Vietnamese beauty queens and runners-up join dating shows and the story of 'the stake looking for the buffalo'

Miss Ocean Tran Thi Thu Uyen and Miss Grand Vietnam runner-up Bui Khanh Linh attracted attention when participating in the reality dating game show "Paradise Island".

Paradise Island including 9 young, single players, coming from many different fields in Vietnam and Korea. Besides Thu Uyen and Khanh Linh, the names of interest are the Champion Vietnam Idol 2023 Ha An Huy, 3rd runner-up Manhunt International 2022 Tran Manh Kien, model Michael Truong, Yuna Vu.

All come to Phu Quoc ( Kien Giang ) to live in a shared house, participate in sports, talent and English communication challenges. Thereby, male and female players are paired and date, get to know each other. After the meetings, any player who does not make the other person have feelings for them will be eliminated.


Thu Uyen and Khanh Linh (from left to right) are said to have participated in the game show just to increase their recognition. Photo: FBNV

In episode 1, Bui Khanh Linh surprised everyone when she was "ignored" by the male players. Specifically, after the first meeting, all players will vote to choose the person they are most impressed with. The couples voted for each other to go home together, those who were not paired would go separately. As a result, the runner-up born in 2002 did not receive any votes.

Bui Khanh Linh and Tran Thi Thu Uyen received mixed reviews for coming down to eat late after the other contestants had gathered. Some viewers thought that the two were focusing on themselves instead of the common challenge. The duo was also accused of showing their shortcomings due to awkward communication, mispronunciation, and grammar mistakes.

Many viewers think that Miss Ocean Tran Thi Thu Uyen and Miss Grand Vietnam runner-up Bui Khanh Linh They should not actively seek love because they, once they have the title, represent beauty and intelligence. The action of participating in the game show of two beauties can reduce the value of the title in the eyes of the public.

Others believe that participating in a dating game show, the two beauties cannot avoid extreme situations that lead to "misspoken words", damaging their own image. Because the show is broadcast during VTV's "prime time", all actions of the two are easily noticed. Personal love affairs being exposed to the public also affect future relationships.

However, some fans spoke up to defend Thu Uyen and Khanh Linh, saying that beauty queens and runners-up are also normal people, and titles are not a barrier to their normal lives. Participating in dating shows helps them meet like-minded people. Actively seeking love also helps to erase the prejudice that beauty queens and runners-up only date people from the upper class.

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