What can we do about the fact that Transylvania was annexed to Romania and we live there as minority Hungarians? - asks the beauty queen Blága Tünde, who has certainly been attacked because of her origin.
Blága Tünde from Gyimesek, more precisely Hidegsék, won the 2023 Miss Universe Hungary beauty pageant, so she can represent Hungary at the Miss Universe international pageant. Interview about the beginning of her journey, beauty ideals, attacks on her, but mainly about herself.
In a world where the majority of young girls cannot accept themselves, and unfortunately many also struggle with body image disorders, where did you get the motivation to enter the world of beauty pageants?
I started competing when I was fourteen. Then I applied for a competition in Marosvásárhely, where I managed to achieve a good result. That's when I decided for good that I wanted to do this. I consciously built myself. This was my dream even when I was a little girl, I watched the television and told my mother that one day I would stand there too. I dreamed up the world for myself. Of course, there were many obstacles, many challenges, but after overcoming everything, I finally feel that I have reached my goal. Obviously, I was also attacked a lot regarding my appearance, but I didn't deal with them. Now that I've won the competition, you can hear and read everywhere that my chin is filled, my face is filled, I'm completely plastic... Well, I'll tell you that this is not true, I only had one lip filler, but that was quite a few years ago. .
I would advise young girls to take care of themselves. Spend a lot of time with yourself and examine the source of your problems. I think it was watching myself that helped me not to give up, to believe in myself.
Obviously, I always had an inner voice, a strength, but it helped a lot when I was insecure that I took care of myself, I did something that filled me up.
I very consciously do not deal with negative people. What is important to me is that my soul is in order. Those close to me and those who really know me know what kind of person I am and the rest doesn't matter. It helps a lot that I don't read negative news. If young people come across information and are told things that they do not like, listen to them, because everyone has an opinion, but then decide what they will allow into their lives. There are so many negative impulses hitting us these days... Lots of girls struggle with body image disorders when they see how perfect photos everyone posts on the internet. Even I sometimes think that something is wrong with me, even though I feel that I have strong self-confidence. It is important to recognize this problem.
Today, fortunately, we have started to get over the fact that we believe that a beauty queen is nothing more than a good figure and a pretty face. What do you think beauty is? What does it take to be a queen?
Beauty alone means nothing. Before we judge something, we should always look behind things. There are plenty of beautiful women who don't compete. There's nothing wrong with that. A beauty pageant should be a goal. It always was for me. I wanted to draw attention to myself, I wanted to have a voice that I could use to reach a lot of people. I want to convey a message. I feel that I am very good at motivating people. The girls were saying the same thing at the camp.
Beauty is only one pillar of beauty queendom. There are so many things a woman who applies for this title must have.
There are camps where personality is monitored. This is natural, since when you have to travel abroad, they really try to send a girl who can represent a country with dignity. You must speak English, be confident, have a strong message, be purposeful, move well on stage...
But perhaps the most important thing is humility. There is no success without humility. This has become my little slogan in recent weeks.
How do you see your own path? You've been competing for years, what did you have to learn during this time that you didn't even think was important at the beginning?
There are a lot of things like that, just from the fact that when you go on stage, there are a lot of people watching. To this day, I still feel a little nervous, but I think that's normal because it shows that I care about what I'm doing. When you stand up, it's important to "be able to be together". So that you don't have to think about what to do and how. At the beginning, all I had to do was smile, at the time I had no idea how complex it all was. It's hard to pay attention to everything. Posing, walking nicely, stretching yourself, smiling, keeping eye contact... I had to take part in many competitions in order for all of these to add up properly. Now I was standing there like everything was inside me, everything came naturally, everything was natural, I didn't have to pay close attention to anything anymore. I had so much to give myself.
It took time for me to realize what is really important on stage and not only there. Before the bigger competitions in the camps, the jury always looks at the personality, which again had to mature. I also had to learn that the other girls were not my competition. Everyone is competing with themselves here. It should be noted that if in a camp you keep looking at what the other is good at and don't take care of yourself, then you've lost the thread a long time ago, there's no going back from there. You should always focus on yourself.
You have to draw strength from yourself. This should not be expected from the outside world.
What do you still want to improve on? Is there something you feel you haven't been able to get the most out of yet?
One must always improve. There will always be new trends and expectations in the world. There are ideals, in our culture, for example, it is worth noting that brown hair, brown eyes, and brown skin always win, so more Latin girls are preferred. IM that too. In the following, I will attend training sessions and English classes. These are all things that you can never have enough of. You always have to improve yourself. There's no stopping me because I'm fine now.
What is your goal with your achievements, both for yourself and for those who follow you and your work?
When I was little, I always wanted to excel in school with my academic results. Then I got older and I saw this strength in myself and that I don't care about excuses, I don't care about people trying to talk me out of my goal just because I have one. I come from Transylvania, from a small village where, unfortunately, very few dare to dream big. I dreamed the world for myself and proved that I can get it if I trust myself. It will work for other people too, and here you don't have to think only about beauty contests, but about anything.
If you have a goal and you get up every morning with it floating in front of you and you take steps towards it gradually, then nothing is impossible.
Everyone has problems and obstacles. Both small and large. But if I were to focus on the negative every morning, it wouldn't be very lucky. My book The Cold Crown is also about this. Having overcome the cold, harsh things on my way, like a fairy-tale hero, I reached my destination. It will work for others too.
As a Transylvanian Hungarian, you won the biggest beauty pageant in the motherland. Do you understand attacks because of your origin?
I would only say that we cannot do anything about the fact that Transylvania was annexed to Romania and we live there as minority Hungarians. Our mother tongue is Hungarian, we study in a Hungarian school. It is unfortunate that the world is still there, that people are able to judge each other for such things. I understand attacks, of course, but I try not to dwell on it.
Apparently, even a Romanian politician spoke to Viktor Orbán through me. I just laughed at him, so what can I do?
I don't want to deal with these things, because then I wouldn't progress, I wouldn't be able to prepare for the international competition, because I would be consumed by all this negativity.
What matters is what I declare myself to be: I am Hungarian. My family is Hungarian, I speak Hungarian.
I see the most likes, heartwarming reactions and congratulations on those pages, which are home. This also shows who they want to keep together.
How do you want to be thought of? What do you think is important that you feel is getting lost in the crossfire of so many cameras? Who is Blága Tünde?
Who I am and how I see myself is completely different from what other people think of me. There are really so many negative people that I wouldn't give anything of myself to them. I always encourage everyone to think positively and be aware, because I am like that too.
I consciously built myself, and I would like to draw the attention of young people to this. It doesn't matter to me what anyone thinks of me, I can't influence that.
I show something of myself, but many people don't want to see it because they have a preconceived image of me. I don't want to put much effort into destroying these stereotypes. I don't want to and I can't please everyone. There will be people who don't like it, but I've completely come to terms with it.
So as a final word, tell us a little about the Miss Universe Hungary competition. What was the preparation like and how did the crown end up on your head?
– The one-week training camp was very tough. There were programs from morning to evening, which, in addition to being physically and mentally demanding, were also incredibly good at the same time. And the final on Friday was of course incredible. I can't thank the brilliant team that made all of this possible. Many people don't like advertising, even though most of them don't even know how much we owe to the sponsors, such as Avalon, Fiat Gyulai, Bastion Protection and fashion designer Reni Rabocsi. And, of course, I am especially grateful to Dr. Nóra Özer, the director of the competition, for taking care of me every day and helping me prepare. For me, it is also a huge plus that the competition supports One step more foundation
Featured image: Maszol/Blága Tünde collection
