Cost of the Crown: Philippines Beauty Pageants

Investigate the darker side of the beauty pageant industry in the Philippines.

With a string of multiple beauty pageant crown winnings over the last decades, the Philippines heralds itself as a nation cheering for beauty.

Here, beauty pageants have become national events with gathering of fans amounting to hundreds of thousands – all of them cheering on their favorite filipina pageant contestants.

Winning beauty contests for Filipinos is a regular happening – and due to this success, filipinos from all across the country are hopefull for the same treatment by entering the competitions themselves.

But this wave of hopeful young people has become a group rife for exploitation. With an increased crowded space to attain attention, one must stand out to get ahead.

Some use expensive products or skincare treatments to administer whiter skin, a norm for Filipino beauty. Others transform their body completely through medical means and some do their best to pull social strings to get ahead.

These many options have spawned a fertile hunting ground for sexual predators or con men hoping to exploit those who live on the dream of becoming the next beauty pageant queen.

To understand the society who loves beauty pageants and investigate the darker underbelly of it, we’ll travel undercover with a documentary crew.

Stripping away the glitz, glamour and success, we’ll expose just how the beauty pageant industry in the Philippines works and how much the cost of the crown really entails.