Mariel de Leon posts a thread of tweets after pageant fans accuse her of being 'shady'

Miss International Philippines 2017 Mariel de Leon posted a thread of tweets after some "pageant fans" accused the beauty queen of being "shady".

The allegations of netizens came after, de Leon's tweet — "Strength. Confidence. Heart. Personality. Advocacies" — which she posted after the Miss Universe coronation event, where her pageant sister Philippine bet Rachel Peters failed to make it to the Top 5.

Strength. Confidence. Heart. Personality. Advocacies.

— Mariel de Leon (@mariaangelicadl) November 27, 2017

De Leon then posted a series of tweets dedicated to the accusers.

To those “pageant fans” that think I’m being “shady”.

A THREAD pic.twitter.com/S09UrzFaBu

— Mariel de Leon (@mariaangelicadl) November 27, 2017

She started with saying that she supports and is proud of her pageant sister Rachel with how she represented the country.

Of course I love & support Rachel. She’s my friend. But that doesn’t mean we’re supposed to put down other countries or talk about the other girls negatively.

— Mariel de Leon (@mariaangelicadl) November 27, 2017

Rachel has worked so hard to get to where she is now. She represented the Philippines so beautifully. I am so so proud of her as a friend.

— Mariel de Leon (@mariaangelicadl) November 27, 2017

The beauty queen followed it with tweets explaining that pageants should be about "bringing different people from different walks of life together and sharing stories."

Pageants are about bringing different people from different walks of life together and sharing stories. It may be a “competition”, but that doesn’t mean you should bash girls from other countries.

— Mariel de Leon (@mariaangelicadl) November 27, 2017

Take out bitterness from your hearts and instead support each other. And be proud of all the girls. You don’t know how hard it is for them.

— Mariel de Leon (@mariaangelicadl) November 27, 2017

Hurt people, hurt people. But... EMPOWERED PEOPLE, EMPOWER PEOPLE. May God bless you all.

— Mariel de Leon (@mariaangelicadl) November 27, 2017

Pageant experts have noted that "Peters' story package" may have been a factor to her loss.

"Some [are saying] it's her story package or maybe her personality wasn't that strong, although she has a good heart," GMA News stringer Peterson Gonzaga said.

According to Missosology’s Makoy Manlapaz the two qualities that a beauty queen should possess to bring home the crown are their strong back story and advocacy.

“Sa group namin – we predict and assess candidates from different pageants – we always say dapat may story ka. Kung walang story, dapat may advocacy ka na pinopromote. This is 2017. Hindi na puwedeng maganda ka lang. Pageants are not looking for a model. They are looking for a spokesperson, so dapat may personality,” Manlapaz said.

South African beauty queen Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters was crowned Miss Universe 2017, while Jamaica's Davina Bennett is Miss Universe 2nd runner-up, while Colombia's Laura Gonzalez is first runner-up. — LA, GMA News