Miss Philippines USA 2013 Contestant Joanlia Lising Cringe-Worthy Q&A Response Goes Viral

Miss Philippines USA 2013 Contestant Joanlia Lising struggled to form a sensible response during the pageant’s Question and Answer portion, attracting quite huge media attention.

Joanlia Lising (Photo courtesy of Joanlia Lising)

When Lising was asked which of the five senses she would prefer to have if she is only to be given one, she said, "Thank you for that wonderful question. If I have to pick out of five sense, I would pick seeing. Because seeing is the best sense that we can ever see, because seeing is believing. And believing into what you see is perfect. And, uh, out of all those senses, seeing...would...really......be wonderful, because. Thank you. That will be it."

A video of Lising answering the question has gone viral online. The said clip, posted 3 days ago by Youtuber "ViralVideos 24" has amassed over 200,000, as of this posting.

Lising is not the first one to experience such awkward moment in a beauty pageant. Earlier this year, Miss Utah Marissa Powell was also unable to give a sensible answer to the question raised at her.  She was asked regarding a survey in the US that says women are the primary earners in 40% of American families with children yet they still earn less than men. "What does this say about society?" the judge asked her.

"I think we can relate this back to education and how we are continuing to try to strive to figure out how to create jobs right now. That is the biggest problem. And I think, especially the men are ... seen as the leaders of this and so we need to see how to … create education better. So that we can solve this problem. Thank you."

Powell also received a lot of attention due to the incident that she trended on Twitter.

Many ask why beauty pageant contestants stumble in the question and answer portion amidst the preparation they have gone through. According to a Filipino pageant authority in an interview with ABS-CBN News, the reason why beauty contestants do so is “kaba” (nerves or anxiety).