Brandon Espiritu improvised viral dance moves at Mister Supranational

Mister Supranational 2nd runner-up Brandon Espiritu. Image: Armin P. Adina/INQUIRER.net

Brandon Espiritu left quite an impression at the 2024 Mister Supranational contest last month, not only because he scored the Philippines’ highest placement in the international male tilt, but also because of busting his moves on stage.

The 29-year-old model and entrepreneur delighted pageant fans whenever he hit the stage, grooving to the beat of the music blasting from the speakers, giving off a lot of energy during the final competition held at the Strzelecki Park Amphitheater in Nowy Sacz, Poland last month.

He came to Poland as one of the early favorites. He sustained his ranking throughout the competition to end as second runner-up, the only Filipino contender to advance to the winning circle. Before him, the Philippines’ bets only managed to survive the first cut.

“I lost myself. It was awesome, it was fun,” Espiritu said of his viral dance clips, confessing that the moves he did were not well-choreographed and were mostly improvisations, boosted by the emotions he felt as he was competing.

He shared his stories from the competition when he faced journalists and online content creators at a homecoming press conference alongside 2024 Miss Supranational Asia and Oceania Alethea Ambrosio, held at Empire Studios at Estancia Mall in Pasig City on Aug. 6.

“Madaming (there were a lot of) memories. But for me, the most important one was raising the flag during the competition, and also raising it during our practice, and rehearsals. Having your country’s flag on your back and being able to raise it and say the country name, gives me goosebumps, especially because I have a lot of bashers,” Espiritu said.

“I have a lot of haters. ‘This guy is not representing us, he’s representing Guam. He’s not Filipino, he’s not brown enough,’ like, all these things. I was never enough. But when I’m there, raising the flag, and saying the name of the country with pride, no one has anything else to say. It filled my heart with a lot of joy. Those were my favorite memories,” he added.

Mister Supranational 2nd runner-up Brandon Espiritu (left) and Miss Supranational Asia and Oceania Althea Ambrosio. Image: Armin P. Adina/INQUIRER.net

A reluctant pageant contender, Espiritu gave in to the constant prodding last year when he represented the Filipino community in Guam at the second edition of the Mister Pilipinas Worldwide, held alongside the inaugural staging of The Miss Philippines Culture and Heritage Celebration at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City in October.

He won the contest and officially received his international pageant assignment in February when he and his fellow finalists were awarded their respective national titles representing the global contests they would be participating in.

“If given the opportunity that doesn’t sound like something you would take up, you would say to yourself, ‘aw, that’s not me.’ These are the opportunities for us to rewrite who we are. Because before the whole pageant thing, when I was offered this opportunity, I said, ‘this is not me.’ But then I had to think outside myself and say, ‘Who am I really? And when I’m giving myself an opportunity to grow and figure out who I really am, I got to try different things. So be open to try different versions of yourself,” Espiritu said.

He also had nice things to say about the man who beat him to the title in Poland, South Africa’s first Mister Supranational winner Fezile Mkhize.

“I’m really close to him. He’s a testament of greatness. You don’t meet people like him all the time because he’s so well-balanced. Like, he’s not only funny, but he’s also very smart and he’s extremely sociable, and he’s accomplished in his career,” Espiritu said about the South African physician who bested 35 other aspirants at the eighth edition of the international male tilt.

“He has everything. Whenever I see him, I’m just like, ‘man, I gotta be better, I gotta be a better person overall.’ So I think that’s a testament to greatness.”

“I just remember the days coming up to the competition where I got dance rehearsals, and we just looked at each other, and we’re just like, ‘it’s gonna be you and me up there, it’s gonna be you versus me.’ I didn’t get first runner-up, but it’s okay. Casey (De Vries, first runner-up from the Netherlands) is also a really good person as well. We just had that competition in us, we’re very competitive. But shoutout to [Mkhize], really good guy. Much love to him,” Espiritu added.

Right after the competition and before his homecoming press conference, Espiritu immediately put on his entrepreneur’s hat and made overseas trips for his business.

He is currently working on opening a café in Makati City’s Poblacion district that he will call “Rest Day.” He plans to welcome patrons in two months.