The Miss Universe Philippines organization is all set to launch ‘Becoming Phenomenal’, a series that allows people to follow the stories of rising above unprecedented challenges, behind all the glitz and glamour one witnesses on-screen. The organization posted a little snippet of the series on their official social media account and mentioned that the series will include three episodes and air on Empire. PH’s YouTube Channel on 12th June 2021.
One of the things that the 'Becoming Phenomenal' series will include is the complicated process of staging the inaugural Miss Universe Philippines pageant, including all the struggles they went through just to push through to make it a success during a global health crisis.
Miss Universe Philippines creative director Jonas Gaffud stated, "We have the materials that were produced last year. We are showing them now to show the difficulties we encountered, but we were triumphant in staging a pageant in the first year of the [COVID-19] pandemic. Becoming Phenomenal will also show how reigning Miss Universe Philippines Rabiya Mateo and her runners-up Bella Ysmael, Michele Gumabao, Pauline Amelinckx, and Billie Hakenson worked on their goals, and became champions of their chosen advocacy."
Jonas also mentioned that the organization is hopeful that the series will help viewers to understand and learn how to cope during health crises like Covid-19. The creative director added that there are so many beauty pageants in the Philippines and perhaps the fans and followers of the beauty pageants can learn a thing or two about how to stage them while watching the series.
Gaffud stated that he and his team, along with Miss Universe Philippines 2020 Rabiya Mateo, are still in the United States to connect with various Filipino communities to promote Miss Universe Philippines. "The Filipino American community is very, very supportive," he said.
Recently, the organization announced that the minimum height criteria had been removed as a qualification requirement for candidates, which has been welcomed by pageant fans and beauty queens all over the world. The deadline for applications is on 24th June 2021. The winner will be the Miss Universe Philippines' second representative, under the guidance of Miss Universe 2011 third runner-up, Shamcey Supsup, and the beauty queen maker, Jonas Gaffud.