WATCH: Katarina Rodriguez on almost winning Miss Intercontinental 2017

MANILA, Philippines — Does Miss Philippines Katarina Rodriguez think she deserves to win Miss Intercontinental 2017 more than the winner, Veronica Salas Vallejo of Mexico?

When Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutiérrez was mistakenly announced as Miss Universe 2015, which was later on corrected as belonging to Miss Philippines Pia Wurtzbach, Gutiérrez, as seen in her TV interviews and social media posts, aired more of frustration for almost getting the crown she has worked for her entire life.

Did Katarina feel the same way when she was hailed as first runner-up to Mexico’s Vallejo at the 2017 Miss Intercontinental pageant held last January in Egypt?

According to Katarina, being announced as first runner-up was actually her “best and most memorable experience of the pageant.”

“Because I feel like everything happens for a reason and sometimes, things don’t happen the way you want them to happen at the moment because there are better things to come,” Katarina said in a recent interview with Philstar.com.

The homecoming queen really expected to take home the crown. “I always bet on myself 100 percent of the time because you can only control who you are, your reactions and how you perform and how you deliver and I trust myself a hundred percent.”

But she was neither happy nor sad for being first runner-up because she has accepted that the crown was not meant for her.

Overall, competing in the pageant has been a great experience, said Katarina.

After the pageant, the “Asia’s Next Top Model” finalist is back to modeling, first, as an ambassador for Fujifilm X-A5, the brand’s smallest and lightest mirrorless digital camera in its X series.

While she is not going to mentor contestants at the upcoming Binibining Pilipinas 2018 pageant, when asked if she would enter showbiz as many beauty queens have done before, she simply said: “Surprise!” — Video by EC Toledo IV