Beatrice Luigi Gomez ends her Miss Universe journey at Top 5
The Philippines' Beatrice Luigi Gomez did not make it to the Top 3 of the 70th Miss Universe pageant in Eilat, Israel on Monday, Dec 13
The contestants who made it to the top 3 are: South Africa, India, and Paraguay.
Before the Top 10 announcement, Gomez, along with the rest of the Top 16, participated in the swimsuit competition of the pageant, where she wore a pink one-piece swimsuit. In the evening gown competition, she wore a gold Francis Libiran creation.
While not progressing further in the competition, Gomez managed to continue the Philippines' streak of at least landing in the semifinals—a streak that began in 2010, when Ma. Venus Raj placed fourth in the 59th Miss Universe pageant. The 68th and 69th Miss Universe Philippine delegates, Gazini Ganados and Rabiya Mateo, both ended their Miss Universe journeys as semifinalists. Rachel Peters, who competed at Miss Universe in 2017, ended her pageant journey in the Top 10.
Gomez is a 26-year-old beauty queen from Cebu City. A development worker and a Philippine Navy reservist, she is also the country’s first openly queer beauty queen to represent the Philippines in the Miss Universe pageant.
She won the Miss Universe Philippines 2021 title in September this year. While not a beauty pageant greenhorn (she won the Binibining Cebu pageant in 2020), Gomez bested other more favored and more experienced contestants, such as Katrina Dimaranan, Steffi Rose Aberasturi, and Maureen Wroblewitz.
Her split with long-time girlfriend Kate Jagdon was confirmed weeks before she flew to Israel for the competition.
But despite this, Gomez seemed determined and ready. “I’ve done all of my training with one goal in mind, and that is to win,” she said during one of her training sessions with public speaking coach Boy Abunda. “But now that you ask me why I should lose, I think that I shouldn’t. Because as I said earlier, I dedicated everything to win, and that (losing) should not be an option,” she added.
The 70th Miss Universe pageant is ongoing in Eilat, Israel.