Filipino coach targets back-to-back in Miss World 2025

Click for more Miss World 2025 updates and features here! 

Reigning Miss World Krystyna Pyszkova (right) with her Filipino pageant coach JV Canta. Image: Armin P. Adina/INQUIRER.net

A Filipino pageant coach helped Czech beauty Krystyna Pyszkova win the Miss World crown last year. Now the mentor hopes another “student” will succeed the reigning queen.

JV Canta has been training pageant contestants, particularly for the grueling question-and-answer round, in both national and international competitions. Her most recent big win was Pyszkova’s.

Now she is also coaching South Africa’s Miss World contender Zoalise Jansen van Rensburg, one of the perceived strong delegates in this year’s competition.

Among the more notable beauty queens who went under Canta’s mentorship were Miss Globe 2021 Maureen Montagne, Binibining Pilipinas Gazini Ganados, and Chelsea Fernandez, who topped the “Head-to-Head” challenge in The Miss Globe 2022.

“I helped Krystyna with her [question-and-answer] training, leadership and EQ (emotional quotient) mentoring, and even collaborating with her on her ‘Beauty with a Purpose’ project,” she told INQUIRER.net in an interview.

“Krystyna was a very proactive student. She treated our one-on-ones as a collaborative session where she presents her ideas, then I provide some feedback and some recommendations, and then we continue to build on top of it. She was always focused and had a clear vision of how she wanted her journey to the crown to be like,” she continued.

Canta said she knew that Pyszkova would win when she took her in. “She already has the elements of what makes an ideal Miss World: beauty, brain, and a heart that’s full of purpose.”

But for her, there is no exact formula for winning the Miss World crown. However, she noted certain guidelines. “If Miss Universe wants a bombshell, Miss International wants a porcelain doll, and Miss Earth wants an advocate for the environment, Miss World must be regal and relatable at the same time,” she said.

In helping van Rensburg, Canta said their sessions are more consultative. “She prepares her agenda for the day, and I simply add on what she already has,” shared the coach.

This year’s Miss World pageant, the 72nd edition of the longest-running international beauty contest, is taking place in Telangana, India. Pyszkova will crown her successor on May 31 at the Hyderabad International Convention and Exhibition Center (HITEX)./mcm