The 70th edition of Miss World pageant, Miss World 2021, is set to be held on 16th December 2021 at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico where Toni-Ann Singh of Jamaica will crown her successor at the end of the event finale. There was no pageant held in 2020 due to the rampant spread of Covid-19 across the world.
While almost all the delegates have finally arrived in the host country and have begun with the registration process for the competition, the Miss World organization has officially drawn groups for the Head to Head challenge of the 70th edition of the pageant.
The organization has begun with the group interviews for the challenge going through the delegates group wise. They have recently uploaded the interview for Group 2 interview including Indonesia, El Salvador, Albania, England, South Africa and Mauritius.
The round was hosted by Vanessa Ponce de Leon Miss World 2018 and Jack Heslewood Miss World 2019. The stunning hosts introduced the challenge as they introduced the contestants, shared their presentation videos and asked questions and finally the contestants were asked questions at the end of the round.
The round began with Indonesia’s Carla Yules as she shared about her childhood, values and her journey towards being a helping and grateful person. For her, harmony leads to unity just as the people and culture of her country. “I believe sharing isn’t just about giving, but also receiving. The moment we share what we have, we’ll be filled with so much joy,” she added. Carla also shared her journey towards being a pastry chef and the passion of cooking.
Next up, El Salvador’s Nicole Alvarez introduced herself through a strong presentation. Being a barista, she shared about her love for coffee and the different varieties of coffee she has learned about and explored. Amela Agastra from the land of Eagles, Albania, then went ahead to shared her life story, and her passion for singing since she was 5 years old. She believes that, “Life is a long journey and with singing I have learnt that this journey needs to be wonderful, sometimes it has its own highs and lows, but in the end you shouldn’t give up for nothing, because in the end experience is what matters.”
Next to meet the world was, Rehema Muthamia of England who proudly represented her country in a beautiful presentation. She also shared her affinity for science and technology and love for music and drama. Raised by an incredible single mother, who taught her to be a strong, independent but compassionate woman.
Shudufhadzo Musida of South Africa went ahead to share what makes her a proud South African. She talked about her great grandmother, Gugu, how she was raised by her and how she was led to a strong, educated and learned the indomitable spirit of Ubuntu, which means humanity. She also mentioned about Nelson Mandela and his impact on the lives of the country’s people. She proudly shared about her country, the people, the culture and the wildlife. For her, the Miss World is a competition that truly values caring and compassion.
Last but definitely not the least for the second group, Mauritius’ Angelique Sanson took the world on a virtual delight through her country’s landscape, culture and the people with her presentation. Travelling across countries has given her a new perspective of the world and helped her to become an independent woman. The diva uses the art of dance to express herself and as an escape. She also shared that her Beauty With a Purpose project that revolves around supporting and empowering the young people.
Starting with the random questions round, Carla Yules of Indonesia was asked, “What are the qualities, you think, a Miss World should have?” Carla beautifully answered, “There are so many aspects to have as a queen, but so many people think that a true queen should only be served but actually the true queen knows how to serve, wants to serve and needs to serve. The qualities that a true queen should have, she has to radiate kindness, compassion and has to be selfless in order to put others first. Most importantly, a true queen knows how to be a blessing for others.”
El Salvador was asked about what she was proud of apart from winning her national title. Nicole Alvarez shared, “My sister passed away from Luekemia a couple years ago, her dream was to help others that had cancer and chronic diseases, so I’m very proud to create the dream she had into reality as I’m co-founder of a non-profit organization that carries her name, Foundation Michel Alvarez.”
Next for Albania, she was asked about the best piece of advice to give to the younger generation. Answering the question, Amela said, “I would say to always believe in their selves because I know that the times that we live in are difficult for some of the teenagers and as a teenager myself, I know that to believe in yourself is difficult but you should always be true to yourself and always work hard and fight for your ideas and for everything that you do, in order to achieve your goals and to be where you deserve to be.”
Asked about her role model, England’s Rehema Muthamia shared, “As much as this may be used quite a bit, my role model is my mother. I was born to a single, teen, immigrant mother, who has emigrated from Kenya to England and made the decision to change the course of her life by having me and I’m forever in debt. My mother is my life, she is my heart. The joy that she radiates, the strength that she has, the tenacity, the qualities of who she is as a woman, is everything that I hope to emulate and everything that I hope to become and seeing her not only get through struggles but help me get through my tough times and still be there on the other side is such a blessing. I hope that I’m able to make her proud with everything I do in my life.”
South Africa’s Shudufhadzo was questioned about the biggest challenge that women face today, to which she responded, “I think the biggest challenge that women face today is how they carry societal needs on their shoulders in a world that takes their womanhood as a weakness. I think its important and that’s why I’m grateful for a platform like this, that allows or takes womanhood as a strength, where we can give our hearts and be ourselves without feeling like we are weak, because we are strong. We can make a meaningful change in the society with our hearts and our womanhood, without neglecting ourselves ever. I believe, in serving others we also learn to serve ourselves.”
Concluding the round, Angelique Sanson of Mauritius was asked about the most inspiring moment in her life. The diva chose to answer in French as she shared, “The most inspiring moment for me is a sad one. In 2019, my elder sister had a serious accident and I decided to drop my studies to go back to Mauritius to be with her and take care of her with my family. My other sister who also paused her job to come back and be there too. It was an inspiring moment because we were all there for her, we were very close and supportive. All my family was there and it showed me the importance of family and love in life, how much we needed to be there for one another because this is how we get stronger, get up again and face life.”
The divas from all over the world will move forward in the 15 groups drawn by the organization, where each group will have a winner and then two by two winners will compete with one another until one ultimate winner is determined through voting on the Miss World website, who will then get an automatic spot in the top for the final night. In this challenge, each of the ladies will be given the chance to speak about their passions and Beauty with a Purpose projects.