The Miss Earth 2019 pageant was held at Cove Manila at Okada Manila, Parañaque City, Philippines on Saturday, October 26. The 2019 edition of the pageant ended with the winning of Puerto Rico’s Nellys Pimentel. This is the first time Puerto Rico took home the Miss Earth Crown and the first country to win all of the seven major international crowns: Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss Earth, Miss International, Miss Supranational, Miss Grand International, and Miss Intercontinental. The elemental court was also crowned: Air – USA, Water – Czech Republic, and Fire – Belarus.
Let’s start off with the venue. The Cove Manila is a beautiful place, but I was not completely sold on it being used as the stage for a pageant. The beautiful circular flower, feather piece that was the main background focal point, the lightning, and the overhead structure of the Cove were/are all beautiful, but I just did not like how there was a pool between the girls and the judges. The camera shots were also something I was not such a fan of because we, the viewers, we not able to see all the glory of the contestants.
Just like last year, James Deakin hosted the coronation night. I have always thought and still continue to think that James does a great job with hosting and I would not be upset if he continues to come back. The one area in which the host was a bit off was during the introduction of the contestants. The timing of announcement and the girls walking was off; other than that, it was all good.
Speaking of the contestants, the announcement of the top 20 left many pageant followers shocked including myself. The following were announced as the top 20: Russia, Chile, Guam, Belarus, Guyana, Portugal, Japan, Poland, Ghana, Czech Republic, USA, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Spain, Colombia, Netherlands, Nigeria, New Zealand, Best Eco Video: England, and Eco Media Winner: Thailand.
When India and Ukraine were not called into the top 20, it reminded me of Miss Earth 2017 when multi medal winner Karla Victoria Aponte of Puerto Rico was left out of the semis. Michell Castellanos of Venezuela also did not make it to the top 20 and many pageant fans, including myself, had her in the top. Some of the front runners in the competition, Ghana, Spain, Colombia, and Philippines, were left out of the top 10. Ghana and Spain not advancing left me in shock and I’m sure others as well. The top 10 were: Russia, Puerto Rico, New Zealand, USA, Netherlands, Chile, Belarus, Nigeria, Poland, and Czech Republic. After each girl in the top 10 was called, they immediately were given a hashtag and had to make a statement about thus hashtag. I will not go in full detail about what each contestant said, but I will say that my top 5 in this round did belong to Puerto Rico, USA, Belarus, Nigeria, and Czech Republic. Although Czech Republic gave a great answer, I was surprised to not see Nigeria in the top 4. The top 4 included Belarus, USA, Puerto Rico, and Czech Republic.
Belarus, USA, Czech Republic, and Puerto Rico were all asked the same question: “There are many people, including some notable international leaders, who still do not believe in climate change. How would you convince them of the seriousness of this problem?” Based on the answers each girl gave, I completely agree with the results. Nellys (Puerto Rico), in my opinion, definitely had the strongest answer followed by Emanii (USA), Klara (Czech Republic), and then Alisa (Belarus).
“First of all, good evening everybody. I would have to say that addressing this issue of people not believing in climate change is more of lack of education and not only a lack of education, but also the ignorance and not wanting to inform themselves of the fact that we are living on a planet that is our biggest home and we have taken advantage of it instead of putting what it is giving to us. Making notable leaders and a lot of influencers engaged with themselves and being better people is the most important thing to do.” – Nellys Pimentel, Miss Earth 2019
With that being said, after each contestant gave their answer it was clear to me who would get each crown even though the Miss Earth Organization has said that each elemental crown is of equal playing field.
Miss Earth Fire: Alisa Manenok (Belarus)
Miss Earth Water: Klara Vavruskova (Czech Republic)
Miss Earth Air: Emanii Davis (USA)
Miss Earth 2019: Nellys Pimentel (Puerto Rico)
Overall, it was another successful year of the Miss Earth pageant and it continues to place itself as one of the world’s major international pageants. I cannot wait to see all the great things Nellys, Emanii, Klara, and Alisa will do during their reign. Congratulations to all the winners and contestants who competed.
Photo credit goes to each photographer of all the photos included in this post