Slimmers World beauties crowned

Only hours after Ricky Hatton was knocked out in Round 2 by our very own Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas in Nevada, Slimmers World International presented its knockout beauties — all of 26 shapely contestants — during last Sunday night’s second annual Miss Bikini Philippines pageant held at the Plenary Hall of the Philippine International Convention Center. It is in this contest where the Philippine delegates to the Miss Bikini International and Miss Bikini World competitions are selected.

The 2009 Miss Bikini Philippines pageant kicked off months ago when Slimmers World VP Helen Manansala Camacho and other company officers launched the nationwide search that had them combing all parts of the archipelago for possible candidates to this now prestigious beauty congress. More than a hundred aspirants joined the contest, but only 26 were selected as official delegates.

The 26 contestants were eventually housed for almost a month at the M. Chereville Hotel where their exercises were put under supervision by the Slimmers World staff (they are trained professionals — mostly armed with Physical Therapy degrees) and all their meals prepared by the Slimmers World dieticians.

By the time they were presented during the press launch at the RCBC Auditorium two weeks ago, all 26 were already in their most winning form — ready for competition. And what a contest that was. It certainly took much longer (and tougher) than the two rounds between Pacquiao and Hatton.

The coronation night at the PICC — hosted by the veteran pageant host Paolo Bediones (he is truly one of the best) and beauty queen Menchu Antigua — started with the parade of Filipiniana costumes and later declared Best in National Costume was Kimberly Brandon. Then came the all-important swimsuit contest and eventually the long gown competition.

Admittedly, this is a very good batch of contestants and it pained the organizers, judges and the PICC crowd to say goodbye to the other delegates who didn’t make it to the Top 10. I for one thought it was a waste to see No. 4, Kymbyrly Bejec go because she is drop-dead sexy (she could be another Katrina Halili). At least, she was voted Miss Photogenic.

Even with the list narrowed down to just 10, it was still difficult to pick the two title-holders and the two runners-up. But eventually, the judges turned in their scores and named Jocel Kusain of Davao second runner-up. First runner-up was crowd favorite Ella Castillo, a fashion design student from DLSU College of St. Benilde.

Crowned Miss Bikini Philippines-International was Kimberly Ann Brandon, while Kim de Guzman bagged the highest title of Miss Bikini Philippines-World. Both winners brought home half a million pesos in cash and prizes each.

Standing 5’10”, Kimberly measures 32-25-36. She is 21 and works as a fashion model. “I didn’t expect to win,” she tells me the day after her coronation, “because the other girls had beautiful faces and shapely figures.”

Kimberly is obviously of mestiza stock and is from Subic. Her father is American-Irish, while her mother is Filipino-Chinese. Her parents are separated and she is now looking after her mother who recently had a stroke and is suffering from myoma. She will use her prize money for her mother’s surgery. “My mother was very happy when I won and I was surprised to see her in the crowd. I wasn’t expecting her to watch the pageant because she is just recovering from her stroke,” she relates. Aside from being sent to her official international pageant, the Miss Bikini International to be held most likely end of the year, Kimberly will also be dispatched in a few weeks to compete in the Miss Global Beauty in China. This is a last-minute arrangement because talks between the Miss Global Beauty organizers and Slimmers World International were only finalized end of last week. Kimberly has to be given further training by Slimmers World immediately in preparation for her first international competition.

2009 Miss Bikini Philippines-World Kim is 18 years old, stands 5’5” and measures 31-24-34. A Mass Communications student from the Far Eastern University, she describes her victory as “sobrang saya.” According to her, it had always been her dream to be a beauty queen and she fulfilled that the other night at the PICC. Although she looks chinita and has the cutest face among the contestants, she claims that she isn’t aware of any Chinese blood in her veins. Born in Olongapo, she says that she will use her prize money for the education of her eight-year-old brother Kevin Carl and even those of her cousins. “I already promised my uncle that,” she points out. Her only wish that night was to land in the Top 10 and she was surprised to be crowned the top winner — “and this makes me extremely happy.”

Kim will compete in Malta for the Miss Bikini World and will also start rigid trainings to be fit and trim for the international event.

The 2009 Miss Bikini Philippines will be aired on Studio 23 on May 9 at 10 p.m. Richard Poon who is one of the best crooners in the country today, provided song numbers and wowed the PICC crowd on coronation night with his ballads. The occasion was also graced by Slimmers World International president Ronald Joseph Moy and the directors and managers of the various branches. The board of judges was composed of The Philippine Star Entertainment editor and Startalk host Ricky Lo, beauty queens Miriam Quiambao, Joanne Quintas and Maricarl Tolosa, Eula Valdez, Alex Liu of Singapore, designer Ricci Lizaso, Slimmers World lady boss Helen Camacho and this writer.