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 recently begun with the group interviews for the challenge and the first interview that has been uploaded by the organization is of Group 3 including Namibia, Slovakia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Dominican Republic and Singapore.
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.
First up for her presentation video was Namibia’s Annerie Mare, who shared her lifestory from being home-schooled travelling throughout Namibia living in a van. Representing has been a childhood dream for the diva, introducing herself standing here because of perseverance and courage. “Food security and clean water is my passion. My aim is to create access to sustainable food and water by educating community members on gardening, setting up communal gardens and constructing communal waterfalls to help change the rate of malnutrition in the world,” she shared.
Second in line, Leona Novoberdaliu, coming from the heart of Europe, Slovakia, shared about the deep rooted rich history of the country and the rapid changes and modernization of the country in the last decade. “Following the values that my parents instilled in me, ever since I was a child, I always tried to find new ways how to help those in need. Ever since, I won the Miss Slovakia title last year, I tried to balance my separate lives as a student, economist, model and Miss Slovakia 2020. Very soon, I realized that all my roles have a meaning that can be multiplied if combined, to be the change you want to see in the world,” she mentioned.
Next up Uruguay’s Valentina Camejo introduced her country along with her passion for acting. She described herself as a woman who pursues her dreams, is disciplined, constant, resilient, committed and passionate. She also shared her experience of growing up with grandparents and feels blessed for the opportunity as the older generations give us values which help with personal growth.
Honored to represent the blessed land of Paraguay, Bethania Borba represented her country with pride and shared some interesting facts about herself. She is hopeful of becoming a better person and discovered her important talents and qualities that helped her reach her maximum potential.
Onto Emmy Pena representing Dominican Republic, from the first conquer country in the new world that opened the doors to a history that makes you fall in love. She also shared about her uncle, who she considers the spark of the light that drives her family union. Having the opportunity to see life through her uncle’s optique, who has down syndrome, gave her the experience and compassion to see life in a different perspective. She believes that knowledge is power and through education we can secure a better future for our society.
Next to meet the world was, Singapore’s Khai Ling Ho, who shared the country’s culture, strength and unity. “Since young, my family has instilled in me the true value of life, being kind, selfless and compassionate. I have learnt to serve, contribute to society and be resilient during tough times. To show love and encouragement to others as we weather through hardships together,” she added.
Towards the end of the round, the six divas were all randomly questioned by the hosts. Going up first, Namibia’s Annerie Mare was asked, “What would you be looking for if you were a judge at Miss World.” She answered, “Substance is something that goes a long way and character because being a Miss World, I personally think requires a lot of tenacity and a lot of authenticity and to go forth and to really bring forth what the world wants to see not just what they want to see but the change that everybody is looking for. As a judge I would look for the character that can carry you through in any difficult circumstance that might come in your way.”
Second question was asked to Slovakia about whether she has learned more from her successes or failures, to which, Leona answered, “I would say that good things do not come easy in life and to be fair if you get something easy, it doesn’t make you appreciate that thing, so I’d say that I definitely learn more from the failures in my life because it learned me how to keep loving hard, not to give up if times get rough and really it was just me learning from the failure because it just takes courage to keep going even if things are not going your way but it makes you appreciate the things like you deserve and you become more passionate about the things, changes your outlook at life. The failures really push you and make you stronger and bigger person.”
Next up, Uruguay was asked about how she would address a climate change conference, as Valentina answered confidently, “The truth is, as an ambassador we should create an awareness and one of the most important things is to encourage especially the young people and educate them on the issues of recycling and climate change. With small things we can change this situation. I thinks it’s important and that we can really change especially with the younger generation. I’d like to talk about the little things we can do, like recycling, cleaning up the beaches. These types of campaigns make a difference.”
Paraguay was up next as she was asked, “How do you use your social media to make an impact?” Answering the question, Bethania Borba shared, “Well I joined social media 2 years ago, but I realized recently I could use the platform to be a leader. From my position, a young lady from Paraguay of 20 years old I use the hashtag #notocyberbulllying. Being on social media means a lot and one of those things is constantly being exposed and receiving messages from haters you don’t know, from all over the world without knowing how they feel at that moment. That’s why receiving messages from haters can push people to suffer from anxiety, depression and for some it ends in suicide. I keep pushing the hashtag on this platform with everyone saying no to cyber bullying.”
Moving on to Dominican Republic, Emmy Pena was asked, “What do you think the worlds needs to hear right now?” To which, she quickly responded, “I think what the world needs to hear that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Covid-19 took a very big toll on us and personally it was really hard for me because a lost a close friend and wasn’t able to say goodbye which was very hard and I feel like the world soon needs to understand that we’re going to get back to being with each other and that these are the times when we need to understand how important it is to tell each other that we love and value each other and for us to have hope that we are going to get back together.”
Last but not the least, the round concluded with the final question to Singapore’s Khai Ling Ho, “If you could change something about the world, what it would be?” She referred her answer to Domincan Republic’s story and responded, “If I had that magical touch, I would want to be able to cure Coovid. As of now it is super hard and everyone is trying so hard to find vaccines and of course a lot of people are losing their loved ones and we are unable to do so many things and coming here has really been a great opportunity to experience something like this. In Singapore as well, we are very proud that many of us have been vaccinated but all around the country, its not the same for everyone else and I just feel like when you’re unable to see the people you love it’s very hard and I do relate to Domincan Republic so I would definitely wish to be able to cure Covid, if I could.”
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.