In 8 Parts
This is LONG!
Part 1:
So I attended MISTER MODEL INTERNATIONAL 2018 on March 10th. I’ve never been to a live pageant of any kind before, and since I live less than three hours from Miami (and male pageants are my favorite), I decided to take the weekend and attend this one. Here’s what I saw.
The Stage
The venue was very small, like a high school auditorium, with a small stage. In fact, each seat had a fold-out desk for taking notes as in a lecture hall. The event was advertised as starting at 8PM, but didn’t start until 9:40PM. People kept trickling in until the hall was about half full, meaning there were probably 200 people there at its fullest. While waiting, about an hour before the pageant started, I saw a shirtless Bolivia peek out from the side stage and wave to someone in the front row. I also noticed a window overlooking the audience where I could see the contestants. This is where they would congregate and change, but blinds and distance prevented me from seeing too clearly. I could tell they were contestants by the t-shirts they wore. One of them was texting with some young women sitting a row in front of me. They looked up to the window and waved to him.
Contestants' Window
Contestants' Window
In the lobby by the auditorium entrance were tables set up for the silent auction of the gifts the contestants brought from their home countries. Australia, for example, brought a boomerang. Chile brought a bottle of Chilean wine, Lebanon brought a cedar plaque, and Indonesia brought a batik map of Indonesia with the different provinces/regions represented by different batik patterns. A few contestants did not have gifts in the auction.
One of the people listed on the website as a host, Francisco Escobar (Mister World 2012/2013), was not a host, but he was there. I actually didn’t recognize him the first several times I saw him, but when he settled in the row behind me and I finally saw his face clearly, I realized it was him. He’s got a very short (I think unflattering) haircut and is very lanky. He was wearing a simple black suit with a white linen shirt, a skinny black tie and white tennis shoes. Personally, I think most of the contestants in the pageant are better looking than him, but Mister World is clearly a much different pageant (and he won six years ago). I just know that I wouldn’t notice him if I passed him on the street.
He knew many of the people organizing/running the show since he interacted with them quite often during the evening, but I don’t know why he was not hosting as listed. He seemed to enjoy the presence of the bar, taking the opportunity to get a drink almost every time there was an interval in the pageant (not that I’m judging. I’ve been known to enjoy a cocktail or six). They certainly seemed to loosen him up since his clothes became increasingly disheveled by the end.
Francisco Escobar dressed very similarly with a similar drink
About ten minutes before the pageant started, they announced, in English and Spanish, that the pageant would start soon and then thanked all the sponsors. Almost everyone in the audience spoke Spanish. In fact, I haven’t had so many people address me in Spanish (thinking I spoke it) since I was in Chile over 15 years ago. The audience largely consisted of people who knew the contestants or were student designers (and their friends) at Miami International University of Art and Design, one of the sponsors. Thursday and Friday before the pageant, the contestants had modeled creations by these student designers, one of whom would receive an award for best student designer during the pageant.