A night of semifinal upsets and positive consistencies... these were what defined the 2003 Miss Earth Pageant at the culmination of this year's edition. At the trail of the international hype surrounding this year's pageant (largely due to the presence of the very first Miss Afghanistan in any beauty competition), expectations ran high as to how the coronation night would be conducted.

The Introduction

The show formally began with the traditional Parade of Nations, a Miss Earth staple that somehow got dropped by Miss Universe along the way to its "re-definition." Flags and placards were waved by the audience, as well as banners expressing support for their favorite candidates. The highlight of this segment was the awarding of the Best in National Costume honors to Panama's Jessica Segui. She came as a majestic gold mythical Panamanian bird, complete with a magnificent wingspan. During the preliminary National Costume competition in Intramuros (an old walled city during the Spanish occupation of the Philippines), Jessica shone brighter than the Panamanian sun itself the moment she extended her arms to reveal her bright golden wings.

Miss Panama Jessica Segui is the recipient of Best in National Costume Award

Next came the swimsuit segment, and viewers were once again treated to lush visuals of the girls in one of the finest beaches in the world, Boracay. This segment was hosted by popular Filipino funnyman Tado, a long-haired, skinny fellow whose antics at trying to make the girls fall in love with him, haphazardly playing the piano and singing off-key, picking petals off flowers while reciting she-loves-me-she-loves-me-not, allowing the girls to bury him neck-deep under the sand, etc.) were simply hilarious! In this segment, the girls were filmed playing with kids from the island, picking shells, sunbathing, fishing, swimming, all with natural breeze blowing in their hair, and again, with hardly any make-up on. They wore their swimsuit of choice, too. Apart from confirmed pre-pageant favorites, standouts in this segment include Misses Nigeria, Colombia, Mexico, Germany and Switzerland.

Best in Swimsuit was awarded to France's Jennifer Pichard, a gorgeous blonde who bears a resemblance to Natalie Portman. Jennifer's hair during pageant night was neatly pulled back into a high ponytail, a welcome improvement from her big pre-pageant hairdo that simply begged for a hot oil treatment. Other minor titles were handed out, too, including the Miss Friendship award to the adorable Miss Ethiopia, Yodit Getahun who flew to Manila right after her stint at the Miss International pageant in Tokyo; Best in Talent (Mirela Bulbulija, a martial arts blackbelter, Ms. Bosnia & Herzegovina); and Ms. Photogenic (Claudia Azaeda Melgar, Ms. Bolivia).

Miss Estonia Kadi Tombak looks breathtaking in her gown.

The Evening Gown round was up next, and again, the girls paraded onstage in groups. Highlights include Miss France stepping on the billowy hem of Miss Germany's canary gown (reminiscent of Natascha Borger's peach number at MU 02), thus effectively stopping Ms. Germany on her tracks and causing a bit of confusion among their group of candidates; and Kenya's Hazel Nzioki wearing a gown with such stark black-and-white geometric contrasts similar to Lola Odusoga's outfit at MU 96. Quite a few ladies wore avant garde (i.e. love-it-or-hate-it propositions) designs so popular with Eastern European women, especially at Miss World. Standouts in this round include Misses Afghanistan, Estonia, Puerto Rico, New Zealand, and Korea.

The next set of minor awards was handed out after this round, and the awardees were: Best in Evening Gown (Brazil's Pricila Zandona, who wore a simple, backless, black spaghetti-strapped dress with utmost grace and elegance during the preliminary EG competition); Miss Close-up Smile, also to Miss Brazil; Miss Avon and Miss Ponds Beautiful Skin, both to Honduras' Dania Prince; Misses Sunsilk and Creamsilk to Misses Philippines, Laura Dunlap, and Costa Rica, Marianela Zeledon, respectively.

Miss Afghanistan Vida Samadzai receives a special recognition from Miss Earth.

The announcement of the Top 10 Semifinalists, and the real competition, came up next.

First called was Miss Guatemala Marie Claire Palacios, followed by Serbia & Montenegro's Katarina Vucetic, Poland's Marta Matyjasik, Costa Rica's Marianela Zeledon, Cyprus' Christiana Aristotelus, Philippines' Laura Marie Dunlap, Honduras' Dania Prince, Tahiti's Vairupe Huiotu, Norway's Fay Larsen, and finally, Brazil's Pricilia Zandona.

Anyone for Cocktails?

For the first round of interviews, the first group of five semifinalists was clad in stylish white cocktail dresses, while the second group was dressed in black.

In traditional Miss Earth style, candidates were asked to react to a painting after a brief repartee with the host. In Miss Earth, it is important to note that personality, intelligence and environmental awareness (as quantified by the interview) accounts for 40% of the total score leading up to the final round. Swimsuit accounts for 20%, and the remaining 40% goes to the EG presentation.

