Don’t fret Michelle Dee, the Miss Universe pageant has crowned ‘crossover beauties’ in the past

Stay tuned for real-time updates from the Miss Universe 2023 event!

Miss Universe Philippines Michelle Marquez Dee. Image: Facebook/Miss Universe Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — Will the Miss Universe pageant crown a winner who has already participated in a different contest? That is the question in many Filipinos’ minds now that pageant veteran Michelle Dee is on a quest to score the country’s fifth victory in the global tilt.

Dee, daughter of 1979 Miss International Melanie Marquez and cousin of 2017 Reina Hispanoamericana Teresita Ssen “Winwyn” Marquez, is hoping to win the Miss Universe title four years after finishing in the Top 12 of the Miss World pageant.

And it has already happened before, that an alumna of a different pageant was able to win the crown. Many have accomplished this feat, including the Philippines’ most recent Miss Universe winner Catriona Gray, who captured the crown in 2018, just two years after finishing in the Top 5 of the 2016 Miss World pageant.

Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray. Image: Facebook/Catriona Gray

A handful of beauties are hoping to “do a Catriona” in this year’s competition, not only Dee, because they all know it is possible, and it is not even a rare occurrence because there have also been other winners who have already seen action in the international arena beforehand.

Gray’s feat was similar to that of 1992 winner Michelle McLean from Namibia. The African beauty also finished in the Top 5 in her Miss World competition. They also both won Miss Universe in Thailand wearing red gowns.

Miss Universe 1992 Michelle McLean. Image: Facebook/Michelle McLean

But the most recent “crossover beauty” to win the Miss Universe crown was Andrea Meza, the third winner from Mexico, who also wore a red gown. The Mexican queen captured the title three years after finishing second in the 2017 Miss World pageant.

Miss Universe 2020 Andrea Meza. Image: Facebook/Andrea Meza

Botswana’s Mpule Kwelagobe, who recorded an amazing feat by winning the global tilt as her country’s first representative, bagged the title in 1999, two years after she participated in the Miss World pageant where she did not even place. Holland’s Angela Visser also did not place in the Miss World pageant in 1988, but snagged the Miss Universe crown the year after.

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But it’s not only in the Miss World pageant that the Miss Universe competition has found its winners. Lara Dutta already won in the Miss Intercontinental contest in 1997 before she became the second Indian woman to be crowned Miss Universe. Thailand’s Anntonia Porsild hopes to emulate her and capture the title four years after winning Miss Supranational.

Miss Universe 2000 Lara Dutta. Image: Facebook/Lara Dutta Bhupathi

The 2023 Miss Universe winner will be crowned at the Jose Adolfo Pineda Arena in the El Salvadoran capital of San Salvador on Nov. 18 (Nov. 19 in Manila). Eighty-four delegates are competing this year.