Glitter, glamour, gaffes at Bb. Pilipinas pageant

LIM. Lightning rod for both compliments and criticism.

Watching beauty pageant finals on TV has become a sort of national indoor sport for viewers in this country, who continue to give undue importance to beauty tilts when much of the rest of the world has outgrown them.

“Blame” it on our love for beauty for its own sake, and of the fair, tall, aquiline-nosed and “imported” sort, at that – despite the fact that dusky Filipina standouts like Miriam Quiambao and Venus Raj have impressed and excited less “colonially minded” jurors and viewers internationally.

But, old and ingrained habits do die hard, so two Sundays ago, we joined beauty aficionados and “experts” to watch the latest Binibining Pilipinas pageant finals unfold, with its traditional bathing suit, long gown and dreaded Q & A portions in full froth and furl.

Possibilities

The Q & A may be “dreaded” by some finalists, but viewers look forward to them, hoping for the rare brilliant and heartfelt answer, but also not immune to the accidentally humorous possibilities of a super-tense respondent’s ditzy answer. —You know, “I’m proud of my long-legged”?

No such memorable mishap took place last April 15, thank goodness, but other gaffes were made by some contestants, hosts, judges and members of the audience within TV camera range. – Hey, guys, you aren’t competing, so relax!

The female hosts were “coffee and cream” comely, a nice contrast, we must say –but, did they have to change gowns so often? As for male emcee, Xian Lim, it turned out that he was the evening’s lightning rod for both compliments and criticism.

Some viewers thought that his “tall and handsome” projection and “sophisticated” male-model stance enhanced the tilt’s stage picture and gave the lovely contestants a suitably cool and slick group “escort,” the better to “frame” their pulchritude with.

On the other hand, we felt that Xian stood too ramrod-straight for comfort and warm, natural projection. In fact, he sometimes came off rather like a male peacock basking in his physical pluperfection. Worse, he spoke his spiels in a mannered fashion—he didn’t stutter, but he “strutted” his lines quite self-consciously.

Comments

In our view, this struck the wrong note, because the audience was supposed to focus on the beauties, not on the program hosts. Granted, the young actor has a lot going for him, as we noted in our appreciative comments on his “breakthrough” TV portrayal in “My Binondo Girl” last year. But, that’s a mantle to be worn lightly, not inordinately focused on and fussed over.