moreover, do you think Miss Earth organization should scrap up the medal table, which does not guarantee a placement in semi-finalists spot despite of a splendid performance? Share your opinions with us!