Sarah Loinaz

Miss Spain may visit Manila to receive El Tocuyo award

By Earl D.C. Bracamonte

Miss Universe Spain 2021 Sarah Loinaz may fly to the Philippines to receive her El Tocuyo award from local pageant fans. If she pushes through with her plans, it will be one of the rare times that a nominee actually received the honor since the phenomenon started in 2016.

The El Tocuyo award is given to a Miss Universe candidate who, being named a frontrunner by several pageant sites and analysts, have failed to make it to the semifinals like last year's Natasha Joubert from South Africa.

The El Tocuyo phenomenon started in 2016 with Mariam Habach of Venezuela's non-placement at the pageant held in Manila. El Tocuyo is the name of her hometown and, from then on, frontrunners who didn't make the first cut were called such.

Like the Razzies given out annually by the Golden Raspberry Foundation, El Tocuyo follows the same rationale of recognizing what for a contestant/entrant was her best performance but was perceived as mediocre or lackluster by a judging panel.

Last year's nominees for the El Tocuyo awards included:

- Teresa Santos, who broke Brazil's ten-year placement from 2011-2020;

- Anchilee Scott-Kemmis, who broke Thailand's six-year placement from 2015-2020;

- Antonia Figueroa of Chile, winner of the Miss Universe 2021 Impact Award;

- Deborah Hallal of Mexico; and

- Kedist Deltour of Belgium

However, the current pandemic situation may stall Loinaz's plans to fly to Manila. Stay tuned!