Contrary to memes dominating most Facebook feeds over the weekend, the tickets for “The Most Beautiful Night in the Universe” are not as affordable as one is hoping to believe. The cheapest is pegged at P2,120 while the highest is P14,260, with other posts saying VIP tickets cost P25,000.
“The tickets will be more or less $1,000, or about P50,000, for the VIP. For the general admission, it will probably be around $160, or about P8,000. That’s the cheapest,” Secretary Wanda Tulfo Teo said at a press conference in the Department of Tourism office on Monday morning. Ticket sales will start on December 20.
The 65th Miss Universe Competition will be held for the third time in the Philippines at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on January 30, 2017. Eighty-seven candidates have confirmed their participation.
Teo said only 200 tickets are left in the VIP section. Most of them have sold out, many going to the candidates’ own families. But tickets for the areas between the VIP and general admission areas are still available. Tickets will be sold on a book-and-buy basis via TicketNet. No reservations will be entertained.
Eleven candidates from the Asia-Pacific region, including the Philippines and from the United States, began arriving last Friday to do a quick succession of promotional shoots for the pageant.
The Miss Universe 2016 hopefuls are Miss Australia Caris Tiivel, Miss Indonesia Kezia Warouw, Miss Japan Sari Nakazawa, Miss Korea Jenny Kim, Miss Malaysia Kiran Jassal, Miss Myanmar Htet Htet Htun, Miss New Zealand Tania Pauline Dawson, Miss Philippines Maxine Medina, Miss Thailand Chalita Suansane, Miss Vietnam Dang Thi Le Hang, Miss China Li Zhenying and Miss USA Deshauna Barber.
On Sunday, the beauties frolicked in Siargao, the Surfing Capital of the Philippines, which they all professed to have thoroughly enjoyed. On a drizzly Monday afternoon, they visited the Light and Sound Museum and the Intramuros Christmas Bazaar, and laid a wreath at the Rizal Monument. On Tuesday, they will fly to Cebu to experience the charms of the Queen City of the South.
“As you can see, this is an enormous undertaking but there is no better audience and no better fans to do this for than the Filipino people,” said Architect Richelle Louise Singson-Michael, chairperson of the host committee, at the grand kickoff event at S Maison at Conrad Hotel, MOA Complex, on Saturday night.
“To our 11 candidates here with us, I hope you will continue to get a taste of our beautiful country and our hospitable people. To the fans of The Miss Universe Competition, I always tell the Miss Universe Organization that there is no better place to hold this pageant but here in the Philippines. It only gets better from here,” Architect Michael added.
At the DOT press conference, Secretary Teo encouraged those traveling to the Philippines to watch the coronation night to avail themselves of the Miss Universe tour packages. The travel bundle will be finalized by next week but Teo said it will include tours with the candidates to the host cities of Davao, Cebu, Puerto Princesa, Legazpi, Vigan and Manila.
Miss Universe Organization president Paula Shugart said that American host-comedian Steve Harvey will still be the host of the pageant, President Duterte’s misgivings notwithstanding.
“As he said [in an interview with US host Jimmy Fallon about the blunder heard around the universe], it was four minutes of absolute hell for him, but he is one of the most popular people in the United States – around the world. He’s so excited to be coming to the Philippines. I think it’s going to be very interesting and I’m still not ready to announce the co-host, but Steve’s the main host,” Shugart shared, adding that Harvey is learning all he can about the Philippines.
Shugart’s statement also debunked another viral rumor that Harvey’s co-hosts will be Olivia Jordan, MU 2015 second and runner-up, and Filipina supermodel-host Joey Mead King.
There’s also no truth to the Internet gossip of the possibility of President Duterte as one of the pageant judges.
“We established a policy a long time ago not to have government officials as judges because they have to be neutral. It’s very hard. I think there’s a lot of pressure when you’re the host country. That’s a policy that we have to enforce,” Shugart emphasized.