December 23, 2025 | 10:01am
MANILA, Philippines — Miss Universe 2025 third runner-up Ahtisa Manalo firmly believes she had a strong case to win pageantry’s biggest title.
Speaking to host-comedian Vice Ganda on the latter’s vlog, Ahtisa said that she felt that the Question and Answer round belonged to her and Cote d’Ivoire’s Olivia Yace, the latter eventually finishing as fourth runner-up.
“Ako talaga of course I was hoping that I would win. I thought it was between me and Cote d’Ivoire during that night because I was able to hear everyone’s answer,” she said.
“Hindi ko man sila napanood kasi when you’re there, when you’re competing you focus on yourself, you don’t focus on other people.,” Ahtisa continued. ‘Pero kapag Q&A na siyempre wala ka nang magagawa so makikinig ka na lang. So I thought it was between me and Cote d’Ivoire.”
Ahtisa also shared her worst experience from her pageant journey, “Alam mo ba may pageant akong sinalihan na gumuho ‘yung stage namin.”
“Ito ‘yung sa Cosmo,” Vice shared. “Hindi siya ang nagsabi, ako. Napanood namin sa news. Sa Miss Cosmo, gumuho ang stage.”
The beauty queen recalled waiting for rehearsals when the stage fell apart, resulting in a sprain, fluid entering her bone marrow, and difficulty walking.
“Nag-wheelchair ako for a while, tapos lumaban ako ng prelims and finals na masakit ‘yung ankles ko as in halos hindi ako makalakad,” Ahtisa said, quipping the incident could have been pulled from a “Final Destination” movie.
“Kasi nagtakbuhan kami… As in I don’t know why no one, pero may mga pictures eh. … Tapos sabi ng mga tao nag-iinarte daw ako,” she ended.
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