ANILA, Philippines – The Philippines' bet Maureen Wroblewitz won Asia's Next Top Model season 5 in the Wednesday, June 28 episode.
Maureen won aginst Malaysia's Shikin Gomez and Vietnam's Minh Tu Nguyen in the finale challenge, where they had to walk at a fashion show in Singapore. The ladies wore X.Q.Zhang designs during the fashion show.
Before that, they had a photo shoot titled "Motherland," where they modeled traditional outfits from their countries.
"Maureen, your gorgeous face has been a great advantage to you, but you also worked hard to prove that you were worth more than just a pretty face as you finally broke free of that mold throughout the weeks," host Cindy Bishop said before Maureen was announced the winner. "You're not only the youngest, you're also the smallest of the competition. But you have stood tall, and silenced anyone who ever doubted you."
Maureen took to Instagram after her win was announced to give a message to her supporters.
"I still can't believe I'm saying this... but I'm Asia's Next Top Model!" she began. "It feels like a dream and I don't know when I'll ever realize that all this has happened to me. This has been such a crazy journey but definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience I'll never forget about."
Maureen continued, saying that in the beginning, she doubted that she would even get into the competition. She's learned so much since then, she said, mostly about herself.
"I was constantly called 'a pretty face with no skills.' But little did they know, it would just make me come out stronger and better. It became a perfect motivation for me to prove them wrong and to show them that being inexperienced doesn't mean you're a weak model," said Maureen.
Maureen also dedicated her win to the Philippines: "There were times where I felt like giving up, but I knew that it couldn't be an option. I was the last Filipina standing and a Filipina has never won before. I wanted to win this for my country – the Philippines and I'm so happy to say that I did. This is all for you guys
As part of her prize, Maureen will appear on a cover of Nylon Singapore, receive a Subaru car, and will be represented by Storm Model Management.
Maureen was the last Filipino standing in the show after two other Filipino representatives, Anjelica Santillan and Jennica Sanchez, were eliminated early in the competition.