A beauty queen training camp opened its search for new candidates who may represent the Philippines in the next edition of Miss Universe.
Aces & Queens in a Facebook post announced on Tuesday that it is “looking for ladies who will form Aces & Queens’ class of 2021 for Miss Universe Philippines.”
Potential candidates must be Filipino citizens, must be aged 18 to 27 years old, sports at least a height of five feet four inches and is at least a high school graduate.
They must e-mail one “professionally done headshot and full-body swimsuit photo” to the training camp with their name, age, height, educational attainment or employment.
Aces & Queens is one of the country’s premier beauty queen training camps that has produced notable titleholders like Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, Miss International 2016 Kylie Verzosa and Miss World 2013 Megan Young.
The beauty boot camp’s announcement raised some questions from Filipino online users who wondered if it means that aspiring beauty queens from different training camps can’t join Miss Universe Philippines.
“So kung from ibang camps ‘di pwede sumali? So MUPH (Miss Universe Philippines) is exclusive lang to Aces and Queens or those who want to join Aces and Queens? Ba’t ganun?” a Facebook user commented.
“Sana magsali din kayo ng ibang camp para mas may mabuong matinding competition. Para may thrill kung baga,” wrote another online user.
Miss Universe Philippines 2020 fourth runner-up Billie Hakenson, who was also trained by the beauty boot camp, saw some of the comments and offered clarification about the announcement.
“I understand how this is confusing. Hehe… All camps are free to send their candidates. This is just an ad by Aces and Queens looking for THEIR possible candidates to train for MUPH,” the Cavite beauty wrote in the comments.
“Other camps can release their own photo with their own set of requirements. The girls that will be picked by A&Q and other camps will still go through the selection process of MUPH. Feel free to drop questions below for more clarifications,” Billie added.
Other beauty camps in the industry are Kagandahang Flores which has produced titleholders like Miss Earth 2014 Jamie Herrell, Miss Universe Philippines 2017 Rachel Peters and Miss Universe Philippines 2019 Gazini Ganados.
Last year, it was reported that the Philippines was the second most-crowned country in terms of international beauty pageants.
Trailing after Venezuela with 23 crowns, the archipelago boasts of 15 pageant titles from four major pageants like Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International and Miss Earth.