Gwendoline Ruais soars as Miss World runner-up
(UPDATE) Miss Philippines Gwendoline Ruais became the highest placing Pinay candidate in this year's beauty pageant season with a runner-up finish in the 2011 Miss World competition held on Sunday, November 6 at Earls Court in London.
Gwendoline placed second to Miss Venezuela, Ivian Sarcos-Colmenares, in a glittering and gallant performance besting hundreds of candidates from Albania to Zimbabwe. The coronation was broadcast to one billion viewers in 150 countries.
The French-Filipino model, who earned her Bachelor's Degree in Business Management last year, said she did it for country. “People asked me why I stopped modeling when I was doing well. My answer, when you’re modeling, you do it for yourself. It’s a personal thing. But when you join Miss World Philippines, you represent your country. You’re an ambassador. You can help others in the causes you believe in,” Gwendoline said in an interview with Miss World judges.
Miss Puerto Rico, Amanda Victoria Perez, came third.
"I believe that the next Miss World should be a woman of responsibility and reason," said Ivian, who works for a broadcasting company and has a Bachelor's Degree in Human Resources, before winning the title.
"I believe the woman should be committed to the organization and help people in need. Beauty with a heart," added the Venezuelan.
The pageant was back in its home city to celebrate its 60th anniversary.
Meanwhile, around 50 feminists staged a demonstration outside, waving placards reading "Objectification won't achieve world peace", "Being a woman is not a competition" and "Sexism is pretty ugly".
Around a half dozen were veterans of the 1970 pageant protest, which caused a major disturbance.
Inside the Earls Court Two auditorium in west London, the few thousand fans cheered, waved national flags and shouted for their favorites.
To whittle them down to the 15 semi-finalists, several point-scoring rounds were held during the contestants' tour of Britain over the previous two weeks, with the results revealed on stage.
Miss Venezuela topped the interview round; Miss Dominican Republic, Marianly Tejada Burgos, was named the general sports champion; home favorite Miss England, Alize Lily Mounter, won the beach beauty title, while Miss Kazakhstan, Zhanna Zhumaliyeva, was named top model.
The crowd were played clips from the talent round -- where performers sang, danced and gave piano recitals -- won by Miss Chile, Gabriela Paz Pulgar Luco.
Miss Ghana, Stephanie Adwoa Agyeiwaa Karikari, and Miss Indonesia, Astrid Ellena Indriana Yunadi, were the joint winners of the beauty with a purpose category, where contestants can highlight a charity project.
With the scores in and only the top 15 going through to the semi-final, Miss Puerto Rico topped the leaderboard, ahead of Miss Venezuela, Miss Philippines, Miss Ukraine and Miss Scotland.
The final seven, chosen by the judges, were Miss England, Miss Korea, Miss Philippines, Miss Puerto Rico, Miss Scotland, Miss South Africa and Miss Venezuela.
It was announced that Ordos in Inner Mongolia, China, will host the 2012 competition. With an Agence France-Presse report
