How To Ace The Pageant Interview

The interview portion is always the most dreaded segment in a beauty pageant. 

Ask any pageant candidate and chances are, she would agree. 

Can you imagine being asked personal questions & sometimes for intimate details about your life and you have to answer those questions in front of so many people? 

Compounding the fear is the thought of answering the question in English which is not exactly our native language not to mention the sheer fright of speaking in public. 

Combine all those factors and you have a potential disaster bound to happen

 with MJ Tadem during 2011 Miss Panglao Pageant

2005 Miss Earth Alexandra Braun Waldeck of Venezuela

Sometimes, it's really a head scratcher when it comes to how the judges score the interviews. 

There are certain candidates with seemingly perfect English and yet score very low during the interviews. 

Conversely, there are candidates who bomb at the interviews and there are some who couldn't quite make heads nor tails about subject & verb agreement and yet run away with the Best in Interview awards

From past experiences, I have come up with the following DO's and DONT's in pageant interviews:

1. Never ever sound rehearsed in other words, do not sound like a robot and mouth off a litany of obviously memorized answers or spew out motherhood statements just to earn extra points

2. Speak from the heart and express what you truly feel about a subject or issue

3. Be spontaneous and be sincere with your answers

4. Hey, it's perfectly okay to make mistakes during the interviews. It's how you rise from the situation that matters. Any hint of vulnerability would endear you to the judges and audiences alike

5. Express yourself in the dialect or language that you're most comfortable with

6. If you don't understand nor hear the question being asked, then ask for the question to be repeated again

7. Judges look for a hint of vulnerability in a candidate, so show them you're human by being honest. If you're nervous, confess it to the audience and trust me, they will come to your defense. 

8. Don't be too serious like you're lecturing the judges and the audience. Be charming and be sweet

9. Please do NOT wrap up your interviews with "That would be all, I thank you". Hello, we are now in the 2nd millennium

10. Lastly, it's not what you say but how you say it that truly matters

1999 Miss Universe 1st RU Miriam Quiambao in Bohol
July 1999, Gov. CGallares Memorial Hospital

2006 Bb Pilipinas- World Anna Maris Igpit & 2008 Miss Earth Karla Henry

FARAH FAYE MIAN: ONE OF THE BEST IN INTERVIEWS

I really like it when a girl lets her personality shine through with the way she handles and expresses herself during the interviews. 

Candor, spontaneity, sincerity AND personality projection are judged in this segment. 

If I were to be asked who I consider as one of the most memorable girls that I have interviewed in pageantry, I would have to say Farah Faye Mian, the girl who gave Tubigon its second Miss Bohol Sandugo crown in 2011

Farah & I just hit off during the interviews

And to the members of the audience who are watching, please try to be a little understanding and give the girls a break. 

IT IS NOT easy to be onstage and to be talking at the same time

To our beauty pageant aspirants, remember this:

"Speak to express not to impress"

Good luck!

 with 2005 Miss Earth Top Eight Finalist Amanda Kimell from U.S.A. 

Here is a video compilation on some of the more infamous interviews in Bb Pilipinas history

Photo Credits:

Hwan Mendoza
Larry Go
Raymond Buslon