Michelle Dee practices Q&A, pasarela with Boy Abunda
MANILA, Philippines — Miss Universe Philippines 2023 Michelle Dee gave a small preview of her upcoming performance for this year's Miss Universe competition in El Salvador during a guest appearance on "Fast Talk With Boy Abunda" last October 30.
During the show, Michelle teased her revised pageant walk — now the "air walk" rather than "snake walk," as coined by fans — and engaged in a sample Q&A portion opposite Boy himself.
Michelle explained fans have been calling it the "air walk" as her pasarela is now more polished and refined, even giving a sample of it on the show's stage.
The beauty queen then did her pasarela during the show's "Fast Talk" segment, which Michelle joked might affect how her execution.
Some of Michelle's answers were smart over beautiful, being overdressed than underdressed, pants over a gown, flats over heels, and attributing her looks, competitiveness, and determination to her mother Miss International 1979 Melanie Marquez (also quipping she inherited Melanie's long legs).
For Boy's ending questions Michelle answered lights off over lights on, happiness over chocolates, the best time for happiness is in the dark, and introduced herself as the would-be winner of Miss Universe 2023.
Michelle and Boy later sat down for the Q&A portion, and the first question Boy asked about the importance of having women leaders in society.
"Essentially I believe if we have more women leaders, it'll be a reflection of a more diverse, inclusive, and empowered world. Women have this innate quality of being empathetic, understanding, and compassionate," said Michelle, noting only a third of world leaders are women.
"With that representation we can really amplify the the voices of women, make sure all opportunities and social issues like gender-based violence and lack of women education around the world are addressed, and that every woman feels she has a seat at the table as well," Michelle ended.
Boy's crew and audience applauded Michelle's response, and Boy had no comments for improvement except advice to not taper off at the end and finish strong.
The second question was what could Michelle as a queen do amid the ongoing wars in the world, which Boy noted could come up in the pageant itself given conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.
"Nobody wins at war. There are only countries that should be safe spaces for their citizens, those are ruined, families are torn apart most especially the children — they're exposed to so much fear and violence at such a young age when they should be fostering a happy life and childhood," Michelle began.
The beauty queen ended her response by saying as Miss Universe she would use her platform to "leverage and promote inclusivity, cooperation, and understanding for all leaders especially of conflicting nations to really work together because we should all live in a world that is peaceful, united, and safe for everybody."
Other things Michelle and Boy discussed on the show were her years-long preparations and training, her advocacy for autism inclusivity, awareness, and empowerment, coming out as bisexual, and Miss Universe's rules expansion for future candidates.
After the guest appearance, Michelle flew out for El Salvador where she vies to win the Philippines its fifth Miss Universe crown.
According to recent polls, Michelle is in the Top 10 candidates from fan voting; the top candidate is assured a spot in the semifinals, which Michelle nabs would be an improvement from last year as the Philippines exited in the first round for the first time in 12 years. — Video from GMA Network's YouTube channel
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