MANILA, Philippines — Beauty queen Samantha Lo has revealed the reason why she resigned as Binibining Pilipinas Grand International 2019.
In an exclusive interview with Philstar.com during the Century Tuna Superbod 2020 Final Callback today, where she is a participant, Samantha admitted that things did not turn out well between her and the Binibining Pilipinas organization.
“Well, there are some behind-the-scenes, things that did occur between the organization and I and at the end of the day, I feel that it is best to resign respectfully and just move on. I did what I came to do and unfortunately, things didn't end amicably,” Samantha said.
Related: Samantha Lo fails to make it to Miss Grand International top 20; fans in outrage
She, however, said that she is happy with her decision.
“I'm happy. I don't feel I lost anything. I've grown from the experience,” she said.
It can be recalled that Binibining Pilipinas and Samantha had a fall out due to Lo's passport issue. She was unable to reach Venezuela in time to compete for Miss Grand International because her passport was found to be tampered and reportedly originally issued to a man.
When asked why she joined this year’s Century Tuna Superbods competition, Samantha said sports is her first love and she thinks the competition is a cool thing to try.
“I've been an athlete for almost 20 years, so I think it would be a really cool thing to try and I admire everybody here. I'm excited to do Century Tuna Superbod 2020,” she said.
“I grew up playing soccer and I became a cross-country runner and then I moved to the Philippines and I found beauty pageants or beauty pageants found me, so that became my second love. Now, I wanted to take a rest and go back to the basics, starting with health and fitness."
Samantha also revealed her fitness regimen.
“So, I worked four days consecutively and then take a break, but I am heavily on stretching and I love ballet. Also, I can't dance but I secretly love to. A lot of cardio and weights,” she said.
Grand winners in the competition (one male, one female) will receive P500,000 each, while runner-ups will get P200,000.