Miss Universe Philippines Michelle Marquez Dee with fellow Miss World alumna Sheynnis Palacios from Nicaragua (left picture), and 2019 Miss Supranational Anntonia Porsild from Thailand (right picture). Combined images from PAGEANTS NEWS X PHOTO / MICHELLE DEE FACEBOOK PHOTO
Michelle Marquez Dee may have the advantage of an international pageant experience in her quest to capture the Miss Universe title, but she is not the only one who can draw an arsenal from a previous global conquest in this year’s competition.
A little over a dozen of the 85 delegates competing this year, including Dee, have participated in another international competition, with one candidate even bagging a crown—Thailand’s Anntonia Porsild who was proclaimed Miss Supranational in 2019.
Dee finished in the Top 12 of the 2019 Miss World pageant held in London. Two more “beauties with a purpose” are joining her in the 2023 Miss Universe pageant, 2021 Top 40 finisher Sheynnis Palacios from Nicaragua, and 2017 Top 15 finalist Ugotchi Mitchel Ihezue.
Joining Porsild are her fellow “aspirational, inspirational” Miss Supranational sisters Karla Guilfu from Puerto Rico who finished second in 2021, and Priyanka Annuncia of Singapore who joined in 2018.
The Manila-based Miss Earth pageant also has three of its “beauties for a cause” joining this year’s Miss Universe pageant—Miss Earth Fire Melissa Flores from Mexico, and Top 8 finisher Diana Silva from Venezuela from 2018, and Hungary’s Tunde Blaga who joined in 2019.
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Canada’s Madison Kvaltin finished in the Top 8 of last year’s Miss International pageant, while Lisbeth Valverde Brenes from Costa Rica joined the Miss Intercontinental pageant in 2016. Germany’s Helena Belicher was in the Top 10 of the 2022 Miss Aura International contest.
Sotima John from Cambodia was crowned Dreamgirl of the Year International at the 2019 Miss Tourism International pageant, while her Southeast Asian neighbor Fabienne Nicole Groeneveld from Indonesia was in the Top 20 of the 2018 Miss Global pageant held in Manila.
These seasoned contestants are among a competitive field of delegates who are all in El Salvador on a quest to succeed reigning Miss Universe R’Bonney Gabriel. The winner will be known on Nov. 18 (Nov. 19 in Manila).