Miss World 2016 predictions: Will PH’s Catriona Gray win the crown?

Note: The story below first appeared in pageant writer Norman Tinio’s blog. It is republished here, with his permission.

By sheer number of delegates alone, Miss World 2016 can be a real tough nut to crack when it comes to making final predictions on the outcome. One hundred seventeen ladies want the blue crown currently worn by Mireia Lalaguna of Spain. But only one of them will succeed in the end. Who are the most deserving ones, in my opinion?

Below are the videos of the contenders who made Top 20 on my list. I initially picked the best two from each of the following regions – Africa, Americas, Asia/Oceania, Carribbean and Europe – then added the next ten reps who received the best preliminary analysis on my personal scoresheet.

Kenya  

 

South Africa 

Tanzania 

  

Chile 

Mexico 

   

USA 

Venezuela 

 

Australia 

Cook Islands 

 

India 

 

Indonesia 

  

Mongolia 

 

Nepal 

Philippines 

 

Dominican Republic 

  

Puerto Rico 

 

Hungary 

 

Russia 

Slovakia 

Ukraine 

 

My Miss World 2016 Top 10

Allow me to cut my list of the 20 ladies in half so that I can share with you my Top 10 consisting of the Philippines, Hungary, Dominican Republic, Russia, India, Mongolia, Venezuela, Indonesia, Mexico and the USA.

Indulge me in being so pro-Catriona Gray. But I see our bet as the only one among them who justly deserves the Miss World 2016 crown. She is the veritable total package – excellent communication skills, talented singer with an altogether charity-driven disposition that encompasses what the Miss World Organization is all about. She will definitely be a huge asset for Julia Morley.

And so, I am left to select the two runners-up plus two more ladies to make up the Top 5. The 4 contenders are:

Timea Gelencser of Hungary

Yaritza Reyes of the Dominican Republic

 

Yana Dobrovolskaya of Russia

 

and

Priyadarshini Chatterjee of India

 

A photo grid of my Miss World 2016 Top 5

My Top 5 is a hearty mix of everything that Miss World is all about – substance being the topmost consideration with beauty of face as the next benchmark. Catriona, Timea, Yaritza, Yana and Priyadarshini are all that and more.

I would have loved to squeeze in Diana Croce of Venezuela into the final fold. But for now, she is the one I choose as the likeliest to spoil one of the spots above in the ultimate run. She is a very close 6th on my list.

So that wraps up my forecast for the results of Miss World 2016. Do not forget the GMA-7 telecast of the finals on Monday, December 19 at 8am (promo teaser below). 

 

– Rappler.com 

 

 Norman Tinio started pageant-blogging back in 2009 but has already been an avid pageant enthusiast since the early 70s. Apart from that, he is an Industrial Psychologist by profession, movie addict by nocturnal choice and an ex-Seminarian who can pray in Ancient Latin. You can always find him and his daily musings at normannorman.com.