The finale of Miss Grand International 2015 concluded on the eve of October 25’ 2015 with the crowning of Anea Garcia from Dominican Republic. Everything about Miss Grand International 2015 pageant was grand. The way the organisation conducted the whole event, it was near perfection. And it left no loophole for us to come up with any criticism or complaints. If I were to describe the pageant in three words, I would say, magnificent, impressive and of course grand in all senses. And as the pageant lovers and followers from all around the globe were eagerly waiting for the moment, it began with the reigning queen, Lees Garcia, leading the other delegates in a dance number. The performance was full of energy and awesomeness. Lees, in a silver dress, shined like a star as she joined the delegates of 2015 for an opening number. Talking about the contestants, let’s just say, that one particular moment warmed up the whole ambience shooting up the temperature.
What interested us more was the fact that the reigning queen did more than just waiting around to pass on her crown. Lees Garcia co hosted the entire event. And this act of her impressed us to the core. She is not just a pretty face, which she proved with the way she worked her bit for the “Stop the War Campaign”.
SEE ALL WINNERS OF MISS GRAND INTERNATIONAL 2015 HERE
The performance then led to the contestant introduction. The girls were brimming with confidence as they introduced themselves to the audiences. Some of the notable huge crowd favourite among these were, Dominican Republic, India, Costa Rica, Thailand and Philippines, who had the crowd cheered up for them. Moments after the introduction, the Best National Costume award was handed over to Philippine, which was again well deserved.
After the National Costume Special Award, it was time to announce the Top 20 semi-finalists for the night. India, Poland, USA, Australia, Angola, France, Thailand, Ukraine, Peurto Rico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Costa Rica, Netherland, Philippines, Spain, Mexico and Japan made it to the top 20. It was after the announcement of the Top 20 finalists, that the judges were introduced - Janelee Chaparro, first Miss Grand International, 2013, Siripen Pansritum – Managing Director of Kamol Hospital, Kim Steppe -Blue Elephant Director, Teresa Chaivisut – Vice President of MGI and lastly, Nawat Itsaragirsil – MGI President.
The Top 20 finalists then paraded in the MGI swimsuit, setting the stage on fire. And oh, the contestants were called in alphabetical order. IMPRESSIVE again..!! No question of being unfair. Few delegates were so good that it was impossible for us to take our eyes off. At the conclusion of the swimsuit round, a video of Best in Swimsuit was shown and the winner was surprisingly Costa Rica.
As the pageant moved on to its next segment, Sri Lanka was awarded with Miss Popular award, an online voting by the audience. This automatically escalated her to the Top 10 finalists list. And with absolutely no surprise, the best of girls made their cut into the top 10 finalists list – Philippines, Brazil, Thailand, Japan, Spain, Costa Rica, India, Dominican Republic and Australia. It was then, time for the Top 10 to speak about their campaign and ideas on the “Stop The War Campaign”. The ladies were all dressed in white Pant Suit, signifying Peace, and came up one by one to talk about their project and campaign.
Australia was all emotional while delivering her speech, as she highlighted the importance of war and stopping the war. She questioned the people what are they fighting for, money? Power? They way she spoke, made us feel connected to her. On the other hand, Brazil used her talent of singing to deliver her message, as she sang John Lenon’s Imagine to spread the message of love and unity. Talking about Costa Rica’s speech, we didn’t understand a word of her as she spoke in her native language, and also there were no translator.
Moving on to Dominican Republic, Anea mentioned in her speech that, “we need to put our pride behind us and worked together.” She spoke with such conviction that she appeared like a leader. India too spoke about stopping the war and developing world peace. Japan’s message was short but was strong and full of confidence. Philippines reminded every one of their ancestors who had given up their life for them and to give peace a chance. Spain requested everyone to respect one another and educate children. Sri Lanka spoke about her country being a war torn country and being affected by it and living in poverty and fear. She gave a powerful emotion about her life. It was touching indeed. Thailand said that while we wouldn’t be able to stop war completely, what we could do was to try our best and make the world a better place to live.
After all the contestants were done with their speech, it was time for the reigning queen to give her farewell speech. Her farewell speech was really heart wrenching and at the same time, very inspiring. She spoke about giving all her heart to her reign and how she wants it back, so that she can pass it on to her successor. By this time, we could see some people shedding tears to her emotional speech. She declared at the end of her speech that she will be staying in Thailand even after her reign. Mr. Nawat then took her crown for the successor and replaced it with a replica.
It was then time for the top 10 to walk the stage in their evening gown. The regal and elegant evening gowns only made the contestants appear more beautiful and stunning. The ladies looked every bit of seductive, sensuous and divine as they walked the stage. After the evening gown round, it was time to announce the Top 5 finalists of the night. India, Australia, Thailand, Dominican Republic and Philippines made it to the top 5. The top 5 were then asked, “Who is the most influential person in their life?”, to which the answers were as follows –
India said it was Mahatma Gandhi who single- handedly fought for India’s freedom through Non-Violence. She added that she would spread the message of non-violence to spread peace and stop the war. Australia said that if she was asked three weeks back she would have had a different answer but after her experience there in Thailand, it would be the reigning Miss Grand, Lees Garcia. She mentioned about Lees positive role and experiences as something that helped her. Thailand spoke about a woman she admired and added about strong qualities of the woman.
Dominican Republic said that it was her father who influenced her the most. And being a rape child, it taught her many things in life. She also mentioned if her dead father was still alive she would forgive him. Philippines said her biggest influence were her parents. She talked about her mother being a Catholic Filippino and father a Hindu Indian.
After the Question and Answer round, Japan won the Special Award for Best In Evening Gown, and India won the Best Social Media Award. Finally, it was time to announce the winner. Dominican Republic won the 3rd edition of Miss Grand International. 1st runner up was Australia, India was 2nd runner up, Philippines was 3rd runner up and Thailand was 4th runner. It was amazing to see the 4 runners up cheering and congratulating the winner. That was indeed a memorable moment of the night.
In conclusion, the Miss Grand International pageant has achieved so much in so little time, that we believe the pageant holds the potential to make its place as one of the Big 4 pageants. It is surprising and at the same time amazing to see how the MGI has surpassed many other major international pageants, in terms of conductivity, presentation and how it has constantly moved up in the ladder of success. The Miss Grand International pageant has everything that is required to be among the Top 3 pageants in the world. Do you agree..??