MANILA – Nueva Ecija beauty Chanel Olive Thomas believes her previous romantic ties with actor Jake Cuenca had nothing to do with her victory at this year's Miss Philippines Earth pageant.
Thomas, who broke up with Cuenca in late 2014, was crowned Miss Philippines Air at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday night.
Speaking on “Mornings@ANC” on Monday, Thomas said the pageant world is completely different from showbiz.
“I didn’t know anyone in the pageant world so I really stepped into it fresh, clean slate. I was really just myself. With the girls, I just grew. For me, there’s no advantage of being the ex-girlfriend of Jake,” she said.
Although she cherishes what she and Cuenca had, Thomas stressed that she is “my own person and I have my own path.”
“God has a future for me and I’m excited for that and whatever he gives me is my own hard work. That’s how I was raised. I never told the girls in the beginning [that Jake was my boyfriend] because that doesn’t define me,” she said.
According to Thomas, joining beauty pageants is not really her thing. That’s why she considers her Miss Philippines Earth experience as life-chaning.
“This is the first pageant I’ve ever done in my life. I was never actually a pageant girl. For me, doing this actually, I felt I grew so much. I learned so much from the girls. I made so many new friendships. I guess it was a great journey for me because I saw myself change so much during the whole phase of the pageant,” she said.
Asked what made her decide to join Miss Philippines Earth, Thomas said: “No one really pushed me for it. All my friends were surprised… Doing this was really out of my comfort zone. I don’t know. I just saw myself really changed. I don’t know how to explain it.”
Although she was raised in Australia, Thomas said she fell in love with the Philippines and decided to stay in the country.
“I grew up in Australia. I moved to the Philippines last year… I was here for a vacation with my mom and then all of a sudden, I got offered modelling work and I had no commitments back in Australia so I just stayed and never looked back,” she said.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
