Nawat Itsaragrisil, the founder of Miss Grand International (MGI), has returned to the Philippines to personally witness the crowning moment of the inaugural Miss Grand Philippines pageant.
Read: Miss Grand International founder Nawat Itsaragrisil apologizes to Pinoy pageant fans
Set to take place tonight, July 13, 2023, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, the pageant promises to be "the grandest" event in the country.
Nawat arrived in the Philippines on Tuesday, July 11, 2023, along with the MGI's chief operating officer Teresa Chaivisut, and Miss Grand International 2022 Isabella Menin of Brazil.
Upon his arrival, the Thai national took the opportunity to meet with several members of the press, including PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal), at the Holiday Inn Express in Parañaque City.
During the press conference, Nawat expressed his excitement for the eagerly awaited grand coronation.
He mentioned watching the pageant's charity gala and preliminary competition online on July 1, 2023, and this further heightened his anticipation for the upcoming event.
Nawat recalled, "I watched the candidates... so many are quite strong and in every [candidate], they have a good positioning or presentation by themselves."
He, then, conveyed his message regarding his vision for the pageant and the qualities he seeks in a Miss Grand International winner.
The pageant founder said, "I leave the message here... [in] Miss Grand International, we're looking for the one who [is] ready to work.
"Ready to work, [and] many talent, or they know the way to produce themselves, or herself to be a famous [person], for the country of Philippines or other country, too.
"This is the most important."
Nawat emphasized, "Beautiful is not enough for us because I believe beautiful is individual.
"Everyone can be beautiful, but [Miss Grand International is looking for] more than beautiful. That is most important.
"I'm looking for the one who is ready to work and has a lot of talent."
Prior to this, Nawat cited the reigning Miss Grand Philippines Roberta Tamondong as the perfect example.
He said, "We would love to produce the people to make them more famous and they have a good opportunity, more value in her life, like Roberta.
"I just spoke to her. She's so much beautiful... more beautiful, like a flower.
"She can do a lot of things, like more entertain or to be a star."
Nawat, then, shared a message to Roberta.
"That's why this is... my idea and I leave with Mr. Arnold [Vegafria]... Don't give up, Roberta. You try to push yourself in any way because of your window [is] already open.
"You can jump out to show the world [your potential], to show the Philippine power.
"That is the most important... the opportunity of being Miss Grand International."
He continued, "We would love to produce the people, make them a star and more value in every country like in Philippines.
"I know she can be a star. She can sing, she can [be] like an actress, a lot of things, and TV host also.
"I hope she will [be] successful, very soon, in the future."
EXPECTATIONS FOR MISS GRAND PHILIPPINES
Nawat is filled with excitement as the Philippines finally hosts its own Miss Grand pageant after a 12-year wait.
In November 2022, Arnold Vegafria made the exciting announcement that he had successfully obtained the franchise to organize the prestigious Miss Grand pageant in the Philippines.
Prior to Miss Grand Philippines, the country has been sending candidates to Miss Grand International through Binibining Pilipinas.
Roberta is actually the last Filipina beauty queen crowned as Binibining Pilipinas Grand International.
Read: Binibining Pilipinas officially withdraws from Miss Grand International
Nawat said, "This is another chapter of Miss Grand Philippines and Miss Grand International, also. I would like to have independent organization [for] quite long time.
"This year it has come to 12, almost 12 years, that we're looking. That's why we hope a lot of things are gonna be happen for Philippines people or beauty pageant lovers or beauty pageant media to understand...
"And [hopefully] welcome Miss Grand International to your heart."
With that being said, Nawat is extremely open and willing to extend any form of support to Miss Grand Philippines.
In his words, "And I'm not sweet talk but I hope I can support any moment. If you want to have fun, more entertain on use Miss Grand International or Miss Grand Philippine to help to support anything...
"[During the] very successful charity day, [I watched] online, I [was] thinking... this is the beginning of the battle Miss Grand Philippines that everybody must understand what we want to do."
As it is the inaugural Miss Grand Philippines pageant, Nawat expressed his high expectations for the event.
He said, "I am expecting a lot of LED, around more than 10,000 people coming to join us and let the people around the world talk about, 'Oh, wow! Come back [to the Philippines] for the beauty pageant...'"
Upon hearing this statement, Arnold acknowledged feeling the pressure associated with the responsibility.
He told PEP.ph, "The expectations are high... So I have to, you know, to follow his standard, of course, to retain the franchise.
"So I do my best, I will really try my best to sustain and maintain her very high standard so that we can still get, you know, the franchise every year."
Arnold went on to invite Filipinos to support the pageant.
"To all the Filipino people, please help and support Miss Grand Philippines organization."
The highly anticipated grand coronation night of Miss Grand Philippines will be live-streamed on ALVTV.com. For those unable to watch it live, a delayed telecast will be available on GMA-7.
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