Miss World made their call, and our Queen, our hot number, answered. The Queen will be jetting off to London tomorrow! But before that, Miss World is the oldest running international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951.

Since his death in 2000, Morley’s widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss International and Miss Earth, this pageant is one of the Big Four International beauty pageants- the most coveted beauty titles when it comes to international pageant competitions.

Every year, Miss World makes calls to over a hundred of participants from across the entire globe, some receive the call very well, and some miss it, while some reject the call. This year alone, 125 beauty queens from all continents received and acknowledged this call, and our very own Miss Botswana is one of them. Miss World 2019 will be on its 69th edition and it will be held on December 14th at the ExCel London in London, United Kingdom. Vanessa Ponce of Mexico will crown her successor at the end of the event, and who knows; maybe that crown belongs to our very own diamond.

Oweditse Phirinyane’s profile has been officially added to the Miss World website, and she will jet off to London tomorrow in hopes of bringing the crown home in December. The Miss World 2019 contestants who will be competing for the title this year have been put up on the website, together with their images. Judging by how extraordinary and influential their profiles are, I cuss, it’s going to be a threatening race.

The girls are equally gorgeous, canny, and bright and they all strive for one common goal…to wear the Miss World crown for the very first time in their lives. Now, the question is who will? Well, I will be following the Miss World journey, and shall our Queen win, I will definitely let you guys know! Even if she doesn’t bring the crown home, I will have chat with her over a cup of coffee, to get to know where we went wrong, and how the experience was like!

Contestants will arrive two weeks prior to pageant night where they will compete in a number of tasks leading up to the final show where a winner will be chosen. So, this week, because it’s the last week before jetting off to London, an idea got tossed out of nowhere to actually have a chat with one of Miss Botswana organisers to see what it really takes to get to compete for the crown, what our Diamond has been up to and how prepared is she to bring that crown home, I mean, we want it here! And we can have it here anyway…

In an exclusive interview with Weekend Life, Public Relations Officer Pauline Dikuelo said the Queen has been working on her health, body and mind. ‘’We have been undergoing various exercises and diets to have her in good shape. Miss World is about health, fitness, toned muscles, symmetry and proportion. She had to avoid eating too much food, but it’s critical she eats different kind of nutritious food. Protein three to five times a day, tons and tons of veggies and creative cheat days, like having chocolate cake just to have a different twist once. We added the crazy workout schedule to her time, I mean women competing in a beauty pageant start their fitness and diet plans six months to a year in advance.

At the Miss World pageant, a contestant should know how to apply herself makeup. Dikuelo noted that the Queen has been having tutorials on foundation application, contouring, contouring and more contouring. ‘’She drew her eye brows, extended them out, her lip liner brought far below her natural lip line to make her lips appear larger and fuller. She was even taught how to apply her make-up within 30 Minutes as contestants at the Miss World will be given 30 minutes backstage to do their own.’’ She said

The Queen has also learnt how to perfect her walk. Walking is about more than just being able to handle yourself in a pair of stilettos. Walking and posing are about projecting confidence- standing with shoulders back, speaking confidently and showing your personality. Miss Botswana also had dance trainings, public speaking coaching by Toast Masters, her beauty with a purpose project documentation that is based on the basket weaving ladies from SPEDU region, where the Miss Botswana 2019 finale was held, for the very first time outside Gaborone.

Dikuelo also indicated that the Queen is taking many dresses from many local designers, and her finale dress is designed by Thabiso Dibeela of ‘ThabieD’ and her Top Model dress by House of Kay. For sportswear, she will be in Olep Clothing and Options Botswana came on board to assist with shoes. However, all of her dresses were to be collected yesterday, and she will be leaving tomorrow.

Before giving you a list of former beautiful queens who represented us at the Miss World pageant before, let’s look at how to become Miss World. From elegant makeup to glimmering dresses, competing in beauty pageants is the closest a girl can come to feeling like royalty. Not only does Miss World focus on the staples of beauty and talent, it encourages girls to become well-rounded by encouraging world involvement and global activism.

Ensure you meet gender requirements. While men have the option to compete in the Mister World pageant, you must be legally identified as a woman in order to compete in Miss World. Up until recently, transgender women were allowed to represent their country for Miss World, but could not actually win the competition. These rules have since changed. While it is not necessary to have been born in the country you are representing, you must possess legal documentation of citizenship. Citizenship can be obtained through permanent residency or via naturalization.

Ensure you title as a ‘’Miss’’ being unmarried and childless. Most countries define being single as unmarried in any capacity, including religious, tribal or civil. Miss World requires its applicants to have had no legal troubles or criminal record in the past. Countries are also strict on reputation and general presence, requiring that individuals not bring shame upon themselves, their country, or the competition at large.

Miss World wants a participant to prepare to define just what they bring to the competition. During your qualifying interview, you will be establishing what you can bring to the table as both a national and international representative of Miss World. While some interviews may come as part of the pageant itself, other countries like the United States skip the pageantry itself. Countries like these will use applicant photos and their video interviews to select Miss World candidates.

Botswana made its debut at Miss World in 1972. Traditionally, the winner of Miss Botswana represents the country at Miss World. Now let’s take a look at former Queens who had amazing placements at the international beauty pageants. In 1997, Mpule Kwelagobe made history by becoming Miss Universe in 1999, a very first prodigious achievement for the country, and not only that, for the whole continent. We still remember that day even today, even though some of us were still toddlers.

Thanks to technology and media, we still can check out the video. In 2003, Boingotlo Motlalakgosi made Top 21 of the Miss World Talent; in 2004 Judy Peacock made Miss World Talent Top 20 and Miss World Top Model Top 20 respectively. Further, in 2005, Miss Botswana Lorato Tebogo made Miss World Sports Top 24, while in 2010, Emma Wareus was Miss World 1st Runner-up, subsequently became Miss World Africa. In 2017, Nicole Gaelebale made it to Top 40 and with our reigning diamond, it remains unknown. Good luck to her…