I believe there are two reasons why the quality of contestants is so high this year, namely:
1) Two champions are to represent a city
As no MCIP was held in 2011, TVB invited several participating cities to send out two contestants, the 2011 and the 2012 champion. Say for example, Auckland, Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne, Toronto and powerhouse Vancouver. These cities often generates decent champions. As a result, the quality of contestants was raised and thus, at the same time, the competitiveness of this year's edition was increased significantly.
2) Some cities are not invited
Alongside the increase in contestants for some participating cities, some of the cities that used to participate in MCIP were not invited. They were Tahiti, San Francisco, Seattle and Macau. The quality of the representatives from these cities varied every year and they are often considered as dark houses or underdogs of MCIP. Or I shall put it this way, their beauty are not well suited for TVB pageants.
There are just too many favorites and hot-shots of mine this year that it made me sad when only 10 of the 28 contestants get to go through to the Q&A session. They include:
1) Bianca Lam 林曉賢 AUCKLAND
Bianca is a really decent representative with a sweet girl-next-door aura, She has a slight exotic look with a nice smile, though she is not at her best in her official portrait. On a side note, she looks much better in HK than when she was in Auckland. The styling there is just terrible. I would say she is stronger than the other contestant from Auckland.
5) Lenna LIM 林家冰 KL
The media favorite. She looks stunning and energetic all the time. I had a feeling that she is going to do reli well. However, for some reason, I dun adore her that much.
7) Aliya FAN 范文雅 ; 8) Ying Jie MA 馬穎杰 MELBOURNE
These two girls are really cute and pretty judging by the photos as seen in the pageant in Melbourne. I would like to see them do well but it reli depends on how they present themselves. Aliya looks expensive but could look old at times (partly coz she's 26 already). Number 8 on the other hand looks young and lively. However, she didn't look as pretty as she was in Melbourne. She looks like Mona Chan btw. I am rooting for Aliya to flare better though I believe Ying Jie is more pretty.
9) Cheryl WEE 黃馨慧 SINGAPORE
Miss Singapore looks kinda foreign-ish to me at first sight. I think she left a positive impression during the press conference though she moved quite a lot instead of just standing still. She looks great in her portrait as well.
10) Amy LIU 劉夢倩 SYDNEY
I am rooting for this girl to do reli well coz I think she is very pretty. However, I also know that this would be hard because she looks quite reserve. What makes it worse is her bad official portrait. This is quite unfair judging by the fact that she looks great in the press conference, as well as the one where the contestants are to meet the judges. Originally, there should also be another girl from Sydney. Due to unknown reasons, she was not included which was a pity cause she is pretty as well.
14) Amanda CHUNG 鍾雅雯 MONTREAL
A mixed beauty. She is pretty but unfortunately she is quite short and is overshadowed by the mega beauty beside her. She would have been a front-runner in another year cause she is gorgeous.
15) Jasmine HAYTER 海莉鈴 NEW YORK CITY
A mixed MEGA-beauty. She is gorgeous, she is tall, she is totally Ms USA/ Ms Universe material. New York is strong this year!!!
(+ she can speak Chinese)
16) Hillary TAM 譚曉榆 TORONTO
26) Rebecca ZHU 朱晨麗 HONG KONG
Home-town girl. She looks plain compared to all of the above but she is still decent-looking. No hopes for all the others in this region.
My Predicted top-ten list:
Firm Choices:
5) Lenna LIM 林家冰 KL- Media Favorite
15) Jasmine HAYTER 海莉鈴 NEW YORK CITY- Media Favorite
16) Hillary TAM 譚曉榆 TORONTO
26) Rebecca ZHU 朱晨麗 HONG KONG- Media Favorite
Safe-bets:
1) Bianca Lam 林曉賢 AUCKLAND
9) Cheryl WEE 黃馨慧 SINGAPORE
19) Erica CHUI 徐颖堃 VANCOUVER - Family relations
Not sure:
4) Emily YAP 葉伊秀 KL - she looks smart
7) Aliya FAN 范文雅 MELBOURNE
10) Amy LIU 劉夢倩 SYDNEY
