Erica Robin crowned first-ever Miss Universe Pakistan

KARACHI: Pakistani model Erica Robin was crowned the winner of the first-ever ‘Miss Universe Pakistan’ contest in a ceremony held on Thursday evening at the Brennia Kottefaru resort in Raa Atoll, Maldives. Erica Robin, 24, hails from Karachi and has been working as a fashion model in Pakistan.

Earlier, five contestants had been chosen as finalists from among 200 applicants. The four finalists Erica Robin was competing against were 24-year-old Hira Inam, 28-year-old Jessica Wilson, 19-year-old Malika Alvi and 26-year-old Sabrina Wasim. In the run-up to the contest, the five finalists had also done a photo shoot titled ‘The Power in Modesty’. Expressing her gratitude on being crowned as the winning contestant, Robin said: “I am honoured and humbled to be the first-ever Miss Universe Pakistan and I want to highlight the beauty of Pakistan.”

Speaking about Pakistan, Robin added “We have a beautiful culture that the media is not talking about. Pakistani people are very kind, generous and hospitable.” She also invited “everyone to visit my country and try the most sumptuous Pakistani cuisines and explore our enchanting nature, our snow-capped mountains, our greeneries and our progressive landscapes.”During a camera appearance before the contest, Erica Robin had also thanked pageant fans for “believing in me and motivating me to come out of my comfort zone. This is not what I expected and I just want to motivate other women as well who [are] talented and who need a little push to come out of the box and do what they can.”

The Miss Universe Pakistan contest is a franchise owned by the Dubai-based Yugen Group which also owns the franchise rights to Miss Universe Bahrain and Miss Universe Egypt. The Miss Universe Pakistan contest has, however, been mired in controversy with social media outrage over Pakistan being represented in this year’s Miss Universe contest and the government denying it had given approval for such contest and representation.

The Miss Universe beauty pageant is one of the longest-running beauty contests, and is now in its 72nd year. This year’s pageant will be held in November in El Salvador.