First, the Tiffany Show always puts on a show that is polished and perfect. The Miss Tiffany Universe pagaent, which chooses Thailand's prettiest ladyboy (the common and not-at-all-insulting word for transsexuals in Thailand) each year is wonderfuly choreographed and always goes off without a hitch. The Miss International Queen pagaent was hardly perfect, with miscues, mistakes, and lots of people standing around on the stage looking confused.
Second, was the results. First, the top 10: All 4 American representatives got into the final ten. This is a beauty contest, so I will be blunt: One of the Americans was —as far as American drag queens go — below average in appearance. Half of the drag queens in America are prettier. Another one of the Americans, although pretty in the face, had a body that was better suited for an NFL wide receiver than a bikini. You want muscles? Sheesh. A third American girl was actually Thai, but raised in America. Quite pretty, but I would have picked 3 or 4 other contestants for the top 10 before her. The fourth American, see below.
Yes: The winner. It wasn't Miss Korea. It was the blonde-haired Miss USA. Once again, I'll be blunt: Incredible smile. Exceptionally beautiful face. Big blonde Texas-style hair. But you could see her age in her face (Early-30-something, I would guess), and she was easily a size 8. That's up against porcelin-skinned, size zero, 19-year-old Miss Korea and Miss Thailand, and Britney Spears lookalike, Miss Brazil. (Granted, Miss Brazil's question-answer was horrible, and that knocked her out of the running, but how did Miss USA beat out Miss Korea?)
Well, I have my own theory about that: I think that the Tiffany's people decided that if the Miss International Queen pagaent was going to really take off, they needed an American (non-Asian) to represent the show for the next year, speaking English, communicating how great the show is, et cetera. I think that Miss USA was chosen because she could best further the renown of the pagaent. I will say that all my personal gripes aside, she certainly carried herself like a beauty queen, and I do agree with the fact that she can only help the success of the pagaent in the future.
Anyway, here come the photos. Sorry for their quality as camera phones are not designed for perfect photos.
The opening number by the Tiffany's cast... a song celebrating Pattaya.
After the final results are announced. All the contestants and judges up on stage.
The 3 finalists: Miss Thailand, 2nd Runner-up is on the left. Miss Korea, 1st Runner-up is on the right. Miss USA, Miss International Queen 2005, is in the middle.
Anyway, there was lots of press there, and I saw reporters from lots of different TV stations from around the world. The show was broadcast live in Thailand on one of the major TV networks. Miss Thailand (the female one) was there, and Thailand's version of Matt Lauer was the emcee. Well, even with all my complaints, I still had a great time nonetheless, and hope that next years event is even more successful.
3 comments:
Hi Jil,
I found your blog doing a search on the pageant, My name is Candi Stratton I am originally from the USA but now making Australia my home, I was there that weekend as I was a judge and performed as Cher the night before, I want to clear up a few thins for you from a judges pespective, Miss Korea was stunning and also my favorite but she tripped twice on her evening gown as it was too long and we all took notice of this, also her question and answer really hurt her, Her question was, if you had to choose between water and air and you could only choose one, which would it be and why? her answer was, she wouldn't choose either she would give it to someone who needed it more...... She didn't answer the question.
I hope this helps in understanding
Hi Candi. I enjoyed your performance as Cher on Friday night. Loved how you "moved forward in time" through the different "Cher iterations."
Anyway, thanks for letting me know about Miss Korea's dress. It didn't catch my eye, that's for certain, but I still liked her best.
I hated the question and answer portion pretty much through and through. I thought that it was crap that Miss Thailand got to answer in Thai, Miss Korea got to answer in Korean, Miss America got to answer in English, but then Miss Brazil had to do the best she could with a second language. They should either all answer in English (which I think is a bad idea), or they should have translators on hand for each language that could come up in the final.
Anyway, thanks for writing. Here are the links to other blog entries I wrote that cover the Miss International Queen pagaent.
Hope to see you there next year! If I do, I'll remember to say hello.
http://pattayajil.blogspot.com/2005/10/out-for-dinner.html
http://pattayajil.blogspot.com/2005/10/final-update-on-miss-international.html
http://pattayajil.blogspot.com/2005/11/final-update-on-miss-international.html
Hi Jil,
I agree with you on the question and answer, but also they did ask Miss brazil if she wanted a translater but she said she knew english well enough afterwards she said she struggled because se was so nervous!
Thank you so much for the compliment!
How do you like living in Pattaya?
I thought the people were lovely I came across, but not sure if I could live Pattaya
Email me at candi@tgconnect.com
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