Miss World Organization recently announced a new format called ‘Head to Head Challenge’ for this year’s pageant. 

According to the organization, the Head to Head Challenge events will take place between October 21st and November 15th at different locations visited by the contestants during the Miss World 2017 festival.

20 groups with 6 countries in each (the number will be adjusted according to the final number of contestants) will be made. The winner of each Challenge Group will automatically make it to Top 40; which simply means the contestants will have to initially compete with other five contestants to win a place at the Miss World Top 40 Round. Apart from these 20 Head to Head challenge winners; 5 contestants who will win the Fast Track events and 15 contestants selected by the judges will have their places secured at the Top 40.

So, a contestant who doesn’t win the Head to Head challenge will still have a chance to be in the Top 40 by winning a fast track or through judges selections.

Here’s how it will work:

The Head to Head Challenge groups will be decided through a live draw. For the Online Live Broadcast challenge; the 6 nations in each group will make their opening remarks followed by a presentation of themselves within 2 minutes. After the presentations, the contestants will have to answer the questions from the presenter and the online community as part of the Group Discussion that will last for approximately 8 minutes. And finally, each of the contestant will have to answer the ‘question of the day’ within 45 seconds.

The winners from each group will be chosen based on the public votes via Miss World app and Facebook. Voting will be open right after the opening presentations until the start of the next challenge event.

Nepal at the Miss World 2017 pageant:

Nikita Chandak, who had won the title of Miss Nepal World 2017 earlier this year in June, will be representing Nepal at the Miss World pageant this year.

The new Head to Head Challenge format actually sounds pretty good for Nepal. Nepal might not have many pageant enthusiasts like in the Philippines and Indonesia, but the people here are good at ‘online voting’ when it comes to supporting a Nepali representative at international platforms — numerous reality shows, National Geographic Adventurer of the Year and CNN Hero are some examples. Post her big win at the Miss Nepal pageant, Chandak enjoys huge fan following on social media. Even if half of her followers vote for her, she might win herself a place at the Top 40 Round. Plus, the 20-year-old was impressive during the Miss Nepal finale. Her answers were good and she had presented herself very well. She needs to present herself better than the other five contestants from her group, and she will be in the Top 40, representing Nepal.

Nikita Chandak will be leaving for China in October this year where the pageant is scheduled to take place. More than 100 countries from all over the globe will be competing for the prestigious Miss World title. The reigning Miss World Stephanie Del Valle from Puerto Rico will pass her crown to her successor at the end of the 67th edition of the pageant on November 18th.

Cover Photo Courtesy: Prayush Manandhar