Beauty and uhm...brains?

Q and A for Binibining Pilipinas (Miss Philippines) 2008 contestant Janina San Miguel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKwmseoKFCo

To her credit, she did win the "Best in Long Gown" and the "Best in Swimsuit" awards. That takes care of the beauty part.

Brains? Well, the "they was" to "my pamili" to "hoh my gahd" to "eto.. wait" to "taf (tough?) ten"... not a very stellar performance. Well... Look, maybe she's just really nerbiyus because, you know, she's just 17. She's a mass comm graduate, after all. So maybe she really did just lose it on stage.

But then again, others would argue that, as Bb. Pilipinas, she can't lose it. She's a beauty queen who will represent the Philippines for crying out loud! Poor grammar is permissible (some contestants in Miss World and Miss U don't speak English at all), but she did not make any sense! She did not even answer the friggin' question.

Worse still, the bulk of what she said, aside from the screwed up grammatical nonsense, was the pointless apology. When you made a mistake, lessen the emphasis on that one then just move on! Don't dawdle on your error, just say your piece and make a point! She didn't do that; hence, people only remember her screwed up Q and A.

And yet she still won the crown!

Like it or not, she did one thing that may have helped her: she stood out. Answering as best as she could would probably just make her blend in with the rest who did just that. Intentionally or not, by screwing up the interview, she stood out; everybody remembers how she miserably bumbled answeriung the question... and she got the win!

Hoh my gahd! Robert Greene was right!!!

If she intentionally screwed that up, that was big and gutsy move on her part. A very big gamble that really paid off. If she didn't intentionally screw up, well, just the same; she won. Let's just hope she learns her lesson well and don't get trapped in the same pitfall again in her next level. (Then again, if she won by screwing up, she may want to do the same. Although, unlike the Pinoy judges, I don't think foreign judges would like that.)

Of course, there's always a possibility that at least some of the judges were biased and wanted her to win no matter what. With corruption being a norm in the Philippines, that's always a big possibility. Well, you know how I feel about this corruption thing so let's just move on, okay?:))

I guess in the end, that's all that matters. You stand out and you win. She is not, as Simon Cowell of American Idol says, "forgettable".

Well, like it or not, she's going to the Miss World and she'll represent the Philippines. Who knows? Maybe she'll get lucky again. I think Philippines has a good shot this time; she won the long gown and swimsuit awards, and she stood out in the Q and A. She's got beauty and, uhm, young brains. :)