Alpha Pageant Franchise Fees

Just before you read further, a disclaimer first: the figures included in today’s blog feature are neither actual confirmed nor accurate numbers. The pageant industry is notoriously secretive on the franchise fees that they charge different national directors.

The (unconfirmed) Franchise Fee estimates of the Alpha Four Pageants…

So with that out of the way, here is the estimated approximation of the franchise fees for the four biggest international pageants.
Miss World – they charge around a measly US$ 10k for every national pageant but there is a catch, each pageant franchise are said to require to have a national pageant where its main winner goes to MW.
Miss Universe – one of the highest fees in the pageant circuit as the pageant is the most competitive among the 4. Newbie countries are supposedly charged around US$ 10k while bigger and more competitive countries like Venezuela and Thailand  are rumored to go beyond 100k.
Miss International – UPDATE (April 18, 12noon) according to some sources close to a ND, the MI has a ‘franchise fee’ that starts from US$1,000 up to US$ 10,000. However each of the franchise holders/ national directors can choose how much they can pay for the franchise fees.
Miss Earth – with the third biggest participants among the four pageant the ME  franchise fees are relatively smaller although not as much as MI.

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Miss International 2018 on November 9th in Tokyo!

Anybody travelling to Japan on the first week of November? Well you are in luck as the Miss International pageant will happen on November 9th in Tokyo!

It has been recently announced and posted at the Miss International website that the pageant will take place at the Tokyo Dome come November 9th. An expected 70 candidates will participate from all over the world including the Philippines’ Ahtisa Manalo and Venezuela’s Mariem Velazco. With the recent announcement that the Miss Universe will take place on November 25th, seems like the month of November is going to be a busy month for pageant fans!

Eva and Vickie: On Fitting the Miss International Mold

Two exquisite doll-faced beauties, one singular title. Who gets to win it?

If there were any candidate that would fit immensely with the traditional mold of the Miss International title, those would be Eva Psychee Patalinjug and Vickie Marie Rushton. These girls are giving me headaches nowadays on who fits the Miss International title better. Both ladies are blessed with delicate facial features. Both ladies are blessed with curvy bodies. Both ladies are very well educated and well-mannered. Both are alums of the Mutya ng Pilipinas pageants. And both, are the type of girls that we would be proud of should they represent the Philippines in a global stage.

Vickie has always been one who flew under the radar and that has suited her personality. She falls into the category of the demure and behaved damsel, to which our moles have whispered to be allegedly within the favorites of the BPCI honchos. Eva on the other hand has a bit more spunk and is a bit more feisty than Vickie. Owing that perhaps to her being a Law student where she has to always have a stand. And she knows how to bring drama in her presentation. She too is allegedly an insider favorite.

Vickie stands at 5’6″ while Eva is at 5’7″, nowadays height has not become a major issue like in the past. Just look at the 5’6″ Demi Leigh Nel-Peters whose face surely won her the top plum. It all now boils to the face and the attitude. Both Vickie and Eva have the advantage on those.

#Nostalgia: Miss International 1995 Anne Lena Hansen

Back in the 90’s aside from Miss Universe, there are only 2 other international competitions that I followed closely: Miss Asia Pacific Quest and Miss International. So it is no surprise that today’s post is on another Miss International winner, this time from Norway.

Froken Norge 1994 (Miss Norway) was Anne Lena Hansen. Back in 1994, the blonde 2o year old was her country’s representative to the Miss World pageant held in Sun City, South Africa. She was one of the 87 contestants that year. Unfortunately for her she didn’t manage to crack the semifinalists that year that saw Aishwarya Rai as winner.

However, she was tasked to represent Norway in Miss International the following year. The 5’8″leggy,  blue-eyed beauty was a hit among the Japanese as she easily fit the mold of what the pageant is looking for. She easily sailed through the semifinalists that year and went on to bring home the second MI title for Norway. Anne Lena was named Miss International 1995 at the the Shinjuku Pension Hall in Tokyo on September 10th that year. The blonde stunner bested a chocolate skinned Miss Venezuela, Ana Maria Amorer in the pageant. The Philippines’ own Gladys Dueñas was one of the 15 semifinalists…

One special tidbit is that Anne Lena’s win was number 3 in a “four-peat” victory for Europe in the pageant (Poland-Greece-Norway-Portugal) in the 90’s. Plus another trivia is that in the decade of 1990 to 1999, six out of the ten winners in that 10 year span were all from Europe. It is also interesting to note that the blonde Anne Lena was crowned by Christina Lekka of Greece who was also blonde when she passed on her crown (despite the fact that she was a brunette when she won in 1994).

She became a model both in Japan, USA and internationally following her reign and even during her reign as she endorsed several Japanese brands and beauty products. Anne Lena later became an actress in both Norway and in Hollywood.

Age Requirements for the Alpha Pageants

Today’s blogpost is nothing more than just a reminder of the age limits in four of the biggest pageants around. This is nothing new to except for some updates on the maximum ceiling age in pageants.

Miss Earth – must be between the ages of 18 to 26 years old (until December 30th of the year they are competing).
Miss International – candidates must be of  17 years of age to 26 years of age on or before 1st November of the year they are competing.
Miss Universe – contestants must be between the ages of 18 and 28 as of January 1st in the year of they compete.
Miss World -contestants must be between 17 to 27 years old before the entry date of the Miss World contest (which is usually 2 months prior to the coronation).
The change of the MW age limits happened last December 2017 from what used to be a maximum age of 25 to now 27.  This was rumored to have been one of the matters discussed with the franchise holders during the national directors meeting. Miss Earth’s contest rules on age doesn’t specify the cut off dates on the ages in their website. So it is assumed that as long as you are 18 to 25 within the year you are competing, then you are eligible. Also there is still a notion that the cut off age for Miss International is still 24 where this was already increased in the year 2015.

Filipina Miss International Winners

If there was another title that I would love to have this year, it would be the Miss International title. The reason for this is simply because I wanted the Philippines to equalize the lead with Venezuela with the most number of wins in the Japan-based pageant

So far we have 6 titles under our belt.

#Nostalgia: Miss International 1997 Consuelo Adler

When you are blonde, green-eyed and stand 5’11” you hardly could go unnoticed.

That is Miss Venezuela Internacional 1996, Consuelo Adler. Born Consuelo Adler Hernandez on the of 6th October 1976, she brought home one of the three consecutive international wins of Venezuela from 1995 to 1997. Crowned together with Miss Venezuela Marena Bencomo and Miss Venezuela Mundo Ana Cepinska, that was the year of the blondes in the MV pageant. She was Miss Miranda in the 1996 edition of the pageant where she won the special awards of “Most Beautiful Skin” and Miss Photogenic. It is the latter award that she would also win in Japan in 1997 aside from the main title.

The Miss International pageant was held in Kyoto Kaikan, First Hall in Kyoto on September 20th 1997. Consuelo became the 37th woman to win the MI title and the 2nd of 7 Venezuelans (so far) to win the title. It also helped that her whistle-bait figure of 25-24-35 was a hit among the Japanese judges.

After her MI stint she went on to become a successful model having worked with  Clairol, Erika, Fuchs Schmit, Johnson & Johnson, Nivea, Playtex, Samuel Adamn’s, Wonderbra, and Wenz Notes.

PS. Consuelo is one of the 9 Miss International winner who were also named Miss Photogenic. As well as one of the three blond Miss International winners in that decade.