Miss Chinese International 2012 : Results & Overall Review

*Prepare for a long winded post ahead XD


* SORRY for the white thingy behind the words...I didn't copy stuff...it's just that I copied the results of the competition and out comes the white background thingy :( too lazy to edit coz I used up loads of time for this post lols XD


The Results : 

MCI 2012 winners : (L-R ) Cheryl Wee ( 1st runner-up ) , Kelly Cheung ( Winner ) , Lenna Lim ( Malaysia )

(L-R ) : Singapore , Chicago , Malaysia ..


Winners and subsidiary titles : 

Champion: #12 Kelly Cheung Hei-Man (張曦雯)
First Runner-up: #9 Cheryl Wee Xin-Hiu (黃馨慧)
Second Runner-up: #5 Lenna Lim Jia-Bing (林家冰)

Miss Asia-Pacific Glamour Award: #5 Lenna Lim
Miss Euro-America Vitality Award: #15 Jasmine Rose Hayter (海莉鈴)
Miss Greater China Elegance Award: #26 Rebecca Zhu (朱晨麗)
Miss Friendship Award: #17 Ashton Hong (洪美珊)
Miss Cosmopolitan Award: #5 Lenna Lim

Hot favourites : 

Kelly Cheong ( Miss Chicago ) : Professional model with Elite Modelling Agency & Elite 2010 Best New Model
Erica ( Miss Vancouver ) : Niece of actress Michelle Yim
Lenna Lim ( Miss Malaysia ) : Chen Fala Look-alike , well spoken
Hayter Jasmine Rose ( Miss NY ) : Mixed-beauty
Rebecca ( Miss HK ) : Home Favourite

Review about the opening , intercession , Q&A : 




                                                                        Raymond Lam

This year , the opening and all intercessions were a major improvement compared to previous years . There was more glamour , more fashion ( omgosh...their outfits are to DIE FOR ! ) , and the make-up this year was fantastic !! ( man...everyone look pretty...or maybe this is just a tough year where there are more beauties compared to previous years 0.0 ) . Perhaps the theme of the pageant ( Cosmopolitan ) helped a lot in making this year's pageant one of the best in recent years :)

                                        wow....even their backstage is so modern and all glam up 

I've always admire MCI because they emphasize not only on physical appearance , but also on your wittiness etc..I mean...man...their questions are always tricky and not like Miss Universe...so cliche-ish . However , there's one drawback here , waiting for 10 contestants to answer the questions...omgosh...super boring...( I even went to bathe , apply skincare and still have 2 more contestants to go before they wrap up the session ) . However , it was not all boring because some contestants are really witty there XD ( * hint : Miss Singapore )

Drawbacks : Raymond Lam's lip synching ,Q&A took a lot of time .. 

Many people criticized that the front part ( which is the showcase of contestants ) one by one is not necessary because the judges already know who is the semi-finalists , etc which I have to agree . According to my experience of joining in my college's beauty pageant , I'll kinda have to justify that...In whatever beauty pageants , they will have two panel of judges , 1st panel are the ones who will judge the contestants backstage ( their everyday life...they follow them all the time ) , and the 2nd panel are the guest judges who will judge on the night itself... Practically on the final night , those behind-the-scenes people will roughly know who are the top 10 / top 5 / or in some cases , top 3..but the 2nd panel are the ones who will determine who will be the winner... so if a contestant obtained super low marks during her daily routine / practise , she will have lower chance to win ....it's that simple.. 

But , thinking back , it's good to introduce the contestants too..at least the audience can play judge and they will think it's fairer that way :)

Review on the contestants 

I see more potential girls this year compared to previous years . Also , more competition since 28 girls are competing for the crown ( instead of the usual 15-20 contestants ) ...Besides that , it's tough too that some countries have two representatives ( because last year there was no pageant so 2010 regional winners can compete with 2011 winners ) ...and that's really unlucky for some ( Malaysia is the best example but i'll talk about that later ) . 

This year was a bit different since the contestants are divided and grouped into regions... Asia and Oceania , Greater China and Euro-America ... somehow..I smell something fishy here...to group Miss Hong Kong under greater China is okay...but I sense that it's to allow Miss HK to advance to another round , since she's eloquent and her competitors from her group isn't that great ( not so pretty...chubby...don't speak good Cantonese ) and that added a lot of advantages to Miss HK...

Those who stood out during the pageant ( first segment ) was obviously Lenna ( Malaysia ) for her confidence , her ability to ' sot ' cameras , her eye smile and her witty answers ( man...she's that smart that some contestants started to copy her answer....but kinda failed 0.0 ) , Jasmine Hayter ( New York ) for her mixed beauty and her ability to speak cantonese ( chinese like her kind of beauty ) and her height . I read somewhere which stated if Rebecca ( Hong Kong ) were to compete with Jasmine and Lenna , she is the weakest one because she don't have Jasmine's height and elegance and Lenna's confidence and vitality . So it's a smart move...

but quite useless ...coz I thought they will choose like 3 from Asia , 3 from Greater china....and they ended up choosing the semi-finalists not according to the groups...

