Prior to joining their respective international pageants, beauty queens Parul Shah and Maggie Wilson-Consunji underwent physical and mental trainings. Maggie competed at Miss World 2007 while Parul represented the Philippines at Miss Grand International 2015.
They might look glamorous on the catwalk but their final appearance was achieved through a series of punishing workout routines and numerous personality development exercises. And just like how these “women of substance” put it: We train like athletes, only our arena is the pageant stage.
“A lot of people don’t realize how competitive beauty queens are. People have this perception that we are high maintenance. I kind of like how people think of us that way because they expect us to be like divas but when we perform in other fields, that’s when they get surprised,” said the 27-year-old Maggie in an interview with Manila Standard.
And they are out to prove that they are more than just pretty faces as they tried to survive the physically and emotionally challenging reality show, The Amazing Race Asia, which starts its Season 5 run on Thursday night at 9 p.m. on AXN.
“No one will ever understand what we went through unless they’ve become part of the race. I used to watch the show and didn’t think how challenging the tasks were until it was me doing those challenges. I think we’re going to talk about this experience for a very long time, many years maybe,” said Parul.
Asked about how they survived the month-long competition and what their game plan was, both queens said that before they embarked on this mentally and physically challenging journey, they agreed to play it safe.
“We decided that we’re going to be the underdog in this competition. Like joining pageants, you don’t have to give everything in one go. In most tasks, we see to it that we wouldn’t finish first or last. It’s a challenge when people underestimate you because they wouldn’t know what you are capable of,” explained Maggie.
The two beauty queens are bosom buddies in real life. Maggie was the one who trained Parul before the latter joined the Binibining Pilipinas 2014 where she won the Tourism crown. She was handpicked to represent the Philippines at Miss Grand International 2015, where she placed Miss Grand International 2015 Third Runner-up.
“Maggie was my mentor as a beauty queen and in The Amazing Race, she’s my support system. She kept on pushing me to be a competitive person like she is,” the Filipino-Indian beauty shared.
“I am drawn to people who have great passion to succeed, that’s why we instantly became friends. And I don’t think I would reach this far, talking about The Amazing Race, if I were with a different partner,” Maggie commented.
Best friends Maggie and Parul are among the 11 teams, including former It’s Showtime host Eric Tai and wife Rona Samson-Tai, who are competing for the $100,000 prize in the reality game show.
Photos by Sonny Espiritu