Nawat Itsaragrisil (Thai: ณวัฒน์ อิสรไกรศีล; born 10 August 1973) is a Thai media personality and businessperson, best known as the president of Miss Grand International organization.

Nawat Itsaragrisil
Itsaragrisil in 2013
Born (1973-08-10) 10 August 1973 (age 51)
Citizenship
  • Thailand
  • Dominica[2]
Alma materUniversity of the Thai Chamber of Commerce[3]
Occupations
  • Media Personality
  • Business Man
Years active1994–Present

Nawat first became known for travel TV shows, first hosting Exhibition Show and then Kon Thueng Chan (ก่อนถึงจันทร์) for ITV.[4] He then joined Channel 3, hosting the travel segment variety talk show Today Show and becoming the director and executive producer of the Miss Thailand World beauty pageant from 2007 to 2012. He started his own beauty pageant franchise, Miss Grand International in 2013.

Appearances

Television

Controversies

In 2016, Nawat was reported by Miss Iceland 2015, Arna Ýr Jónsdóttir to have said that "she's too fat and needed to lose weight" prior to the finals of Miss Grand International 2016 held in Las Vegas on October 25, 2016,[5] eventually dropping out of the pageant before the coronation due to the controversy. In a statement, Nawat said that they give similar advice to other contestants who asked what should they do to improve in order to win. Nawat eventually said that he had spoken with Jónsdóttir along with the company's vice president and clarified matters.[6] In 2022, Nawat has also publicly stated in a live stream that "Miss Vietnam had too long a torso and too short legs" as to the reason why Miss Vietnam failed to make top 10 in Miss Grand International 2022, enraging Vietnamese beauty fans.

Nawat has also expressed displeasure[7] about the behavior of Filipino pageant fans online. This is after several incidents of Filipino pageant fans attacking him on social media. These incidents include accusations of Nawat rigging the results of Miss Grand International, of him having a bias against Filipina contestants,[8][9] an Instagram post where Nawat insinuated that the coronation of Catriona Gray as Miss Universe 2018 was a rigged affair[10] and saying that Miss Philippines 2018 didn't make it due to the rest of the contestants being better than her.[10]

Nawat has also gotten into a verbal row with the Miss Supranational organization after the then reigning Miss Supranational Chanique Rabe did not include Miss Grand into what she considers the "Big Five" of pageants, saying that those pageants were "minor crowns".[11]

References

  1. ^ "ประวัติณวัฒน์ อิสรไกรศีล ข้อมูลล่าสุดของณวัฒน์ อิสรไกรศีล".
  2. ^ อีจัน บันเทิง (24 January 2022). "ณวัฒน์ โชว์ พาสปอร์ตเล่มใหม่ ปลื้มได้รับ สัญชาติโดมินิกา". E-Jan (in Thai). Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  3. ^ "คุณณวัฒน์ อิสรไกรศีล". University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (in Thai). Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  4. ^ ""ณวัฒน์ อิสรไกรศีล"กับชีวิตมนุษย์เดินทาง". Thairath Online (in Thai). 17 July 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  5. ^ "Miss Iceland 2015 is too fat, says beauty contest". Iceland Monitor.
  6. ^ Bianca Britton (26 October 2016). "Miss Iceland's response to body shaming". CNN.
  7. ^ "A look back at the biggest pageants, music, movies in 2021". CNN Philippines. Archived from the original on 17 December 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  8. ^ Mr.Nawat Itsaragrisil (March 28, 2021). "นาทีประกาศผลมิสแกรนด์อินเตอร์เนชั่นแนล 2020 ครับ". Facebook.
  9. ^ Bracamonte, Earl D. C. (July 15, 2021). "Nawat gets wish to have Philippines' 3rd Samantha for Miss Grand International". Philstar.com.
  10. ^ a b "What you need to know about the Miss Grand International pageant". RAPPLER. 23 October 2019.
  11. ^ Bracamonte, Earl D. C. (January 31, 2022). "Samantha Panlilio speech used to address Miss Grand International, Miss Supranational spat". Philstar.com.