Miss International 2016 Kylie Verzosa (second from left) joins her fellow Miss Universe Bahrain council members (from left) Raymond Gutierrez, Evlin Abdulla Khalifa, Josh Yugen, Lorenzo Vega, and Brillante Mendoza./ARMIN P. ADINA
MANILA, Philippines — Beauty queen and actress Kylie Verzosa is back in pageantry, not as a beauty queen, but as an adviser to candidates of a national pageant in a Middle Eastern country that just recently joined the Miss Universe organization.
Verzosa, fresh from her Amanpulo trip, has agreed to be the “Head of Empowerment” of the Miss Universe Bahrain organization in preparation for the 2023 Miss Universe pageant later this year.
“I’m so excited to be part of the Miss Universe Bahrain organization, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store,” she told the members of the media who gathered at a press conference for the pageant last April 26.
The actress-model will join a majority of Filipino council members in the organization. Aside from her, the pageant will have onboard Dubai-based Filipino marketing expert Josh Yugen, international award-winning filmmaker Brillante Mendoza as artistic director, Lorenzo Vega as head of innovation, and celebrity Raymond Gutierrez as fashion director, and Evlin Khalifa, reigning Miss Universe Bahrain, and the lone Bahraini in the team, as head of culture.
Yugen, the organization’s national director, said Verzosa immediately agreed when he offered her the position. “Kylie is super accommodating, she’d help all the girls. She’s one of the humblest celebrities that I know,” he said.
Verzosa said Yugen approached her last year. “I was so excited. I was able to train some of the girls, even Evlin, especially with my experience in the pageant, proper mindset, [have] more confidence, how to prepare for a pageant. I feel so lucky, so honored and so blessed. And I would love to help other girls achieve their dreams,” shared the 2016 Miss International titleholder, the sixth Filipino woman to snag the crown.
Verzosa said that even if it had been years since her last foray in pageantry, she did not hesitate to accept the offer because she will always love the industry. “You can take the girl out of the pageant, but you cannot take the pageant out of the girl. That’s where my core is, that’s where I began, so it won’t ever be out of my system,” she explained.
For his third year as national director, Yugen will employ the reality show format to choose the winner. Similar to “America’s Next Top Model,” the Miss Universe Bahrain contest will gather a group of ladies who will undergo a series of challenges to help determine who the best is among them. Over 100 applicants have signified their intention to take part in the competition, Yugen said.
From the pool of applicants, the organization will narrow them down to the top 20 aspirants. Only the eight best contenders will move on to the reality show phase of the competition. Yugen said the ladies will be flown to the Philippines where the entire filming will take place. The winner will be determined in July.
The next Miss Universe Bahrain will represent the Middle-Eastern country in the 72nd Miss Universe pageant in El Salvador later this year, and will try to inherit the crown from Filipino-American queen R’Bonney Gabriel, the ninth delegate from the United States to capture the title. EDV