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<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-version="6" style="background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);margin:1px;max-width:658px;padding:0;width:calc(100% - 2px)"><div style="padding:8px"><div style="background:#F8F8F8;line-height:0;margin-top:40px;padding:61.8518518519% 0;text-align:center;width:100%"><div style="background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr+JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhLw7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nYFnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC);display:block;height:44px;margin:0 auto -44px;position:relative;top:-22px;width:44px"> </div></div><p style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/_jEwsBCe_F/" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A photo posted by Jonas Antonio Gaffud (@jonasofmercator)</a> on <time dateTime="2015-12-21T08:59:52+00:00" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px">Dec 21, 2015 at 12:59am PST</time></p></div></blockquote><script async="" defer="" src="~//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js" type="text/javascript"></script><p>MANILA – It seems that three is the “magic number” of Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach of the Philippines.</p><p>Every Filipino knows by now that Wurtzbach is the country’s third Miss Universe winner, and that it took her three attempts before getting the elusive crown.</p><p>But did you know that it also took her mentor, Jonas Gaffud, three encounters before he was able to take Wurtzbach under his wing as an aspiring beauty queen?</p><p>In his three-part blog post titled “<a href="https://inrandomorderbyjag.wordpress.com/2016/01/05/conquering-the-universe-part-1-first-of-three-parts/"><strong>Conquering the Universe</strong></a>,” Gaffud said he first saw Wurtzbach at a restaurant with her friends in 2012. But the Filipina beauty, who was an actress at the time, seemed uninterested in the idea.</p><p>“I told her she could join a pageant but she had to undergo [a] series of trainings. She said yes, but I never heard from her again,” he said.</p><p>The second time that Gaffud met Wurtzbach was during the Star Magic Ball, an annual gathering of ABS-CBN talents. Again, Gaffud was not able to get the young lady’s attention.</p><p>“She was a young, carefree, happy-go-lucky girl. She did not even recognize me, so I assumed she really wasn’t interested. Her ambition was to become a TV and movie star,” he said.</p><p>Gaffud once again bumped into Wurtzbach at a mall. This time, he was able to convince her to train to become a beauty queen.</p><p>“I saw her walking with her friend, Harley. I called her over and scolded her for snubbing me at the ball and she apologized. Then I asked her, ‘Are you serious about the pageant? You could win, you know.’ To which she replied, ‘Really? I could join?’ This was the first time I saw her eyes sparkle with genuine enthusiasm.”</p><p>After training under Gaffud, Wurtzbach joined Binibining Pilipinas in 2013, where she finished first runner-up. She competed again in 2014, but failed to bring home any title.</p><p>Gaffud said he was “terribly disappointed” by the result, adding that they were all “heartbroken for Pia that time.”</p><p>Come 2015, Wurtzbach joined Binibining Pilipinas for the third time. <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/lifestyle/v1/12/21/15/pia-wurtzbach-is-phs-third-miss-universe-winner"><strong>And the rest is history</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p>

It seems that three is the “magic number” of Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach of the Philippines. 

How Pia Wurtzbach became a beauty queen

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How Pia Wurtzbach became a beauty queen

ABS-CBN News

Published January 12, 2016 06:07 PM PHT

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