¿Por qué no tienen una corona de Miss Mundo? Indeed, why it is yet to win a Miss World crown is an apropos question. We are of course talking about Chile, the world’s narrowest nation, squeezed between the towering Andes and the vast blue waters of the Pacific. It seems perplexing that a nation teeming with beauties would be denied of a Miss World crown.
Cecilia Bolocco (left) and Hil Yesenia Hernandez are the two Big4 Queens of Chile
Chilean beauties have already conquered Miss Universe and Miss Earth. In 1987, Cecilia Bolocco won the country’s first ever Big4 crown by emerging victorious at the Miss Universe contest held in Singapore. In 2006, the elegant beauty of Hil Yesenia Hernandez allowed the country to capture its second Big4 crown by winning the Miss Earth crown.
The Basics
Chilean beauties are basically an amalgamation of Spanish, Italian, German and sometimes Welsh ancestry. The country’s beauty queens reflect the steady stream of migration of Europeans to the country. It produced an interesting mix of Latina fierceness tempered by the elegance of Europe. But looking at its performance at Miss World, it’s quite inexplicable why this country is yet to win the crown. So far only Margarita Téllez (1967), Daniella Campos (1998) Isabel Bawlitza (2000) and Gabriela Pulgar (2011) made it to the semis. So what’s the problem?
Politics, anyone?
One of the go to reasons of Missosology when explaining pageantry phenomena is politics. Is Chile’s predicament political in nature like its neighboring country of Argentina post-Falklands? Quite unlikely! The truth is, Chile is one of the few countries in the New World that enjoys better relationship with Great Britain. During the Falkland War, Chile remained neutral despite of its affinity with Argentina. So if it is not politics, what is it then?
Priorities
Like in most of the Latin American countries, Miss Universe enjoys better popularity than Miss World in Chile. Miss Earth could be even more popular in Chile considering that it has already a winner and the country already flirted with the idea of hosting the pageant. So, it’s a circuitous cause and effect scenario. Miss World is not popular in Chile because it is yet to win the crown and one of the reason it is not in a winning position because the pageant is not that popular in the country.
Plausible Reason
Because Miss World is not that popular in Chile, the national organization handling the franchise was left in tatters. Last year, Chile skipped Miss World. For years, the Miss World Chile title was under the supervision of an Argentinian company which did not even bother to improve the standing of the brand in Chile. For a brief period, the title Miss Mundo Chile was relegated to the sidelines when the Miss Chile organization handled it. The overall winner was sent to Miss Universe, so a runner-up would end up at Miss World.
But it is not just the Miss World brand that failed to capture the Chilean audience. It’s the entire beauty pageant community! The most popular of them all, the Miss Chile pageant, was dissolved in 2014. This reflects the general attitude of the general public towards pageants in Chile. While it is Latin American in name only, it is perhaps the most Westernized and the most European of all South American countries. With all the political correctness and feminism associated of being westernized, beauty pageant in the country steadily declined.
Miss Mundo Chile 2015 Fernanda Sobarzo
The future
The Miss Mundo Chile is currently under the able hands of Ricardo Güiraldes and Eugenio Manzur. These are the people that has an innate passion towards beauty pageants. This year, Fernanda Sobarzo won the title and she will represent Chile at the Miss World 2015 pageant in Sanya, China. She is a 20 years old engineer who stands 5’7″ and is a native of the capital city of Santiago.
Will Fernanda bring a fresh new start of Chile? Perhaps, but it will take a lot of patience and hard work to bring Chile back into the radar. In the case of Chile, it may be easier to win the Miss World crown than to revive the general public’s interest towards beauty pageants.
Miss Mundo Chile 2015 Fernanda Sobarzo
