Jacob Kier Gomez finished second runner-up at Mister Fitness Supermodel World 2026 in Da Lat, Vietnam — the Philippines’ fourth straight podium finish, still no win.
Two separate Philippine pageant franchises sent male delegates to the same category at Top Model of Universe 2026 — pitting them against each other. Between the two of them and a historic Filipina win, the country came home with three titles.
Update, September 20: Kristzan was crowned Top Model of Universe – Asia 2026 in Istanbul — his first international title, after two straight runner-up finishes. The profile below was written ahead of the competition; the full result is here. At 32, Kristzan Delos Santos had already decided that pageantry was behind him. It had given him what it was going to give him: two international runner-up finishes, one in 2022, one in 2023, both close enough to sting and neither one his. Then he went back to work. His life moved on. The pageants, he assumed, were someone else’s story now. Then, in 2025, he happened to watch a male national pageant. That same day — not a week later, not after he’d slept on it — a screening poster for Misters of Filipinas, the annual national competition that sends Filipino male titleholders to a slate of international pageants, showed up on his feed. “Something about the timing felt like a sign,” Kristzan tells ELYSPLANET. “It sparked something in me again and made me think, …
Update, September 20, 2026: Gomez finished second runner-up at Mister Fitness Supermodel World 2026 in Đà Lạt, Vietnam. Chinese Taipei’s Danilo Valeriano de Melo took the crown — full results here. On September 19, in Đà Lạt, Vietnam, Mister Fitness Supermodel World crowns a winner — an annual international men’s pageant now in its fourth year. Three times, a Filipino has walked away with the second-best finish possible. Michael Angelo Toledo took third runner-up in 2023. Godfrey Nikolai Murillo was first runner-up in 2024. Denver Argana finished second runner-up last year. No Filipino has ever won it. Jacob Kier Gomez, a 20-year-old Nursing student from Tarlac, is the Philippines’ fourth attempt — and he’s no stranger to falling just short before breaking through. “I don’t look at it as pressure, but for me, it’s a privilege,” he tells ELYSPLANET. “I know that the Philippines is still searching for its first win in this franchise, and my focus is only on preparing as hard as I can and performing my best.” That comfort with almost is …
Marck Marasigan had six days. That’s how much notice the Batangueño model and pageant titleholder got when the Philippines’ slot at Mister Celebrity International 2025 — an annual pageant for public figures and content creators held under the broader Mister and Miss Celebrity International banner — opened up. The original designate, Alei Del Rosario, who won the crown at Misters of Filipinas 2024, had to withdraw after an unexpected injury; the slot was then offered to Juan Carlos “Jaycee” Lopez, who turned it down as not yet ready. Six days to sort a wardrobe, book a photoshoot, and mentally reset for an international stage he hadn’t planned on standing on that year. “I only had six days to prepare for the competition, including the photoshoot, preparing my wardrobe, and taking care of all the other things I needed to do,” Marasigan told ELYSPLANET. “I’m just so happy that everything went according to plan within those six days, and that there were a lot of people who were willing to help and support me.” On December …
Two months after becoming the first Filipino to win Man of the World, Oliver Eugen Kretz talks to ELYSPLANET about what winning actually built — and whether it outlasts the crown.
