The Supsup Phenomenon
MANILA, Philippines - You’d have to come up with a really good excuse to not have heard of the name Shamcey Supsup, especially during the past week. You won’t be faulted for not watching her during the 60th Miss Universe pageant last Sept. 13. It’s okay. It’s entirely believable that beauty pageants just might not be your thing. Hell hasn’t frozen over, considering that there exist gay men who can’t even feign interest in such things. (Yes, they do exist, at least the one on my mobile’s speed dial does. Shocking, I know. I still can’t get over it.)
From the very moment she waved to the world from that global stage on Sao Paolo, Brazil, she set the Twitterati ablaze. (In fact, I dare say my Twitter feed was more entertaining than the blah musical performances during the show.) Soon after, blogs, online forums, newspapers, and the talking heads on our TV sets followed and they haven’t stopped buzzing about her since. With all that multimedia going around, you would have had to cut some serious ties with the rest of the world for that catchy name not to ring any bells on the register. With a quick snap of that signature tornado catwalk finisher, a pop culture icon was born. I can hear new Bekinese words forming around her name in the distance, if the Becky Nights’ spoof of her answer during the Q&A portion is any evidence. Mother Divine, can this be true?
On my end, I knew exactly who Shamcey Supsup was, way before everyone else took notice of her during Miss U: she was the girl who taught me, along with a whole bunch of other hopeful Binibining Pilipinas candidates, how to bring my non-existent abdominal muscles to life by giving them the proper shading with a bronzer. She basically saved me from the punishing evils of sit-ups and plank exercises! Other than that, she was definitely one of the early pageant favorites, especially with her hefty educational background: UP Magna Cum Laude and topnotcher for the architecture board exam!
"If I had to change my religious beliefs, I would not marry the person that I love because the first person that I love is God," Shamcey answered during the Q&A portion. A couple of months after being crowned Binibining Pilipinas-Universe last April, the entire country came to know her as the 3rd runner-up to the newly-minted Miss Universe, Miss Angola, Leila Lopes (aka Bizarro Venus Raj!). While a lot of people had hoped that Shamcey would be our third Miss Universe and believed that she deserved more (Rep. Miriam Defensor Santiago, we’re right behind you), I wholeheartedly agree with her say on the matter: “You don’t get everything in life. You must always trust (in) what God has for us. We should just accept everything with a grateful heart. Third place is not that bad.”
Just consider that she competed against 88 other candidates, each seemingly with tinier waists, perkier breasts and bigger hair (by Farouk Systems, makers of CHI and BioSilk. Yes. We got it. At every commercial break!) than the next. Not only that, she left strong contenders, and usual Miss U favorites, like Miss USA and Miss Venezuela — and Venezuelans almost always make it to the Top 5 — eating her tornado dust in the Top 16 cut. After making it all the way to the Top 5 round, she officially became the fourth most beautiful woman in the universe. Award!
Of course, not everyone is on the Supsup bandwagon. A quick browse through the notorious online forum Missosology will confirm that with a few mean-spirited beckies throwing laughably absurd names, like ‘Shrimpsey Supsup,’ possibly in reference to her thinness. I’m no pageant expert, but if anybody badly needed a sandwich during that pageant, it was Miss USA, Alyssa Campanella. But as we’ve seen in the case of the Word of Oprah Winfrey, who allegedly stated that Shamcey deserved the crown based on her answer (as of late, those rumors have been put to death), not everything on the Internet can nor should be taken seriously, lest tall stories be taken for Bible truth, especially the dangerous ones. If Shamcey was a true royal, those anonymous haters would be thrown in the can for treason!
However, moving away from all things nega, based on the overall impression she gave the judges and the pageant’s global viewers, not only is Shamcey a winner, but so are all of the Filipinos worldwide. For once, we’ve been able to send a clear message to the world that we are not a nation comprised of imported house helpers and care givers, illegal immigrants, or severely unhinged policemen who take tourist buses hostage. Because of Shamcey, we’re no longer the underdogs, but the dark horses, to borrow from pageant terminology, which means, we’re people who are often overlooked, but given the right opportunities, we’re capable of making it to the top. I don’t think we could’ve asked Shamcey for more… except, perhaps, for world peace. Chos!
