Miss Philippines Universe 2020 Rabiya Mateo. | Screen grabbed from @missuupdates
Miss Universe Philippines 2020 Rabiya Mateo awed her fans and supporters with her performance during the Telemundo interview for the Miss Universe pageant.
Instagram account @missuupdates uploaded videos of the one-on-one interview with candidates from different countries all over the world.
In her interview, Mateo was asked why do Filipinos love pageants.
“They have an appreciation for beauty. We do love pageants because we used to think that we want to be included in the world,” the beauty queen answered.
“I have to be honest, in the Philippines, my skin color used to be not the standard of beauty. I was obsessed with whitening my skin because these are the kinds of beauty queens we see on the mainstream but things were different now. That’s why I’m very proud to be a morena, in the Philippines we call it morena or brown-skinned girl, and to be able to represent my color my identity as a true Filipina,” Mateo added.
She was also asked about her journey to being crowned Miss Universe Philippines in a pageant-loving country.
Mateo shared she loves being put under pressure as it motivates her to do more.
“Well, my journey was crazy. You know what, I started to be a dark horse. Nobody noticed me, nobody knows I was in the competition until the preliminary and the coronation night,”
“And when I won I received different comments. Of course. There were people who didn’t expect me to do well, who think that I cheated. That’s why I needed to redeem myself in Miss Universe. I needed to do well in this competition.,”
“And the thing is, I love pressure. I love criticism. I get better every day with that. You tell me I cannot do that, I turn to you and I’m gonna say that no , I can do it for myself,” Mateo answered.
Netizens from different countries lauded Mateo for doing a great job on the interview saying the Philippines’ bet indeed answered the questions wholeheartedly.
The Ilongga beauty queen thanked her Filipino fans and supporters from other countries for the overwhelming love and support she receives.
Mateo is hoping to win the Philippines’ fifth Miss Universe crown following Gloria Diaz, Margie Moran, Pia Wurtzbach and Catriona Gray.
She is already staying in Florida, United States to prepare for the 69th Miss Universe pageant this Sunday, May 16. /rcg