Mister Supranational 2017 – The Best is Yet to Come!
by Nhes dela Cruz & Pawee Ventura
As the search for the "world's most debonair man” draws near, the second edition of the Mister Supranational pageant promises to be worthy of belonging in the major leagues - with slick production values, modern music and a spectacular stage that would be a grand sight to behold. Mister Supranational is not your ordinary beauty pageant for males - it’s so much more! It shouldn’t even be called a beauty pageant rather a stiff & modern competition that requires candidates to be fit, tech-savvy, and even fashionable. So what are they looking for in a winner? The organizers are looking for a well-rounded guy who can best represent their brand. You have to be good at everything to win the title.
Male beauty competitions have been around for only about two decades. As they are still establishing their identities in the world of pageantry, Mister Supranational - the new born contest which emerged in Krynica-Zdroj in Poland last year will potentially define the standards of male beauty contests on a supranational level.
Let’s a take a journey back to the inception of the pageant in 2016…. Here’s an in-depth review of its 1st ever edition….
Mister Supranational has already employed and even introduced exciting elements suitable for male beauty aspirants. Indeed a pageant to watch out for, Nowa Scena Productions has mastered the art of beauty pageants as it is evident in their overall visual and audio effects althroughout the live broadcast. First impression lasts and the stage not to mention its design is the first thing to get noticed, whether you are watching on-site or on television.
Last year’s host Davina Reeves is such a true talent and probably one of the best female hosts to grace the pageant stage. Her American English is one of the clearest and most understandable you can hear around. Sense of humour is never an issue with this New Yorke and everyone seems to love her to bits. The male host did his homework too. Being a local, Kamil Baleja speaks Polish and accented English. And oh, his accent is very sweet. The combination of an English and Polish speakers has a global appeal with a European twist. What is a good hosting ability if the script will let you down? The script writer Agnieszka Kruk fortunately didn’t let us down and deserves a recognition for a job well done.
And the list of Mister Supranational’s strengths continue with its unparalleled production numbers last year - thanks to the director, Szymon Losiewicz and choreographer, Tomasz Baranski. Unforgettable of all is the Dance/Gangster number, where selected contestants danced and displayed their acrobatic talents. Which candidates stood out last year? Poland, Romania, and Slovakia were admirable performers while Mexico sported his Latino moves in this part of the live show. The Boxing dance number generated a highly masculine atmosphere, truly moving away from female contests, therefore establishing a sense of male identity in the pageant arena. The masculine element of Mister Supranational was re-projected on stage during the Waltz number, where the Top 10 finalists danced in their formal wear. Truly goosebump-moments!
Mister Supranational may have adopted various features from existing pageants, but what the more-established competitions can learn from Mister Supranational is the contestant exposure. Never have we seen such a pageant which dedicates an enormous air-time for its contestants and live numbers from the contestants. By this we mean, a standard beauty contests features the following: (a) parade of nations (b) introduction of contestants, (c) swimwear, (d) formal wear and (e) question & answer. Mister Supranational is more than your standard pageant as it has more segments than any other. Mister Supra had, as we mentioned before, a ‘Gangster’ number and Boxing Show for all the participants. The energy peaked that night and the boys were really having fun in these two portions. By the time they reduced the number of contestants to 10, a Waltz number was presented to the great delight of spectators. Definitely two thumbs up for such a great chance of the contestants to present themselves on a world stage.
All the above working visual effects would be useless without the aid of the audio ones. The music selection in Mister Supra’s first edition was consistently of high-calibre. It started rather slow in the parade of nations and peaked towards the ‘Gangster’ number. There were several moments where the audience felt like dancing in the venue instead of sticking their eyes on stage.
The selection of winners is close to perfection. To recap:
4th RU – Romania, Catalin Brinza
3rd RU – Brazil, Bruno Vanin
2nd RU – India, Jitesh Naresh Thakur
1st RU- Belarus, Sergei Bindalov
WINNER – Mexico, Diego Garcy
A good set of winners was presented by the panel of judges. Diego Garcy of Mexico possesses a highly marketable appeal, not just because of his name but also of his aesthetic appearance. Mexico also has this bubbly personality, which is very common among (Miss) Supranational’s winners.
To put it in a nutshell, Mister Supranational has proved that age doesn’t really matter. While it is a new competition in male pageantry, it has demonstrated various elements of an exciting show which is worth-watching. If they can maintain this level of production, it will surely offer male pageantry different dimensions. Mister Supranational engenders a wake-up call for other existing male competitions to reconsider their presentations for them to last. To other existing male and even female competitions, yes, there is a bunch to learn from this baby competition!
Expect the unexpected in the upcoming grand finale of Mister Supranational 2017 – but be really prepared to be blown away!