Miss Thailand Maria Poonlertlarp, who made it to the top 5 of Miss Universe, thanked the Thai people for their support during her pageant journey, after months of anticipation and the public’s conviction that she would win.
“I’d like thank everyone for your support. I felt so happy that everybody believed in me. I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t do as well as you expected, but I really did my best. I hope you had fun watching the show,” Maria said tearfully, in a video posted after the competition.
“Now I’ll spend time with my family, who are very important to me. Then I’ll go to the Philippines [with Miss Universe’s committee] and come back to Thailand,” she said in Thai.
Maria is scheduled to arrive back in Bangkok on Dec. 10.
Meanwhile, netizens have been debating on Twitter her answer on “social movement,” which many people believe prevented her from placing in the top three.
In the semi-final around, Maria faced a tough question, “What has been the most important social movement of your generation and why?” to which she failed to give an impressive answer by bringing up the “aging population,” an issue that has little to do with her generation and is specific to Thailand.
Maria missed the chance with her answer. “Ageing society and youth movement” probably isn’t the top list of judges mind when it comes to "Social movement." Hope lesson will be learned for Thailand, global topic when it comes to world stage. #MissUniverse
— aim | workpointTODAY (@noppatjak) November 27, 2017
Social movement has become the most trending hashtag in Thailand this afternoon, as many Thais say the question was way too difficult to answer in 30 seconds.
Q: The most important social movement of your generation?
Despite the fact that I have a lot of time to create an amazing answer but I still can't make one. But you got 30 sec. so baby how nice you are.
we are extremely proud of you
#MissUniverse #THAILAND pic.twitter.com/qZkY8zQ24X— TheLittleA (@thelittleaa) November 27, 2017
"What do you think has been the most important social movement of your generation, and why?"
May I invite seven judges to answer this question in 30 seconds?
This question is too many cooks spoil the broth. ต้องให้ตอบยังไงถึงจะถูกใจ? #MissUniverse #Thailand #มงไม่ลงยังคงรักเธอ— มัมมี๊น้องโช ft.ไบเบิ้ล🦔Callme'𝑯𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒚'🍯 (@mommyak47936) November 27, 2017
What exactly is the social movement anyway? If you are standing out there, would you immediately figure the best one out? NO everyone got the close ended question but Maria got the super open ended one. She did her best anyway. We’re so proud of you.#MissUniverse #Thailand
— Me, losin my heart (@8foreveryas) November 27, 2017
The others, like Maria, did not seem to know what a social movement is, which explained why we didn’t win. The top answers of Twitter hilariously include:
“What is social movement? I don’t know. If I had to answer, I’d just say, ‘Cars. Thank you.’”
การขับเคลื่อนทางสังคมคืออะไร? นี่ยังไม่รู้เลย ถ้าให้ตอบนี่ตอบ รถยนต์ ขอบคุณคระ
— 🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑 (@__Ll___Ll) November 27, 2017
“The social movement in my life is men. Thank you.”
อะไรคือเเรงขับเคลื่อนในชีวิตประจำวัน ผู้ชาย ขอบคุณค่าา
— gamegame (@ggame_____) November 27, 2017
Despite not being crowned the fairest woman in the world, Maria still has the hearts of Thai people, and many wrote messages of support to her on social media.
Hopefully, the 25-year-old will use her pageant power to achieve great things in Thai society and push for some “social movements.”
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