Hey Guys!
Today I have a very interesting blog post for you, as I will try to describe here step by step, how the whole Miss Generation 2021 contest was progressing over the last months up until the day of the final gala, which took place literally two days ago - on September, 18th, 2021 in Skyline Sheraton Heathrow London hotel - including rehearsals, demands from the organizers, gifts, the gala itself, good and bad memories.
Let's start from the very beginning - how have I landed there at all? As I already had some experience with beauty pageants in the past (Miss Poland Teen 2005, where I have reached finals, and then Miss JetSet online beauty pageant, where I was the only Polish girl to be chosen for TOP 50 from multiple hundreds of candidates from all over the world), one of my friends (Edyta, that was you! :) told me that one of her friends recently took part in Miss Poland in Netherlands contest and she won it; therefore she asked me, whether maybe I should take part in Miss Poland of UK & Ireland this year. So I decided to give it a shot, and I sent my pictures, measurements and some words about myself, and that I am willing to participate in that event. The organizers have replied to me that I am a bit too old (Miss Poland of UK & Ireland contestants need to be between 18 and 27 years old, because the winner automatically becomes one of Miss Poland's naional beauty pageant's finalists. However; they advised me to take part in Miss Generation 2021 contest, which was advertised as a beauty pageant for women aged 25-55 with no apparent requirements like weight/height restrictions. I decided to give it a go, I have sent the email that I am willing to participate and after some time, they have sent me a reply that I am invited for a semi-finalists photoshoot in London in June, and that there is a participation fee of 50 GBP. I was a bit surprised, but I thought that maybe this is how it is in international beauty pageant, so I agreed. Later on, I found out the same organizers were for both competitions - Miss Poland of UK & Ireland, and Miss Generation.
So I went to London for a photoshoot in June this year, which was supposed to last around half a day. It turned out that it lasted around an hour, and needless to say that after travelling the previous day from Edinburgh to London on my own cost, having the room booked for one night, and spending at this photoshoot an hour only, I was a bit disappointed.
Anyways; I thought - okay, let's see how it all goes further. After the photoshoot, they have put the semi-finalists' names, photos taken there a few weeks before, and short descriptions on Miss Generation website and have informed us that there will be an online voting for the girls to enter finals. They told us that from 30 semi-finalists, around 16-18 will be chosen to the finals. And then the fun has begun. My amount of online votes was increasing really slowly, because my friends wrote me that they were unable to vote again after 24 hours (and that was supposed to be the case), some of the other girls said so as well. I wrote a polite email to the organizers that I think there is a slight issue with voting, and they have replied to me in a very odd tone and almost rude manner that: "why are you focusing on some friends of yours, would it not be better to engage thousands of other people, your followers to just vote for you, instead of a group of loyal friends pressing the button "like" every day?!". I felt really weird, as I thought the contest was about promoting good values, diversity, about the support of good people around, and it turned out it was mainly about the promotion of a non-well-known beauty pageant among my Instagram and Facebook followers (and there is some of them there - over 60.000 people recently).
Then the votes were gradually increasing (maybe they fixed something?), however I noticed that some of the other girls' votes were increasing way too fast (a few hundreds more of them every night?!), and I started to talk with some other contestants. One of them told me she was offered to buy herself some votes, so that she could enter finals. She did not say who has offered that, I do believe that someone might have made business out of it simply. I am pretty sure though those people were not organizers, as that would not make any sense. I thought that was disgusting anyways, and have just continued to promote the online voting among my social media channels, which resulted in being chosen as one of 20 (as it turned out, not 16) finalists. Later on, I have found out that the organizers decreased the amount of bought votes for some contestants while counting them all.
And then, after a while, the organizers have posted in a Facebook group for finalists made for us that instead of a standard week-long or so paid and organized (as I have the experience of from before) boot camp for the finalists of almost any beauty pagents, there will be 2 or 3 rehearsal meetings (one Saturday at the end of August, then another Saturday at the beginning of September, then the whole weekend in the middle of September, and the final rehearsals right before the gala on September, 18th). At first, I thought it was a joke, as they also said that all the travel costs are on us, and the overnight stay for the whole weekend rehearsals is also on us, they provide just lunches and refreshments during the rehearsals. As it turned out, it was not a joke at all, and even knowing that some of the contestants have a really long way to go to London (like me for example coming from Edinburgh, or Tatjana and some other girls driving all the way from different parts of England), the organizers were completely fine with that idea.
At this point, I was trying to convince myself that it was all even worth it still (mainly financially), but then I thought that I would like to finish what I started, and that otherwise, i will have a really good material for the blog. So I went there the first time (by train - 4,5 hours one way), came back the same day. Then as they scrapped the rehearsals at the beginning of September (thank God), I went there again after 3 weeks - in the middle of September for the whole weekend of rehearsals. This time I went by plane, as the flight only lasted an hour and twenty minutes, and was slightly cheaper than a train (train one way costs around 60 GBP, and a return ticket plane from Edinburgh to London Gatwick costs around 80 GBP), of course I am not even counting the cost of taxis and travel in general from the airport or train station to the place of the rehearsals, because that was really a lot every time.