In the semifinal interview round, Misses Honduras, Brazil and Costa Rica undoubtedly delivered their answers the best. Misses Poland and Serbia & Montenegro were pretty solid, as well. Miss Guatemala looked pretty, but a tad uncomfortable. Miss Philippines began like she had the most profound insights to convey, but it became obvious, as she stammered through her answer, that she was intimidated by the other much-taller and gorgeous semifinalists. Known for her gift of glib gab (which won for her the Ms. Philippines title several months back), Laura had lost her only advantage over the other girls in this round. Ms. Tahiti was very charming, yes, but she confusedly shifted from English to French to English, and then finally, back to French. Thankfully, she had an excellent interpreter who seemed very efficient and in-control. She helped Vairupe get the answer out. Christiana, the porcelain princess from Cyprus, copped out with a pageant patty speech about planting trees for the future, hardly even looking at the painting she was supposed to describe.

Meanwhile, Norway's Fay Larsen committed a major blunder by calling the ubiquitous Philippine water buffalo a "cow," a faux pas that did not go by unforgiven by the audience. Fay would never recover from this glaring mistake.

The judges scored predictably but fairly, although pageant anchor Pia Guanio expressed disappointment that Guatemala's Marie Claire Palacios was ranked near the cellar despite a good answer.

Here are the scores:

1. Miss Honduras - 96.4
2. Miss Brazil - 96.1
3. Miss Costa Rica - 94.2
4. Miss Poland - 93.2
5. Miss Serbia - 92.3

Heaven-sent beauty from Honduras displays her perfect form during the evening gown round.

Serbia's Katerina wore a silk off-white knee-length gown whose hem lengthened at the back and was gathered into an awkward bustle. It looked like a bridesmaid's dress gone wrong, and this sealed the lovely Serb's fate. Her poor gown choice cost her the fourth spot in the Finals.

Thus went the final question. The Final Four ladies, by now, have manifested consistency in their performances. Dania is a beautiful, warm and sincere woman. Pricila is serene, unperturbed, articulate. Marianela is all earnestness coupled with pure Latina spice, a genuine act all her own. Marta is gorgeous, sexy, and quite uninvolved, reminiscent of Dzejla, I thought, the dethroned 2002 queen. From the onset of the Semifinals, it was obvious who the judges would go for. The final answers did not even matter anymore, as all the girls gave coherent, sensible replies. Nothing earth-shaking, though, as Sush's "Essence of a Woman" speech, nothing as self-assured as Alicia's "I am a Beautiful Woman" spiel, nothing witty like Brooke's "I Will Eat Everything Twice" crack. The answers here were pretty pageant patty, in fact, and kind of roundabout.

The Final Four: Miss Honduras Dania Prince, Miss Costa Rica Marianela Zeledon, Miss Brazil Pricilia Zandona and Miss Poland Marta Matyjasik

This year's pageant, as in the past two years, was still too long. Yet, the reality exists that this is a pageant run in a third-world country. In order to survive, the organizers have to make concessions to the sponsors somehow, such as giving them the opportunity to plug their products through minor awards and countless appearances throughout Miss Earth's activities.

The hosting was considerably better last year, with Pia Guanio, Marc Nelson and Bianca Araneta. This year, Natalie Tarin and Phoemela Baranda as anchors were simply incompetent, asking the silliest of questions to the girls backstage ("How do you feel in your swimsuit?") and with voices that are hardly music to the ears. Ariel Ureta, a retired pageant host of yore, must remain retired. His attempts at humor were distracting, at best.

And once again, the direction and the handling of the camera by the ABS-CBN team need improvement. A pageant has needs specific to it. It can not be handled in the same way that noontime variety shows are handled. Also, Miss Earth is fast becoming a viable export to international broadcasting agencies. Miss Earth still needs to be more polished. The stage management needs improvement; Miss Costa Rica was caught on-cam scratching her nose, hosts are caught off-guard as to when their cues actually are.

On the positive side, the interpreters are obviously of a higher caliber this year, and the production design is excellent. Also, the introduction and swimsuit videos are the best I've seen from ANY pageant (even better than Miss World's swimsuit video last year, which, in my opinion, was so manufactured).

On the pageant side, the quality of the candidates have significantly improved; the attitude of the delegates is more competitive now, perhaps beginning to feel the validity of the Miss Earth crown in the international community; the pre-pageant events were all well-planned and well-attended; the girls did more than just plant trees this year (they freed sea turtles, they cleared lakebeds, they waded in rice paddies, they got involved with a clam-protection program, etc.); the media coverage was great, as well, thanks in a big way to Miss Afghanistan; and Miss earth is finally coming into its own aesthetic of beauty.