Miss Venezuela Gabriela Isler is Miss Universe 2013; PH’s Ariella Arida, 3rd Runner-up

Miss Venezuela Gabriela Isler was crowned Miss Universe 2013 during the coronation night held at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow, Russia on November 9 (November 10, Philippine time).

The 25-year-old TV personality from Maracay bested 85 rivals including the Philippines’ Ariella Arida as 3rd runner-up; Miss Spain, 1st runner-up; Miss Ecuador, 2nd runner-up; and Miss Brazil, 4th runner-up.

The judges for the main show were Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler, Russian pop king Philipp Kirkorov, Chef Nobu, Ice skating gold medalist Tara Lipinski, Italo Fontana, model Anne V, Carol Alt and Farouk Shami.  US TV presenter Thomas Roberts and ex-Spice Girls Mel B hosted the pageant.

Miss Venezuela's winning answer to judge Steven Tyler's question "What is your biggest fear and how do you plan to overcome it?" is "For me while one may have a lot of fears but nonetheless this is nothing negative. I believe we should overcome all of our fears and this in turn would make us much stronger and mostly we can become stronger persons. As soon as we overcome our fears and we are sure of ourselves then we can face any challenge."

Ariella meanwhile, believes the solution to the lack of jobs among young people starting their careers around the world is education.

"For the people who have lack of jobs, I do believe that we people should invest in education and that is my primary advocacy because if we all know that everyone of us is educated and well aware of what we are doing, we can land into jobs and we could land our careers in the future. So education is a primary source and it's a ticket for a better future."

Still PH’s glimmer of hope

Despite Ariella’s fourth place finish, her performance gave the Philippines a glimmer of hope two days after "the world's strongest super typhoon" Haiyan (local name Yolanda) devastated Visayas. A few weeks ago, Bohol and Cebu, provinces which were situated in the island group severely hit by Haiyan, were also struck by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake.

Over 1 billion people in at least 190 countries are expected to witness Ariella’s journey to Miss Universe in their homes—a few million of those coming from Philippines as local broadcaster ABS-CBN airs its delayed broadcast at 9 a.m. local time.
 
While most of the Visayas remain in the dark after power outages due to “Yolanda,” the local airing of Miss Universe is predicted to gather high viewership comparable to that of great Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao’s top-rating bouts.

Front-runner Ariella

Early in the competition, Ariella was widely tipped to take the crown as she’s been critics’ favorite during the preliminaries.

Netizens alike seemed to pick the Filipina bet as her Truth or Dare video turned out the most viewed—with more than 320,000 streams as of this posting.

Ariella was also one of the 27 contestants to be chosen by Tony Ward Couture to model its creations in Moscow’s Mercedes Benz Fashion Week on October 26.

She was also handpicked to be the only Asian to grace the Mercedes Benz TV commercial along with five other girls.

While the 24-year-old Chemistry graduate failed to take home the country’s third Miss Universe crown (Gloria Diaz won in 1969, while Margie Moran won in 1973), 2013 proves to be a great year for the Philippines in the global pageant scene.

Megan Young won the Miss World 2013 title during the pageant's coronation night in Bali, Indonesia on September 28 (Saturday)—going down in Miss World’s 62-year history as the first-ever Filipina to win the title.

Early on, Mutya Johanna Datul was hailed Miss Supranational at the coronation night held in Belarus’ Sports Palace on September 6 (September 7, Philippine time).

Also read:

• Will Ariella Arida win the third Miss Universe crown for PH? 

• Shamcey Supsup defends Ariella Arida

• SEE: Miss Universe 2013 Evening Gowns

• SEE: Miss Universe 2013 in Preliminary Swimsuit Competition