Q&A segment : 

#12 Roro Chan (London)
#11 Kelly Cheung (Chicago)
#26 Rebecca Zhu (Hong Kong)
#3 Biliya (Bangkok)
#7 Aliya Fan (Melbourne)
#5 Lenna Lim (Kuala Lumpur)
#9 Cheryl Hiu (Singapore)
#1 Bianca Lam (Aukland)
#25 Maggie Yu (Dalian)
#15 Jasmine Rose (New York)

Top ten are listed above 

Some faltered here , Miss HK sadly gave the wrong answer and she was eliminated...practically those who gave wrong answers do not qualify for the next round . This year's Q&A is quite hard because all of them are about superstitions . You have to answer what is the superstition for __________ and what if ____ and what will be your superstition ( can't really explain here but it's like ' in Nepal , parents gave ' lu han guo ' ( a fruit ) to their daughters when there reach the age of 11 , why do you think they give her that...' etc...quite hard to explain lols...but man...if you don't have deep knowledge of chinese...DIE...

Miss Singapore and Miss Malaysia stood out here....Miss Singapore with her ' last dance ' answer fpr divorce superstition and ' how should you dance if you are asking your ex-husband for custody fees ' ...that was super hilarious !! It was here that Miss Singapore suddenly stole some of the spotlight !!! Everybody loves her answer XD

Miss Malaysia was really confident and omgosh..I love her interviews....when you see her interviews , she made it like it's not an interview but it looks like she's talking to you ( her eye contact etc ) she also appeared super calm like nothing's happening...can't really see much stress in her....practically her catwalk , dance , interview is good

TOP 3 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This year is kinda unique because it's the only year that after a top 10 ,  the top 3 is announced...

                                             Face of discontentment : So near yet so far....

Lenna walked away with a 2nd runner up title , Cheryl ( Singapore ) settled for 1st runner up ( man she looked unhappy...so obvious ) and Kelly ( Chicago ) is the winner...

                                                           Unexpected yet expected win...

Kelly is somewhat a hot favourite and a dark horse....She was one of the favourite to win the crown mostly because she's from Elite modelling agency , a professional model and she was Elite best model 2010...but she's also a dark horse because she never really stood out during the night... 

I'm kinda irritated with the voting method by the judges to choose the winner....that's still acceptable since they already have the result...but I hate the cheesy part where the final two will have to battle to win votes...why they should win , etc...and usually the person who cry the most is the champion ( like 2010... it was Vancouver vs Malaysia... Malaysia lost because she didn't cry and Vancouver was crying and saying about how she who is not fluent in canto can come this far etc....the judges actually choose malaysia to win but because of Vancouver's pity speech , she eventually grabbed the crown ) 

So when it was the final two moment , me and my mum was saying " Omgosh....now it's the time to see who cry the most..." In fact both cried a lot....but since Chicago gave longer speech , she won... Honestly I was happy Chicago won because I never really liked Miss Singapore...her face lols..her chin I think...but man..her speech was genuine and I love that ...it was really meaningful 

“Ever since five, I have loved performing and loved being on this stage.  However, through these twenty years, the path I have taken has not been easy.  On stage, I have laughed, cried, won, and lost.  Each and everyone’s applause became my motivation.  So whether the today’s results turn out to be success or failure, I will give my best to you all.  Thank you. - Cheryl Wee 

As a performer , I totally understand her feeling.... Actually she can win...but too bad her speech was way too short compared to Chicago ....

One thing I was shocked is that this year Chicago talked about her experience with the contestants etc ( super touching...you have to join a pageant to know why you actually can cry when you talk about the experience , difficulties in the pageant , stress etc ) and she won...compared to Miss Singapore who talked about her own life.... In 2010 , Vancouver talked about herself and she won , but Malaysia talked about contestants bonding etc and she lost... hmm...so the good thing is that they don't have a fixed format lols XD 

'I told them not to be nervous because there can only be two outcomes. You either win or lose. If you are thinking of winning and will win, why be nervous? And if you know you’ll lose, relax, since it wouldn’t change the results anyway'. — Eric Tsang

WHAT POSSIBLY CAUSED LENNA THE MCI 2012 CROWN ? 

2nd runners up fate :   2 steps closer to the crown...so near yet so far ...and so neglected since in MCI , people focus on the 1st runner up and the Champion more..

Everyone expected Lenna to be in the top 3 and place even higher ...but was shocked that she was only the 2nd runner up...because she passed through all segments with ease...and walked away with 3 SUBSIDIARY TITLES 0.0 She's also one of the crowd favourite... but what could possibly went wrong ?

Reason 1 : Her body

 

She's very confident in all segments ...well..until the bikini segment...You see , nobody is perfect . I grasp the concept better with Lenna . This girl have everything : Confidence , vitality , beauty ( her face wow ) , height , calm etc...but she kinda failed in the physique department . Sadly she's quite skinny ( in fact very skinny like me :( ) that's why you can see that her catwalk during the bikini segment is a bit not the usual ' Lenna style ' . I understand that well...and the worst part for her is that the Q&A segment was completely done when they are in bikini....At first , you see that she's ok because even though she don't have chest , but she have nice behind...but when you look at her for a very long time...it kinda became a bit scary because she's skinny....

