The internet surely loves Singaporean beauty queen Charlotte Chia – for all the wrong reasons.
A month after the 21-year-old found herself at the center of savage mockery by Malaysians who thought she wasn’t pretty enough for the Miss International pageant, Chia is now being laughed at by Filipinos who mistakenly think she drank water from a Japanese shrine meant for ablutions.
The misunderstanding came from a clip posted by Philippine contestant Patch Magtanong that was subsequently ripped and reposted to Facebook on Saturday by a Rommel Dave Mallari.
“Why did you drink it Miss International Singapore? Were you surprised that Miss Philippines used it for washing [her hands],” he wrote in the caption.
The reposted video, which has been watched more than 1.2 million times and garnered close to 40,000 shares, creates the impression that Chia is a dumb-dumb drinking the sacred water as Patch prepares it for her hands.
The 16-second clip begins with Chia, standing beside Patch, slurping water from her right palm as Patch uses it to clean her hands with water. Chia then looks off-camera toward the person giving instructions on the cleansing ritual. It’s easy to miss the fact that she spits out the water near the start of the clip, shielding her un-Miss Anything spewing politely with her hand.
People who didn’t know better — or just jerks quick to mouth off without actually bothering to notice she’d spit the water out as shown — were quick to laugh, thinking she drank the water. Many made fun of her for what they mistook for a facepalm moment, calling her out for attempting an “internal cleansing” and comparing a scene to where Shrek slurps water meant for washing.
“Are you thirsty? There is a store on the corner,” a Kenneth Dechino wrote in response to the clip on Facebook.
Patch revealed on Instagram today that Chia did exactly as instructed.
“Konnichiwa! Before entering the shrine, you wash your left hand, then your right, then your mouth :),” she wrote in a reply to the comments on her Instagram.
The contestants have been sightseeing around Japan ahead of next week’s competition there. One stop was the Yutoku Inari Shrine in Saga Prefecture, where they had to cleanse their hands and mouth before entering.
Contestants from more than 65 countries will compete Nov. 12 in Tokyo. Venezuela’s Mariem Claret Velazco Garcia was crowned last year’s winner, with Maria Ahtisa Manalo of the Philippines as the first runner-up.
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