A new queen has been crowned

Miss Universe Iris Mittenaere —AFP

SYDNEY—G’day from balmy Australia! My brother (and musical director) Gerard Salonga and I have just arrived in this beautiful city. This weekend, we shall be making our Sydney Opera House debuts and, needless to say, we’re very excited.

Our morning flight out of Manila on Monday meant that we’d be able to see the Miss Universe pageant while waiting at Mabuhay Lounge in Terminal 2.

I arrived first, so I grabbed a seat by the TV set. Gerard followed a few minutes later. I hadn’t yet picked my favorites, but by that time Gerard had picked his: Miss Canada, Siera Bearchell.

By the end of the competition, the Top 3 ladies were France’s Iris Mittenaere, Haiti’s Raquel Pelissier and Colombia’s Andrea Tovar. Maxine Medina from the Philippines reached the Top 6.  I thought she did her best, and represented her country well in the competition.

For the final three competitors, host Steve Harvey asked the same question: Name something from the course of your life that you failed at, and tell us what you learned from that experience.

First up was Miss Colombia, who gave an OK answer, but it didn’t include a personal experience from which she rose up. Second was Miss France, whose answer as delivered by the interpreter didn’t seem to make much sense. Third was Miss Haiti, who spoke of a devastating earthquake, her voice quivering and her heart on her sleeve.

Right after this portion of the show, Twitter and Facebook started buzzing: the interpreter for Miss France totally mistranslated her answer!

I’m now wondering if there were judges who received the corrected translation, or if one of them speaks French well enough to understand her answer as she said it.

Whatever happened, the judges were impressed enough to name her Miss Universe 2016, succeeding our confidently beautiful Pia Wurtzbach.

Given the cheers for Pia by that capacity crowd at SM Mall of Asia Arena, she could run for public office and win by a landslide.

My favorite moment of the night was when Pia handed Steve a pair of glasses, just to make sure he read the right name at the right time. And thankfully, he did!

Miss Canada Siera Bearchell —AP

Now, back to Miss Canada, Siera Bearchell. She has been criticized online for being “larger” (she’s a size 6) than the other girls, to which she took to Instagram to give them a whip-smart comeback, and personal stories about her own struggle with self-acceptance.

I highly recommend taking a look and reading the posts of this law student/entrepreneur/runner/golfer. If there’s anything this young lady has won, it is the hearts of her fans (yours truly included) for her “vision to redefine beauty, a vision in which women around the world will recognize that true beauty, validation and self-worth start from within.”

Bravo, Miss Canada!

If each pageant year yields a young woman like her, regardless of whether she wins or loses, someone inspiring, confident and smart as well as beautiful, then it will not ever be for nothing.