At the rehearsals, the atmosphere was really nice, the choreographers (Łukasz and Katie) were very composed, very professional and friendly, we were provided lunch every time at the place of rehearsals - White Eagle Club in London at every occasion and each time it was very tasty, so I cannot complain on that at all, and we were gifted a nice hair dryer from one of the sponsors plus a leather-like dress (from the other sponsor - Ola Ola London Butique - to wear during one of the choreographies at the gala, and afterwards we could keep it. We have also received a set of Nashi Argan cosmetics for hair and skincare from the sponsor - Nashi Argan, and I must say - I really love them, especially the hair oil.
And then the day of the gala has approached. Of course again travelling at 7 am on Saturday from Edinburgh to London Gatwick, and then from London Gatwick to the place of the gala (which was technically almost at the Heathrow airport, so really far apart), and going straight to the final rehearsals there at the hotel with all the outfits, dresses, accessories. They have provided some discount for the hotel room after the gala in the same hotel, where it all took place, however the cost was again of course on the contestants, and it was not cheap (99 GBP for one person, 112 GBP for two people). I took it, because I knew the event would finish at night, and it will be much easier to transport the suitcase with all that just to the hotel room, instead of taking a cab and going to a different place).
The final rehersals finished around 3 pm (and we were already a bit sweaty, tired, hungry (unfortunately not enough food was provided for the contestants and the preparation team backstage, and thinking how our hair is going to look fresh and beautiful after all that), then the make-up artists and hairdressers were preparing us for the gala. Needless to say, one of the hairdressers has burnt a bit my hair endings and I needed to cut them afterwards, even though I had asked before to be gentle with them, she did not listen. And a makeup artist did a pretty good job, she did not have a lot of time, as there were a lot of girls still waiting after me for makeup, but it was not entirely the level of professionalism that I am accustomed to, and which I was always offering to my clients as a makeup artist. However; I know how it is when you have a lot of models to prepare, and there is not enough time.
The first choreography was in national dresses (our own ideas and dresses), and as I was of course representing Poland - I was wearing a red dress with white elements and a flower crown. The other girls, representing different countries were wearing very beautiful outfits (for example the Rio de Janeiro carnival outfits were worn by Brazilian contestants and a royal British costume was worn by a British contestant).
The next choreography was in our own jeans and in a Miss Generation t-shirt, which they have provided. We were then also dancing with Carlos Ferreira from the band called Bad Boys Blue, who was one of the performers that night on stage.
The third choreography was in lingerie outfits (our own), and I must say that some girls had really revealling outfits, which surprised me a bit, but the whole dance looked really good and we all looked hot and sexy.
The fourth outfit was a leather-like dress provided by one of the sponsors - Ola Ola London Butique (check them on Facebook!), and I must say - I really like this dress, and as we could keep it, I will definitely wear it again. During this choreography, we were advised that there will be 9 girls chosen already among us, as Top 9, and from those 9 girls, the main three titles will be distributed (Miss Generation, Princess of The Year, Ageless Beauty). The rest of the girls however; could still win one of the complimentary titles (Miss Hottie, Miss Personality, Miss Congeniality, Miss Popularity, Miss Glamour).
I was chosen to Top 9 and I was genuinely happy about it, as I thought that okay, I am not counting on winning that competition at all, but I am doing my best, and maybe they will give me a small complimentary title, as it turned out later - I was very wrong. And it was really not about being bitter that I have not won, it was more about the effort, money, time put into that, the preparations, the fact of being chosen as one of Top 9 contestants, and not getting even a sash at the end, a bit dissapointing experience.
After the business outfit, the time has come for the final outfit - evening gown (our own), and the crowning moment plus complimentary titles. This year Miss Generation title went to Heather Rosemary Lloyd (a very nice British girl), Princess of the Year Title went to Iuli Caroline Silva from Brasil, Ageless Beauty title went to Ewa Pirecka (the only Polish girl to win one of the main titles this year). And for the complimentary titles: Miss Hottie - Anna Baran (I totally agree!), Miss Personality (Anna Carina Berkman - I also agree 100%!), Miss Congeniality (Edimara Loddo - such a cute person!), Miss Popularity - Nikki Sorronadi, Miss Glamour - Stephanie Roussel - a very elegant woman indeed!
The complimentary titles were chosen mainly among the girls that did not make it to Top 9, so we were a bit surprised, however - competition is a competition, so someone needed to win. I am happy for the girls, as definitely one of the biggest pluses of this event was the possibility of getting to know really nice, educated, interesting women, with whom I will definitely keep in touch afterwards.
And now, let me present you the prizes for the finalists, and you will evaluate yourselves, whether it was worth taking part in this contest, if anyone was counting only on some incredible gifts much more than on meeting new and interesting people:
The main prizes for the winners were mainly vouchers (1000 GBP worth, 750 GBP worth, 500 GBP worth) for courses or treatments in a clinic in London, vouchers for Nashi Argan cosmetics (very nice cosmetics for hair and skincare!), vouchers for Covid tests (as you can see, I also got one of them). And as a main prize, it was supposed to be the overseas trip for a week, however - to be honest, I haven't heard about that prize at any point during the gala, so I am not sure, whether the winner has received it or not.
As for the whole experience - from the people factor perspective - it was really great to be able to connect with good, nice and interesting people, great choreographers and to take part in that final gala; from the prizes and costs perspective - I would rather recommend this contest for women who live near London, as otherwise - the costs of travel and accommodation will be many times higher than the received prizes.
Anyways - I had a lot of fun, and I hope this post is going to be useful for some of you!
Have a great week, Guys!
Pictures/Videos - Pauls K./myself/James S.
