TRANSCRIPT: Miss Universe 2024 Top 5 Q&A segments
MANILA, Philippines – The top five candidates of Miss Universe 2024 put their wit to the test in two question-and-answer segments during the pageant’s coronation night on Sunday, November 17 (Manila time), at the Arena CDMX in Mexico City, Mexico.
For the first round, the five beauty queens randomly drew the name of a selection committee member, who then asked each of them a question. They were each given 30 seconds to respond.
Here are the questions and their respective answers:
Chidimma Adetshina, Nigeria
What is more important: being liked or being respected, and why?
I feel like it’s being respected. We live in a society where we often don’t feel respected because of who we are, and I feel like when we respect ourselves, you respect others around you. And respect is really important.
María Fernanda Beltrán, Mexico
When something bad is happening in your life, what gives you power to keep going?
[What gives me the power] to keep going in my life is my mom. Through [her] fight of cancer, right now I’m feeling very happy to be here to represent her resonance, her perseverance, and discipline about all her illness. I want to invite you to always feel your dreams, and as a powerful woman says, I want to be the queen of the people’s heart.
Victoria Kjær Theilvig, Denmark
How would you live your life differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
I would never change how I live my life. We learn from our mistakes. We learn every day. We learn something new and we got to take that and bring it to the future. That’s why I live each day by each day, and I just got to stay positive. So, no, I would not change nothing.
Suchata Chuangsri, Thailand
What qualities should someone have to be a truly successful leader?
A quality a leader should have for me is empathy. Because no matter how good you are, what kind of education you are, in the end, you need empathy to care about your people. To care about their well-being. And not only a leader, I believe that everyone in this world needs to have empathy among each other. That’s how we can unite.
Ileana Márquez, Venezuela
Describe the ideal woman of today and what qualities do you have in common with her?
My ideal moment today has been sharing [this moment] with these amazing 127 women from all across the world, leaving behind our differences and sending the world a message of respect, love, and union, because that’s the way the world is built.
For the second round, the top five were asked to answer the same question: Miss Universe has inspired generations of women. What is your message to the ones watching you right now?
Here’s how they answered:
Chidimma Adetshina, Nigeria
As a woman who has faced adversities, I feel like I have a powerful story. I don’t stand there as Chidimma Adetshina, I stand there as a symbol of hope, a beacon of faith. As someone who has persevered with grace, I believe I have stood for not only for myself, but for Africans.
María Fernanda Beltrán, Mexico
As my social project says, say no to cyberbullying, cyber harassment. Right now we’re in a huge problem that is social media. And the message that I want to give to the world is to fight, control, and adapt to this new situation with the emotional intelligence that we need to have. If you have this emotional intelligence so we can control [those] emotions and with those emotions, we can give that message with no fears.
Victoria Kjær Theilvig, Denmark
My message to all the world that is watching out there is no matter where you come from, no matter your past, you can always choose to turn it into your strengths. It will never define who you are. Just got to keep fighting. I stand here today because I want to change. I want to make history. And that’s what I’m doing tonight. So never give up, always believe in yourself and your dreams, and that is exactly what we are going to do.
Suchata Chuangsri, Thailand
To always believe and to always have hope. Working on my project OPAL FOR HER, I work with a lot of breast cancer patients and doctors. We all know that it is a hard thing to overcome this disease.
But what I can feel is that everyone has hope. Everyone believes that tomorrow will be a better day. As long as you believe, your power is infinite. As long as you have hope, your spirit and power will shine.
Ileana Márquez, Venezuela
The crown tonight does not only go to the representative of Miss Universe tonight. But the crown goes to every single woman who has earned their respect, love, and visibility for us to be here tonight.
– Rappler.com