FORMER Miss Universe titlists Riyo Mori (2007) and Dayanara Torres (1993) arrived in Manila ahead of the Miss Universe pageant on Jan. 30 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Japan’s Mori arrived on Tuesday night while Puerto Rico’s Torres arrived in the Manila airport on Wednesday morning.
Miss Universe president Paula Shugart previously confirmed that Torres would sit as judge both in the preliminary competition and the coronation event.
The Puerto Rican beauty, who first came to Manila in 1994 to crown her successor, started her movie career after her reign and became local TV’s “Dancing Queen” and also confirmed her plan to return to the local entertainment scene.
Eric Apolonio
Meanwhile, Mori, the second Miss Universe from Japan, will sit as one of the judges along with India’s first winner Sushmita Sen, who was crowned in 1994.
Sen, now 41, who has become an award-winning Bollywood actress, expressed excitement on her ‘returning home’ to the Philippines after 23 years.
The 65th Miss Universe pageant will feature another gathering of past Miss Universe winners with five former titlists flying to Manila to grace the coronation finals.
Some of the confirmed names are Mexico’s Lupita Jones (1991), Canada’s Natalie Glebova (2005), and Angola’s Leila Lopes (2011).
Jones, the first Mexican woman to win in 1991, is the first to arrive in the country for the Miss Universe pageant.
The 42-year-old, actress and currently the director of Nuestra Belleza Mexico, the Miss Universe pageant franchise in Mexico, came to give support to this year’s Mexican delegate, Kristal Silva.
The 65th Miss Universe coronation will be telecast live on Solar, ETC, ABS-CBN Channel 2 and GMA 7. American TV personality Steve Harvey will return as host with model Ashley Graham.
This year’s format will be different from the pageant’s previous edition. Instead of a Top 15, only 12 semifinalists will be announced.
The Top 12, predetermined by the judges during the preliminary round of the competition, will then be trimmed down to the Top 9, determined by the scores of the judges and the fans’ votes after the swimsuit segment.
Then the Top 6 will be announced. The six finalists will advance to the Q and A round.
From the Top 6 will emerge the Top 3 who will only get a “Final Look” from the judges and fans (home viewers) who will be asked to make a decision based on their overall performance through the Final Look.
Rather than score, this segment is ranked, which means the judges and home viewers will base their vote on who they think should win the title.