MANILA, Philippines — If they would only have their way, beauty queens Gloria Diaz, Winwyn Marquez and Maxine Medina would still rather have beauty pageants in an actual setting as "new normal" pageants are very challenging both for contestants and judges.
During the recent online press conference for their new iWant series "Beauty Queens," Winwyn said she is not in favor of pageant "new normal" because she didn't know how to be fair in judging the contestants based on such setup.
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"To be honest, sobrang hirap sagutin ng question na 'yan kasi di ko alam kung paano nila iju-judge, papano magiging fair. There's a lot of questions, pati sa'kin, 'di ko alam kung papano," Winwyn said.
"For me, nalilito pa ko kung paano kasi everyone's adjusting. Pero for me, ang priority pa rin 'yung health natin di ba? For me, kung paano nila naiisip gawin 'yung pageant na ganu'n talaga then they can go through it. But I'm really not sure what's going to happen. I'm not sure kung paano ba i-aaccept ng tao ngayon 'yun kasi pwedeng hindi maging fair eh," added the Philippines' first and only Reina Hispanoamericana titleholder.
The actress also pointed out that the looks of a person is different onscreen and in person, making it harder to be fair in judging a contestant.
"I really don't know how to answer it kasi nag-aadjust pa rin ako pagdating sa pageant, so pa'no pa kaya 'pag gan'un (judging)? I really don't know," she said.
"Kasi pwedeng maging biased eh? Kasi ang hitsura ng tao onscreen iba 'pag nakita mo in person," she added.
Maxine echoed Wynwyn sentiments, saying that it is really difficult to determine a contender's looks in person and virtually.
"Agree ako kay Winwyn... Actually nahirapan ako for the candidates. Kasi hindi mo ma-feel 'yung presence ng tao right in front of you, 'yung aura n'ya is talagang okay... Sobrang ibang iba s'ya in person and sa virtual... Mas gusto ko s'yempre in person, pero kung s'yempre GCQ or ECQ tayo ngayon, I'm after the health talaga," she said.
For Gloria, a "new normal" pagent will have a different way of judging.
"Yes, you have there both sides, but if it must be, it must be. Para bang Miss Photogenic. Miss Photogenic doesn't necessarily mean pinakamaganda. It means photos where they'll be judged, so it's an entirely different concept. So go with the flow," she said.
"And I can't be a good judge. But maybe they can do the usual turn around and stuff like that. And of course, more than anything, if they're charming, if they have nice teeth kasi ang lapit n'yan, 'di ba? So I think, it's a different way of judging," added Miss Universe 1969.
“Beauty Queens” is now streaming on the iWant app (iOs and Android).
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