Sugar Mercado is now a beauty queen
Former dancer Sugar Mercado shared her beauty pageant journey after she was crowned Mrs. Universe Official 2025.
Sugar was one of the members of the all-female dance group S=xBomb Girls, which originated in the longest-running noontime show Eat Bulaga. Eventually, she had some acting projects and became one of the co-hosts of veteran game show host Willie Revillame on Wil Time Bigtime (2011-2012) and on TV5’s Wowowin (2017).
Last October, Sugar added a new feather to her cap. She became a beauty queen, and in a recent interview, based on the article in PEP, she talked about her pageant journey.
Sugar Mercado shared that it was her manager, Wilbert Tolentino. who encouraged her to join the beauty pageant. Wilbert was also the one who encouraged and supported the pageant journey of Kapuso actress Herlene Budol.
“Di ba, Si Herlene talaga nagbago rin yung career niya, di ba? Yung buhay niya dahil dun. And ako, sinabihan din ako ni Sir Wilbert na, ‘Grabe yung wisdom mo. So bakit… sumali ka.’ Ganyan, ganyan, ganyan,” Sugar shared.
Sugar also shared that she had no idea about pageants, and there was fear in her because, in joining this endeavor, she had to do some physical alteration. Thinking that she was already a mother, there was a bit of apprehension.
She was thankful that her manager was very supportive, and she was happy watching videos in which her glow was very visible.
When she was asked if she expected to win the pageant, Sugar said with jest, “Ay, hindi po talaga, pero ano po talaga ako, determinado ako. Talagang kapagka nasa stage ako parang, ‘Ah, Pia… Cayetano.’ Charot Pinanood ko yung mga video ni Pia [Wurtzbach, Miss Universe 2015].”
Sugar Mercado shared that she studied Pia’s gestures on stage, as well as the performance of Miss Universe 2025 third runner-up Ahtisa Manalo.
During the question-and-answer portion, Sugar said that she used the Filipino language as she did not want to pretend that she was fluent in English.