"Disturbing" Vietnamese beauty pageants: Finding opportunities to shine

The new Miss World Vietnam 2023 Huynh Tran Y Nhi is the beauty who had an anti-fan group set up with more than 600,000 members in less than 1 month.

This is a rare case in the history of Miss Vietnam, netizens even demanded to strip Miss Y Nhi of her crown. Before Huynh Tran Y Nhi, 3 beauty queens also faced a wave of demands to strip their crowns, including Miss Vietnam 2014 Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen, Miss Vietnam 2006 Mai Phuong Thuy and Miss World Vietnamese 2010 Diem Huong.

Deviant actions

Miss Mai Phuong Thuy caused a shock with her photo series "The Beauty of Spring". In the photos, Mai Phuong Thuy wears a thin ao dai and poses in many offensive ways. Mai Phuong Thuy was asked by public opinion to return her beauty queen crown even though her term had been over for 6 years. In response to public reactions, Miss Mai Phuong Thuy apologized to the public. However, the boycott wave was still strong, forcing Mai Phuong Thuy to choose to "hide".

During her reign as Miss Vietnam 2014, Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen had a series of deviant actions such as using laughing gas, smoking cigarettes... She was also proposed to have her crown stripped. After the scandal, although she still kept her title, her image was not used at Miss Vietnam 2016, and the crown was not given to her successor.

Miss Ocean 2017 Le Au Ngan Anh (middle) was asked by the Department of Performing Arts to have her crown and title revoked by the organizing committee. Photo: PHUONG HOAI

Diem Huong, born in 1990, was crowned Miss World Vietnam 2010. She then became a Vietnamese beauty who participated in two major international competitions: Miss Earth 2010 and Miss Universe 2012. At the peak of her career, Diem Huong married a tycoon. This was also the reason why she was almost stripped of her crown due to lying about her marital status when she participated in Miss Universe 2012 in the US.

One of the attractive prizes in domestic beauty contests is that the winner will have the opportunity to become a Vietnamese beauty to compete in international beauty contests.

Recently, Miss Business Global Nguyen Thi Thao had her crown stripped and her coronation items confiscated by the contest organizers for "failing to complete her duties". The contest organizers said that "Nguyen Thi Thao's attitude and style of work did not respect the organizers".

Previously, the Organizing Committee of the beauty contest "Quang Binh Tourism 2019" also decided to strip Tran Ngoc Huyen of her crown because she "seriously violated the committed regulations, destroying the beautiful image of the Quang Binh Province Tourism Ambassador". Miss Ocean 2017 Le Au Ngan Anh also became a topic of discussion among fans of Vietnamese beauty contests because the Department of Performing Arts requested the Organizing Committee to strip her crown and revoke her title. The reason was because Le Au Ngan Anh had plastic surgery before participating in the Miss Ocean 2017 contest.

Meanwhile, after being crowned for more than 10 days, Miss Huynh Tran Y Nhi has caused a stir in public opinion due to her somewhat out of control statements. The "anti-Miss Y Nhi" group has more than 600,000 members. The new beauty queen's inappropriate statements along with the somewhat slow crisis handling speed of the organizing unit have caused the online community to continuously protest, demanding to strip the crown of the beauty queen from Binh Dinh.

Ambassador of Vietnamese tourism and culture

Recently, Vietnamese beauty has been increasingly promoted in the international arena, when Vietnamese beauties continuously entered the top and won high rankings. Not only having the opportunity to shine with high titles in domestic competitions, beauty queens and runners-up also have the opportunity to participate in international competitions - a prestigious award for Vietnamese girls. At that time, each Vietnamese contestant will be a tourism and cultural ambassador of the country to international friends.

Recently, the Miss Universe Vietnam contest announced that not only the new Miss of the contest but also the remaining beauties in the top 5 will be considered to "go abroad" depending on their suitability. In the immediate future, the new Miss Universe Vietnam will be the Vietnamese beauty participating in the Miss Universe 2023 competition (Miss Universe 2023) held in El Salvador scheduled for this coming November.

Nova Entertainment Company (under Nova Group) caused a shock when it announced that it owned the copyright of the Miss Earth Vietnam 2023 contest, and also hosted the Miss Earth 2023 contest. However, after only a short time of launching, Nova Entertainment withdrew and the representative who signed with the Miss Earth organization, actress Truong Ngoc Anh (General Director of TNA Entertainment), became the National President of Miss Earth Vietnam 2023.

As the organizer of both beauty contests - Miss Ethnic Vietnam and Miss Earth Vietnam - actress Truong Ngoc Anh, National President of Miss Earth Vietnam 2023, said: "In addition to physical beauty and beauty, the Organizing Committee of Miss Earth Vietnam 2023 needs contestants who are truly passionate and love the trend of green living and environmental protection. The contest will contribute to planting millions of trees in Vietnam".

It is undeniable that beauties who compete in international beauty pageants always have to spend billions. Mr. Tran Viet Bao Hoang, CEO of Unicorp, said that 4 years ago, when H'Hen Nie competed in Miss Universe, the amount of money spent on training and investing in the beauty had reached billions of dong. After H'Hen Nie, it was the turn of Hoang Thuy, Khanh Van or Kim Duyen, the cost gradually increased over time and the scale of the contest.

"Turning H'Hen Niê from a potential factor to an outstanding candidate and the result of entering the top 5 of Miss Universe World is a year of preparation and the efforts of the whole team with a large investment. We hired experts to train catwalk, teach English, makeup, learn interviewing with foreign teachers on topics such as politics , society, environment... The beauties later also received training courses from basic to complex to confidently compete internationally" - CEO Bao Hoang informed.

Normally, if a beauty is sent by the copyright holder to compete in an international beauty contest, they will be supported with all expenses. In major contests such as Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss Grand International..., domestic designers, brands, and trademarks all support and accompany the contestants.

For candidates who are not members of the above companies and want to compete internationally, they must negotiate with the copyright holder and bear all costs.

According to Mr. Nguyen Quang Minh, General Director of Cat Tien Sa Company, sending Vietnamese contestants to compete in international competitions is not difficult, as long as the unit has a clear understanding of the information and needs of the competitions (information is often updated on the websites of some companies holding the copyright to organize international beauty contests). International competitions also need contestants from all over the world to participate in order to make the competition more spectacular.

Cost from 500 million to 1 billion VND

When participating in Miss Earth 2020, beauty Thai Thi Hoa said that she had to pay for herself, up to several hundred million VND, in 2 months of accompanying the contest. She had to prepare all the national costumes, evening gowns, and creative costumes for the final night. An expert in the field of organizing beauty pageants revealed that the average cost for a Vietnamese contestant to compete internationally is from 500 million to 1 billion VND. "They see opportunities for development and profit after competing internationally, such as being noticed by brands and trademarks, so they do not hesitate to invest money" - this person said.

(To be continued)

Source: https://nld.com.vn/van-nghe/nhieu-loan-thi-hoa-hau-viet-tim-co-hoi-toa-sang-20230820210902702.htm