Leren Bautista, Victoria Vincent, Christelle Abello and other delegates to watch out for in Miss Universe PH 2021's Top 100
Miss Universe Philippines had just announced its list of top 100 delegates on Monday, July 19.
The 100 delegates will compete in several “remote challenges” that will eventually determine who among them will be the 30 finalists who will compete in the Miss Universe Philippines coronation night set later this year. The winner of this year’s Miss Universe Philippine pageant will represent the country in the 70th Miss Universe pageant, to be held in Israel in December 2021.
The pageant’s top 100 is an interesting mix of pageant veterans and beauty contest fresh faces. This early, a couple of names from the roster of 100 delegates are already making noise—particularly actress Kisses Delavin and Asia’s Next Model winner Maureen Wroblewitz.
Kisses has been on the pageant stage before, having joined several local pageants. Maureen is a pageant newbie, but has always been a favorite among pageant fans to join the pageant scene.
But there are other notable names in the list, too, possibly making the second Miss Universe Philippines an exciting event.
US reality show star Katrina Dimaranan is one of the bigger names in the roster, having both TV and pageant experience. She represented the United States in the Miss Supranational 2018 pageant, where she was named first runner-up (Philippine representative Jehza Mae Huelar was part of the Top 10). She was also part of the first season of the dating reality show Love Island, which aired on broadcast network CBS in 2019.
In an Instagram video, she said it was her mother who encouraged her to join the Miss Universe Philippine pageant, saying it’s about time the Philippines know who Katrina Dimaranan is.
“I aim to represent the Philippines in a global stage,” Katrina said. She added, “Finally the stars of the universe aligned for me, and I was able to join the pageant. Every time I watch Miss Universe every single year, lagi ko pong iniisip na, paano kaya kung andun ako to represent the Philippines? And now, I’ve been given the chance to do so.”
YouTuber and entrepreneur Ayn Bernos herself admits that she is not a trained beauty queen. But Ayn also admits dreaming of becoming a beauty queen when she was younger, even though she did not meet the height requirement (she is 5’3; national pageants normally require applicants to be at least 5’6 in height).
So when Miss Universe Philippines announced last June that it removed the height requirement for applicants, Ayn submitted an application right away. I was always dreaming of this. I always planned for this. And I'm very, very serious about joining Miss Universe Philippines. I am not just here to compete, I am here to fulfill a promise that I made myself many years ago. I promised young Ayn that I would try if I could, and so I'm here today. And to every young girl out there who dares to dream, it's possible," she said in a video.
While Ayn said she does not have pageant training or experience, she said she is a trained public speaker—which will definitely come in handy if she makes it to the pageant’s Top 30. In one YouTube video, Ayn answered the questions asked during the 2021 Binibining Pilipinas Q&A segment, perhaps to give us a taste of what she could do if she gets chosen to be part of the Miss Universe Philippines Top 30.
Leren Mae Bautista is coming in the Miss Universe Philippines perhaps as one of its most experienced delegates—having won the Mutya ng Pilipinas pageant in 2015, the Miss Tourism Queen of the Year International in 2015, and winning the Binibining Pilipinas Globe title in 2019. It looks like she really wants to represent the Philippines in the Miss Universe pageant, and her pageant experience could only give her an edge in the local competition.
“Totoo pong nagalaw na ang baso,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “Lalaban po tayo!”
Christelle Abello is the only contestant from the Miss Universe Philippines pageant last year to join this year. She also joined the Miss World Philippines pageant in 2015 and won the Binibining Pilipinas USA pageant in 2014.
Quite notably, she was chosen as the Ginebra San Miguel calendar girl last year, a high profile gig for someone just starting out in the industry. Christelle said in a previous interview that she is a fan of Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, who famously joined the Binibining Pilipinas pageant twice before winning the local title in her third try. “I feel that failure after failure is a necessity in life because I look at it as an opportunity to growing and also I see it as me becoming one step closer to success. Never say die and never give up,” she said.
Among the fresh faces, an early favorite is Victoria Velasquez Vincent. Born and raised in New Zealand, this 25-year-old moved to the Philippines recently during the pandemic to pursue her dreams of joining the beauty pageant world.
In an interview, Victoria said someone from The Camp, a pageant training group, reached out to her online to ask if she's interested in being trained. "Everything just happened from there," she said. "I could have put it off for next year or the year after that, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. You need to take the risk to reap the rewards," she said.
With 100 girls vying for a spot in the Miss Universe Philippines finals, we're bound to see other girls get noticed as well. Do you already have your favorites?