Philippines’ bet Samantha Ashley Lo has been drawing concern from fans as she was not present during the Miss Grand International 2019 pre-pageant activities and has not shared an update about the pageant ever since she left the country last last October 9.
Following her last social media post, speculations about Samantha’s whereabouts have started circulating online, including reports that she is back in the Philippines after having problems with her flight, visa, or passport on her way to Venezuela.
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However, according to a report by ABS-CBN News, Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc. as well as the Bb. Pilipinas queens have remained mum about the matter during the sendoff ceremony for Miss International 2019 representative Bea Patricia Magtanong on Wednesday, October 16.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan jeweler George Wittels earlier gave updates to fans via Instagram stories regarding Samantha’s absence in the pre-pageant activities.
George said that the Miss Grand International Organization “is waiting for her to arrive” but revealed that Samantha missed her flight to Venezuela due to passport issues and had to go back to Manila “because she could not stay more than 48 hours at Paris airport and didn’t find a connection to Venezuela.”
“Mr. Nawat (Nawat Itsaragrisil, president of Miss Grand International) said it last night, but she (Lo) has to hurry to try and get a new ticket in the next hours so it doesn’t become too late for her to come,” he added.
Meanwhile, Itsaragrisil said during the welcome dinner and fashion show that 59 candidates have so far arrived in Venezuela and mentioned how they are expecting Samantha to arrive soon.
“Normally we have 80, 85, 88 countries coming to join. But this year, so many countries think Venezuela is not safe now. So they tried to come but maybe [their] family advised, the government advised that it’s not safe [here]. I tried to tell them exactly why I am here… But we only have 60 countries. I have to give you a big hand, all of you,” he said, addressing this year’s batch of beauty queens.
“Now we have 59, absolutely 59 [candidates]. We still have one pending country, Philippines. She’s still on the way, quite a long time. I expect she will arrive very soon. If she is watching us tonight, [I want her to] take care of herself and prepare herself very well [for the competition],” Itsaragrisil said.
As of writing, Samantha has turned off the comments section on her Instagram account.
(Photo source: Instagram – @samantha_ashley_lo)
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