Pia wildly cheered at Miss ‘U’ prelims

Pia wildly cheered at Miss ‘U’ prelims
By JAY PATAO

MISS Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach was among the most wildly-cheered contestant at the 64th Miss Universe Pageant preliminary competition show held at The Axis in Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada last Wednesday night (Thursday morning PH time).

The 26-year-old Filipino-German beauty queen, and the 79 other contestants worldwide paraded in cocktail dresses, swimsuits and evening gowns of their choice before a panel of judges who were tasked to select the 10 semi-finalists whose names will be revealed during the telecast show on December 20 (December 21 PH time).

The judges for the preliminary competition were: Erika Albies, Julio Caro, Zak Soreff, Nischelle Turner, Rocky Motwani, Erin Brady, and Keiko Uraguchi.

Wurtzbach, along with Miss Thailand Aniporn Chalermburanawong and Miss USA Olivia Jordan received the loudest cheers from the audience, which were noted by hosts Paulina Vega, the reigning Miss Universe, and Nick Teplitz. Dozens of Filipino fans have traveled to Las Vegas to watch the Miss Universe preliminaries and final show on December 20, including Pia’s mentor Jonas Gaffud and his Aces & Queens (AQ) team. AQ has also trained, among others, Miss World 2014 Megan Young, and Miss Universe runners-up Venus Raj, Shamcey Supsup, Janine Tugonon and Ariella Arida.

 

Wurtzbach wore a black and white bikini for the swimsuit round, and a red Oliver Tolentino creation for the evening gown round. The US-based Tolentino, who has been dressing up Hollywood celebrities at the Oscar awards, came to the rescue to provide Pia with a gown after the one she was supposed to wear – a royal blue creation by Albert Andrada – was not delivered in time for the preliminaries.

An innovation during the finals on December 20 will be the inclusion of fan votes who will simply watch the live telecast and vote for finalists during the swimsuit, evening gown, final interview and final look. The fan votes will be factored along with the celebrity judges’ votes to determine the next Miss Universe.