Miss Universe Philippines Chelsea Manalo (center) will be with her national pageant sisters Victoria Velasquez Vincent (left) and Christina Chalk in the 73rd Miss Universe pageant. Images: Facebook/Miss Universe New Zealand 2024, Miss Universe Philippines, and Miss Universe Great Britain.
Chelsea Manalo, the Philippines’ delegate to the forthcoming Miss Universe pageant, will have two sure friends in Mexico when she competes in the international tilt in November, as a couple of her pageant sisters have also copped national titles.
Victoria Velasquez Vincent, who was in the Top 10 of the 2024 Miss Universe Philippines pageant in May, was crowned Miss Universe New Zealand at the Dorothy Winstone Centre in Auckland on Sunday, Sept. 29.
Vincent, who represented her mother’s hometown of Bacoor in the Philippine search in May, had already competed in the national pageant before and was crowned Miss Universe Philippines-Charity in 2021.
Another of Manalo’s 2024 Miss Universe Philippines batchmates who scored a national crown is Christina Chalk, who represented the Filipino community in the United Kingdom in the national pageant and finished in the Top 20.
Chalk was crowned Miss Universe Great Britain in July. She had earlier finished second twice in the British pageant and even went home empty-handed one time. She was also first runner-up in the 2015 Miss Scotland pageant.
Before Vincent’s coronation as Miss Universe New Zealand, another part-Filipino delegate was enlisted to represent the country, actress and former “Pinoy Big Brother” housemate Franki Russell.
But Russell’s participation in the 2024 Miss Universe pageant was derailed when the international organization imposed an order on franchise holder Yugen Group, that the entity chose not to comply with, and decided to withdraw the accreditation instead.
Russell is now competing as New Zealand’s representative in the first edition of the Miss Cosmo pageant, where 2024 Miss Universe Philippines second runner-up Ahtisa Manalo is also competing.
Velasquez will try to become the second Miss Universe winner from New Zealand, while Chalk will attempt to post Great Britain’s first victory. Manalo is attempting a fifth win for the Philippines.
The 73rd Miss Universe pageant will hold its coronation show at the Arena CDMX in Mexico City, Mexico, on Nov. 16 (Nov. 17 in Manila).