The Miss Universe Thailand 2020 pageant has come and gone, yet still there is still some debate among fans on who truly deserved the title.
Some fans are still not convinced with Amanda Obdam’s victory as the new Miss Universe Thailand. Let’s try to put it into rest this debate with this discussion on the top three winners of the pageant.
When we released our top favorites for the 2020 Miss Universe Thailand pageant, we only mentioned 4 favorites to win instead of our usual ranked prediction list. That was because we felt that there was no way to truly narrow them to just one or two, between Amanda Obdam, Praveenar Singh, Punika Kulsoontornrut and Emmy Kim Sawyer (whose journey shockingly ended in the top 10) we’re spoilt for choice. These ladies were strong and never really let up in the competition. Everyone was in agreement that these were the main frontrunners for the title.
So let’s review their finals night performances and break them down into these categories:
1. Performance
2. Beauty of Face
3. Figure & Body Proportions
4. Intelligence & Communication Skills
5. Commercial and International Appeal
PERFORMANCE (Pasarela & Presentation)
Based on performance alone nobody had a cleaner presentation than that of Punika’s during finals night. From the red carpet to the swimsuit to the evening gown, Punika served it with all the finesse and drama we wanted in a pageant competition. Hands down Punika owned this category. She had control, refined movements and stage presence. Punika was perfection onstage.
Hot on her heel though is Amanda whose presence on-stage is undeniable. During her time on the stage you can see feel her having fun while serving great face all the time. Veena on the other hand has too much energy that it is spilling through which showed lack of control. There are still areas there that can be improved.
BEAUTY OF FACE
Amanda by far has the face that would make anybody gasp and sigh. Her beauty isn’t overpowering but one that welcomes and draws you to come closer. That seems to be the sort that is being preferred in the Miss Universe pageant these days. A beauty that is very relatable.
Coming in second would be Veena although she hasn’t mastered yet how to make use of different facial expressions like squints, smirks, full smile, etc… to convey a wider range of expression. Then we have Punika whose sharp facial structures is akin to a model. High cheekbones and chiseled jawlines galore.
FIGURE AND BODY PROPORTIONS
This area is a close call between Amanda and Punika. Both ladies have great bodies: long slender necks, sloping shoulders, graceful torsos and lithe limbs. However with Punika’s 5’9″ height, we might give her the slighter advantage in this category over Amanda’s 5’7″. That extra inch or two on the legs really makes a difference. Veena’s body proportions is closer to that of Amanda’s with a slightly heavier bottom.
With figures as close to perfection as theirs, presentation is key…that is why it seems that Punika would have the better proportions, simply because she knew how to present her best angles to truly showcase her body at its best.
INTELLIGENCE AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Here in this area we cannot seem to have a consesus, so we give them a triple tie in this category, and we’ll explain why. Looking over at the translation of the top 3 answers by the Crown Times Instagram page, you can make better sense of what was said in the final rounds of the competition. It was clear that it was Punika who clearly answered the question clearly. The two others have skirted the question and worked around it. Punika clearly stated an actual physical object to her answer. The sequence of her thoughts were cohesively presented. Veena’s answer was a little all over the place. She talked about smiles, about humility, being a Thai, religion and monarchy but didn’t seem to present it cohesively and narrow it down to a focused answer.
Mastery of language doesn’t always equate to substance in answers and that has been the critique that fans place on Amanda. However the one thing she did right that made her answer work was she personalized it and talked about the critique of her being a ‘halfie’. This allowed the judges, and in extension the audience, to contextualize her answer. This was what made her answer work. That is why her ‘all of me’/ ‘my Thai-ness’ response to the question made better sense. She answered the question indirectly through her experience.
COMMERCIAL AND INTERNATIONAL APPEAL
Hands down Amanda is leagues away from the competition in this aspect. Being a Thai-Canadian person didn’t take away from her chances of winning. In fact it made her be more cosmopolitan and modern. Which makes her appeal to a wider international audience. Amanda’s beauty is very commercial, which is an advantage to the organization itself as it will rake in revenue of sorts. Let’s be honest, pageants are a business industry nowadays so it’s time to start thinking of it in that terms. A winner’s ability to bring in revenue is as important as her ability to perform onstage.
Not saying that Punika or Veena don’t have international appeal. They do but perhaps not in the same scale as that of Amanda’s. We would say though that next to Amanda, we feel that Veena comes in at a distant second.
CONCLUSION
Over-all it seems that Amanda takes the lead in all categories combined. So it thus makes sense that she was the one to actually win the title this year. The heartbreaking aspect of this write-up is that Punika would also have been a great rep considering the finesse and refinement in her over-all presentation. We may have to be content to see that her final pageant forray is one for the pageant books. At least Veena has a chance to return and should take some time recover and re-assess her gameplan for the next time. The areas we mentioned should be the areas that she should be planning and training harder for.
Amanda’s win didn’t come as a surprise to yours truly. We knew the areas that each of them had an Achilles’ heel on. So we already had a sense that these three ladies would eventually be fighting tooth and nail for the title. What we couldn’t account for was the judges tastes and what the organization was looking for. Clearly, we were right all along to put our bets on these girls.
As for Amanda, there is a need to train hard to speak concisely and avoid being too wordy. There is no need for her to over explain her answer, because brevity is the soul of wit. She needs to be trained how to edit her thoughts so that what comes out as a response are ones that makes impact. If she masters this, she could be on her way to the third Miss Universe crown from Thailand.
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