Jamie Herrell, a 19-year-old owner of a dance company in Cebu was crowned Miss Earth 2014 this weekend at the 14th edition of the pageant held at the University of the Philippines Theater in Diliman, Quezon City.
Herrell defeated 85 contestants and reasserted the Philippines’ international standing as beauty powerhouse. The Miss Earth competition is dubbed as one of the world’s Big Four Beauty Pageants along with Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss International. Herrell, owner of the Mactan Dynamics Dance Company, became the second Filipina to win the title after Karla Henry in 2008.
The runners-up are Miss USA Andrea Neu, a model who was crowned Miss Air, Miss Venezuela Maira Alexandra Rodriguez, a fashion designer won the Miss Water title and Miss Fire went to Miss Russia Anastasia Trusova. Other candidates who made it to the Top 18 semifinalists were delegates from Tahiti, Korea, Colombia, Scotland, Mongolia, Zambia, Brazil, Slovak Republic, Thailand, Egypt, Mexico and Spain.
Miss Earth 2013 Alyz Henrich from Venezuela crowned her successor at the end of the pageant.
Herrell impressed the judges with her answer to the question about her plans to help reverse the effects of global warming if she wins the crown.
Her winning reply was, “Global warming has been known to be a long, overdue issue. I will use my title to inspire others, help our environment. And we should start with the kids as they are the people of tomorrow.”
