The Philippines’ Catriona Gray won the Miss Universe title today — a development that many expected given her strong showing during the pre-pageant activities.
Gray, a singer and model, is the fourth Filipino to win the crown, following Gloria Diaz (1969), Margie Moran (1973), and Pia Wurtzbach (2015). Before winning the Miss Universe, she was a finalist at the 2016 Miss World pageant.
One of the factors which worked to her favor was her strong presence in social media, thanks to her signature walk called “The Lava Walk” that has been imitated by pageant fans all over the Philippines and even in Thailand, where the pageant was held.
The walk was named as such because Gray’s mother, Normita Magnayon, hails from Albay, where the volcano Mount Mayon could be found.
One Thai fan named Papangkorn Khemjirachote even went viral for imitating the Lava Walk when he was out shopping. He was so fabulous his video went viral and has been viewed more than 935,000 times and has been shared more than 13,400 times.
Truth be told, many Filipinos were confident that Gray was going to win.
@margestrada said Filipinos knew right “from the start that she’s gonna win.”
The amazing thing about this victory is we all expected it. We all knew from the start that she’s gonna win. And she did it!!! Catriona Gray is #MissUniverse 🇵🇭
— Marge Estrada (@margstrada) December 17, 2018
Of course, there were still some who were nervous as they watched as the show, such as celebrity makeup artist and Cross Fit athlete Jigs Mayuga.
He wrote: “I almost went crazy from watching the Miss Universe alone. I wanted to eat everything that was inside my [refrigerator].”
One netizen joked that Gray defeated Ariana Grande, a reference to Miss South Africa Tamaryn Green’s high ponytail.
One netizen showed an edited version of the Edvard Munch painting The Scream and said that was his reaction when Gray’s name was announced.
LITERALLY ME WHEN THEY ANNOUNCED CATRIONA GRAY WON MISS UNIVERSE. #MissUniverse #MissPhilippines pic.twitter.com/p2rgg0Rz4q
— krysgin (@krysjieun_bts) December 17, 2018
@HelloARMYWorld showed a photo of what she looked like cheering for Gray by using a photo of RM, one of the members of the wildly popular Korean pop group BTS.
Me cheering for Catriona Gray a while ago in #MissUniverse #MissPhilippinesBringBackTheCrown pic.twitter.com/ANzc61pK2C
— Pallas Athene (@HelloARMYWorld) December 17, 2018
@dehyaaan used Gray’s win to share a video of a woman imitating her presentation of the Philippine national costume last week. Gray had to drag a huge artwork inspired by a Christmas decor that was attached to her back on stage.
CONGRATS CATRIONA GRAY AND CATRIONA BLUE!! ❤️💙🇵🇭#MissUniverse #MissPhilippines pic.twitter.com/CTD0G3Rjlp
— ً (@dehyaaan) December 17, 2018
If you didn’t catch Gray’s presentation of the national costume, here’s what she looked like on that day.
Miss Universe Philippines 2018 National Costume by Catriona Gray 😍😍😍 #MissUniverse #MissUniversePhilippines2018 https://t.co/HCqCMnX0Kr pic.twitter.com/d6r4A1DJyN
— ceedeefour (@ceedeefour) December 10, 2018
One pageant fan watched the program wearing her own version of the Miss Universe crown. Olive Tenorio was all glammed up while watching and wrote: “It’s so hard when you’re in front of the judges, hahaha.”
One pageant fan wrote on Miss Universe’s Facebook account that the win wasn’t just for the Philippines — it was a win for Asia.
Lady Santos joked that Gray’s win was another achievement for the Philippines. She wrote: “We were just number one in Pornhub and now we just won the Miss Universe. #Pinoypride.”
In case you haven’t heard, it was discovered that this year, Filipino netizens spent the most amount of time on the porn site Pornhub, marking the fourth time the Philippines topped the rankings.
One Filipino, however, was not convinced that Gray should have won the contest.
Lilal Saripada wrote: “I am for the Philipines but she doesn’t deserve the crown. The judges relied on hype and the reaction of the crowd, there were other contestants more deserving. Just saying.”
What are your favorite Miss Universe 2018 moments? Let us know by leaving a comment below or tweeting to @CoconutsManila.
