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Miss Grand International President Nawat Itsaragrisil formally introduced Philippines' Christine Juliane "CJ" Opiaza as Miss Grand International 2024 in a press conference Monday, following the dethronement of India's Rachel Gupta in May.
"CJ is ready to work for us even her reign is only for five months," Itsaragrisil said.
"She can promote a lot of charity, a lot of traveling around the world. It's been a long time. We all know you are the capital and queen maker of beauty queens and it's a good time to fulfill your grand slam beauty pageant crown, now you're completely done," he added.
Miss Grand International President and Founder Nawat Itsaragrisil, Miss Grand International 2024 Christine Juliane “CJ” Opiaza and Miss Grand International Philippines National Director Arnold Vegafria TMT PHOTOS
Opiaza's coronation marks a historic moment for the Philippines, which has now officially completed a beauty pageant Grand Slam — winning titles in all six major international pageants: Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss Earth, Miss International, Miss Supranational and Miss Grand International.
"Success is not easy. Sometimes the queen makers, the queen themselves and the supporters try their very hard and there's a lot of things to do but success does not come immediately. But destiny and God decided already CJ must be our queen so she's our here now, our Miss Grand International 2024," Itsaragrisil said.
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Opiaza assumed the title and its full privileges as the first runner-up.
"Everything from the last winner was also given to her. But I cannot say how much but everything she knows and she signed already. So don't worry, she took over everything because we have the budget. We finished her First Runner-Up prize and take the winner prize," Itsaragrisil continued.
In a follow-up interview, Itsaragrisil emphasized Opiaza's professionalism and dedication from the start.
"We announced already that if the winner cannot fulfill her duties, automatically she will take over. So we tried to confirm first the situation and keep quiet for two days for the agreement about the prize, the time, the traveling because she have a lot of traveling also here in the Philippines," he explained.
"So during that that 3rd of June, she went to Bangkok only one night because she have an event somewhere in the Philippines the next day. So after coronation, she went back to Manila immediately and took a domestic flight for an event," he added.
He also said Opiaza has been proactive behind the scenes.
"Now that she has to travel a lot of countries, I hope the embassies in Manila will give her quick visas. Now, we're waiting for her visa to go to Spain. They applied already last week and I hope we get the visa on or before June 11 because she has to travel on 12th to Spain," Itsaragrisil said.
"Even before she got the crown, she's been keeping in touch with me through Whatsapp, Instagram, Line all the time. She never disappeared from us. I think the attitude is so important. She accepted the First Runner-Up and she was happy and she enjoyed. She has a very good attitude and she's very sincere. She never give me any headache or said bad word to others," he shared.
Success of every Filipino
Meanwhile, Opiaza said she considers the victory a shared success for the entire country.
"This is the first golden crown of the Philippines and I just cannot thank you guys enough for all the support that you've been given me," she said.
Newly crowned Miss Grand International 2024 Christine Juliane “CJ” Opiaza
"This is a shared celebration for all of us, for all the Filipinos. We've all worked hard for this. I also want to take this moment to always say the queens from the Philippines who competed for Miss Grand International paved the way for me to be here also. So congratulations to all Filipina queens who raised our flag so high in the Miss Grand International stage. This crown is not only for me but yours as well to celebrate," she continued.
She also recalled when the moment of victory became real saying, "It actually sinked in during the crowning moment already when I was onstage when I saw all the Filipinos."
"During that time, I wasn't expecting that there's going to be a lot of Filipinos in the area, I only know there's going to be a lot of Thai fans. But when I saw them, the Filipinos, I was already tearing up. So when I went out onstage, almost everyone sitting especiall in front, there were Filipinos," she added.
Nawat clarifies role at Miss Universe
During the same press event, Itsaragrisil also addressed his recent appointment as executive director of the Miss Universe Organization and clarified ongoing leadership questions amid reports involving Anne Jakrajutatip.
"At this moment, Anne is still the CEO of Miss Universe. The office of the Miss Universe Organization is in New York and another in Singapore. Now I'm with Miss Universe as well, I am in charge of a lot of things also because she's very busy and she has a lot of problems with JKN Global Group, the head company of Miss Universe," he said
This clarification follows a weekend of speculation after JKN Global Group issued a statement saying, "In light of recent allegations, JKN Global Group Public Company Limited wishes to announce that Anne Jakrajutatip has decided to temporarily step down from her management position."
Despite this, both JKN and Miss Universe Organization confirmed that Jakrajutatip remains CEO.
Itsaragrisil ended that they are now preparing for the 74th Miss Universe pageant scheduled for Nov. 2 in Thailand.
"That's why I came here very short time because in a few days I have some work to do with Mr. Raul Rocha Cantú, one of the co-owners of Miss Universe, because we're preparing for the 74th Miss Universe competition scheduled for November 2 in Thailand," he said.