If the Q&A session is conducted in cheongsams / evening gowns , the crown might be easily hers... 

She looked soooo much better with cheongsam... * sighs...what's done...is done..

Reason 2 : Chen Fala look-alike ?

(L-R )             Chen Fala ( MCI 2005 1st runner up ) and Lenna Lim ( MCI 2012 2nd runner up ) 

* random note : wow....Lenna still look pretty without make up ...how is that possible ???? 0.0

This reason is quite silly...saw this somewhere on the internet...Some people complained that maybe they don't want a Chen Fala copycat to win because there's no ' face originality ' ( if there's such term 0.0 ) ... Somehow it's quite true too...imagine if she wins , next time other organizers will choose doppelgangers instead lols ( maybe ) but still quite a senseless reason lols !!!

Reason 3 : Higher expectation 

This is Lenna during MACIP 2011 last year... When you watch the video , you'll know how she perform...and she's already that good during national pageant , so it's obvious that people expect more from her . Actually watching this now and comparing this with her performance during MCI , she improved tremendously....that time she still looked like it's an interview ( and her answers were already that witty XD ) and now wow...during MCI she delivered...even host Eric Tsang said ' wow...good answer ' which shows a strong indication that she'll be one of the top...when she was announced as 2nd runners up....the hosts was shocked...clearly...


Perhaps the people and the judges expect more from her ....but sometimes it's true that when you joined something and is already at a certain level , you only can improve so far e.g : you are at 50% and you only can go to 100 % so there's only 50% of improvement compared to those who started at 20% ...and have 80% room for improvement ...


Also maybe what she showed that night was nothing new...because she've always been this consistent..so it all boils down to expectation issues here...


Reason 4 : Preliminary judging


As I said above ( scroll way up ) , there are two panels , one does the preliminary judging and another will do the final judging . Usually for preliminary judging , the contestants will have close door interviews so that the interviewers will know the contestants better...and since they follow them most of the time , their behaviours , etiquette , timing , fashion , etc will be judged ... Perhaps Lenna didn't scored high enough during the preliminary judging process...


OR


Reason 5 : Preliminary judging vs Final judging 


There is also this possibility that she scored very high during preliminary judging but the final judges gave her lower marks....


Reason 6 : Not TVB's cup of tea


Let's face it... Most beauty pageant organizers are talent seekers... especially TVB...the winners will get a contract with TVB and etc...( though there are some exceptions like 2010 all 3 winners were offered the contract and 2004 Vivien Yeo ( top 5 ) but was offered contract from TVB ) ..


Maybe TVB don't see Lenna fitting in TVB's concept and style?...( perhaps because she bears a striking resemblance with Fala ? ) the mystery  continues XD They usually choose winners whom they want / like / fit the company's image etc..


Reason 7 : Stress 

                                  Lenna with two ( out of 3 ) of her trophy 


Even though she looked the calmest during the night , that doesn't mean that she's very calm inside...Using logic , it's obvious that when you country is rooting for you to be champion ( high expectation ) , you will push yourself to improve and deliver...she did...( winning 3 subsidiary titles and great answers and presentation ) , but somehow , she's boiling with the added expectation...


The misfortune of Emily Yap 

                                        If only there's one representative from one country...


Luck is not on Emily this year because she was suppose to join MCI 2011 but since last year there's no pageant and Lenna have already been crowned , she wasn't even suppose to join MCI 2012...but she should thank God that TVB allowed some countries to send two representatives ( 2010 and 2011 winner ).........

 Emily is actually very witty , very intelligent ( Currently pursuing Master's degree 0.0 ) , eloquent , tall and have good body...Also, she have the advantage over Lenna because she was crowned 2 years ago and already have hosting experience etc..but sadly , her looks are not outstanding...If she were to compete last year ( with only the usual 15 , she might have the chance - such as Belle Theng...nobody expect her to win but she was 1st runner up ..because she was outstanding that night and her competitors are not really good looking.. ) ...


Somehow , it's somewhat like a misfortune for Emily....During her year , Emily wasn't the favourite for the crown ( same goes to Belle...) BUT Belle wow-ed everyone during MCI while Emily was overshadowed by the much favoured Lenna and other contestants....hence , she wasn't given much time and opportunity to talk and converse with the hosts / judges

                                                                   Emily and Lenna


Judging from the picture above , I think you clearly know what I'll say...Our world is that harsh... and it's even harsher on Emily...If you compare both of them , they shared almost everything : witty speech , confidence , height and eloquence...but sadly Emily drowned in Lenna's presence because Lenna is practically more attractive than her...if you see facebook pages etc....most are rooting for Lenna ( there are those who root for Emily but not as much as Lenna ) ....so for her...I'll just say that she joined during the wrong year...and sometimes it's that unlucky...as in this year there might be strong competitors and you will drown , sometimes there are very weak contestants and you'll stand out.... But I believe Emily will do well in other areas.... perhaps God might have other plans for her ? :)