Filipino-American beauty queen Chelsea Manalo has been crowned Miss Universe Philippines 2024, standing out among 53 candidates from various towns and cities across the country.
The grand coronation night of the pageant took place at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday night, May 22, 2024, hosted by Kapuso stars Alden Richards and Gabbi Garcia, American TV personality Jeannie Mai Jenkins, and Miss Universe 2022 R’Bonney Nola Gabriel.
Following the announcement of the newly-crowned delegate from Bulacan, her fellow beauty queens took to social media to express their joy and support for Manalo.
MUPH 2023 Michelle Dee, who was present during the event to pass the crown to the Philippine’s next MU candidate, became a hot topic for her viral crowning moment with Chelsea.
Addressing the interaction, Dee reacted on her X page with photos of the incident where the latter mistakenly wore the crown on Manalo’s head.
MUPH 2022 Celeste Cortesi initially expressed her shock at the events of the pageant.
She further clarified that her reaction was supposedly about the distribution of the crowns, as it appeared that the runner-ups were not shown being crowned.
Miss Universe Philippines 2020 Rabiya Mateo congratulated Manalo on her Instagram story where she posted a photo of the latter with a welcoming message that read: “Welcome to the sisterhood dearest [Chelsea Manalo]”
Miss Universe Philippines National Director Shamcey Supsup also shared a photo to congratulate Chelsea.
“Congratulations to our new Miss Universe Philippines!” Supsup wrote in her post.
In a series of posts on X, MUPH 2014 MJ Lastimosa was on her toes as the eventual results of the pageant unfolded.
The actress praised Manalo with a congratulatory message, complimenting her exceptional aura and winning glow even moments before the climactic crowning event.
Concluding her Miss Universe posts, MJ remarked on Chelsea and Ahtisa’s similar surnames, as the latter noticeably had a huge following and support.
Chelsea is the first-ever Filipino-African American who will represent the country in the 73rd Miss Universe in Mexico by the end of the year.
On the other hand, Cainta’s Stacey Gabriel placed 1st runner-up, Quezon Province’s Ahtisa Manalo took 2nd runner-up, Baguio’s Tarah Valencia was the 3rd runner-up, while Taguig’s Christi McGarry placed 4th runner-up.
