CJ Opiaza says Miss Grand International is ‘not a cooking show’

Miss Grand International 2024 first runner-up CJ Opiaza (center) with the pageant’s founder Nawat Itsaragrisil (right) and her national director Arnold Vegafria/ARMIN P. ADINA

Miss Grand International 2024 first runner-up CJ Opiaza has come to the defense of her global tilt, assuring her Filipino followers and pageant fans in general that the competition is conducted fairly.

Filipino pageant fans have a love-hate relationship with the Miss Grand International organization, branding the pageant as a “cooking show” during the times the Philippines’ candidate falls short of any expected turnout.

“It definitely is not [a cooking show]. That is one of the biggest misconceptions that we always say. And I want to correct it. MGI (Miss Grand International) is more than just what you think it is. they select the most high-caliber queens,” Opiaza said at her homecoming press conference held at Lime Resort Manila in Pasay City recently.

“The queens that I worked with are really setting a different standard. They’re not just beauty queens, they’re not just a simple human there. They’re bringing different flavors, bringing different cultures and traditions, bringing different characters, values and disciplines,” she continued.

Opiaza declared how “professional” the selection process was, and shared how the organization took care of the delegates’ wellbeing. If in the Philippines, she said, the candidates’ days were filled with activities promoting sponsors, the international organizers, on the other hand, devote an event every day where the ladies can relax, enjoy, and be themselves.

“It feels like every day is just entertainment. We’re just there to have our dinner, and there’s gonna be a lot of entertainers. And the candidates will just connect to one another. That’s how we get really close with each and every candidate,” Opiaza shared.

She, however, surmised that the daily activities where they are allowed to have fun were also an opportunity for the organization to check who deserves to win, by seeing the ladies at their most authentic during unguarded moments.

“They put us in a situation to really know who you really are as a person, not trying to cover up to be somebody else. That’s why they have a lot of fun activities. We have a lot of dancing, we have a lot of singing,” Opiaza said.

MGI founder Nawat Itsaragrisil, who came to the Philippines with Opiaza, also assured the international pageant followers that everything is fair in his competition. He even cited that the host delegate from Thailand only made it to the Top 20 because of fan votes, and did not advance any further.

He, however, asked Miss Grand Philippines National Director Arnold Vegafria to conduct his search early. Opiaza only had three days to prepare for her flight after winning the national pageant.

INQUIRER.net asked Opiaza if she thinks the outcome would have been different had she been given more time to prepare. “I would say it’s fate, it’s destiny. I was given the first runner-up crown and I’m just so proud that I made this possible, not only for my own dream, but this is the dream of all Filipinos,” she responded.

Rachel Gupta became India’s first Miss Grand International winner at the pageant’s final competition show held in Bangkok, Thailand, in October, besting more than 60 aspirants from around the world.

Vegafria assured Itsaragrisil and the Filipino pageant fans that the 2025 Miss Grand Philippines search will be held much earlier, to give the eventual winner more time to prepare for the international competition.

Itsaragrisil told him that holding the national search early will give the next queen more time to rally international support, and be exposed to the public more by also attending the coronation shows of other countries’ pageants like what many delegates had done in the past.

The Thai pageant founder said the Philippines can bring home his “golden crown” someday, if the country sends another delegate like Opiaza. “I think the Filipino pagant fans now understand what we are looking for, the kind of representative for your country that we are looking for, the quality. Beauty, of course, absolutely beauty, body, brains, and ready to work, and we’re looking for a real beauty queen who is down-to-earth,” he said.

Opiaza has now become the third Filipino woman to almost capture the Miss Grand International pageant’s golden crown. Nicole Cordoves and Samantha Bernardo were also first runners-up in 2016 and 2020, respectively.