Bored Panda was interested to find out more about this year's contest. According to the Mister Global representative, this year's national costume contest revolved around the idea of recovery from Covid-19. "This year there were more contestants. We had 39 countries participating," they said.

The representative described the atmosphere as "bustling" and shared how "the crowd cheered just like at an important sporting match." However, choosing a winner is quite a difficult task because everyone really wants to win and puts in their best effort.

The Mister Global representative explained that the national costumes aren't just traditional dress: there's a lot of color and creativity that goes into styling the outfits, alongside all the fun that goes into performing, as well.

This year, the competition is structured a bit differently. "As you can see about the final competition, we have changed from previous years. We gave all the top 15 semi-finalists a chance to give a short speech and make the audience learn more about them," the representative said.

Mister Global competitors are expected to inspire and motivate others, as per the Mister Global: Inspiring Gentleman theme. That's why great communication skills "that will reach people around the world" are essential for everyone who takes part in the pageant.

However, not just anyone can participate in the Mister Global pageant. "They must win the National Championship first," the rep told Bored Panda. Then, the winners can message the organization directly, and they'll be connected to the National Directors of their home countries.

As for some advice for future contestants, the most important things are to keep an open mind and be ready to grow and learn.

There are some exciting changes coming in the near future. "The next edition of the Mister Global pageant will be held in Thailand in November 2023. This will be the last edition that will be held in Thailand. Mister Global will be held in other countries for at least a few years."

The annual beauty contest takes place in Thailand and has been blowing people’s minds for nearly a decade, since being founded in 2014. The title of Mister Global 2022 belongs to actor and dental surgeon Juan Carlos Ariosa, from Cuba. The national costume competition is a major part of the entire contest.

The Mister Global pageant is incredibly popular on social media. The official account has nearly 100k followers on Instagram and a further 475k fans on Facebook.

The winners of the previous competitions were from Myanmar (2014), Vietnam (2015 and 2021), the Czech Republic (2016), Brazil (2017), the United States (2018), and South Korea (2019).

There was no winner for 2020 because the pageant was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last year, the Mister Global team told Bored Panda more about the contest. “The national costume competition is a major highlight of the contest. There are a lot of pageants and people from around the world waiting for this, as it's one of the most exciting sections,” a representative told us.

“We can see and learn about fashion culture from different countries through a national costume, designed and presented through a contestant that represents their country. Besides, we have a very talented photographer, David Ryo, who makes the national costume portraits more interesting."

Meanwhile, the CEO of Mister Global, Pradit Pradinunt, shared a bit more about the history of the entire contest.

“The first Mister Global pageant was initially held in Pak Chong city, as a publicity event. The pageant gained fame and since then has been held in fascinating places around Thailand, developing into a leading international male pageant. Throughout the webcast, contestants are judged in four categories: fashion wear, swimwear, evening wear, and interview,” he said.

“The men who participate in the Mister Global system, yearly inspire others to make an impact on social causes. The Mister Global pageant provides the winner and contestants with a global platform through committed partnerships with companies, sponsors, and brands,” he shared with Bored Panda before.

“During his reign, the winner is given the tools to personally and professionally enhance others by providing charitable efforts to affect positive change, all while increasing awareness of environmental causes. Mister Global pageant has become a grand slam male pageant on its 3rd edition. It is a fast-growing pageant and one of the most awaited events of the year,” Pradinunt said.

“As the leader of the Mister Global Organization It has been a challenging and not an easy job since our founding in 2014. We have been in contact with national directors and contestants from around the world. There are differences in language, culture, and time. In addition, we must take these matters into consideration when organizing a pageant. Diversity really matters. And the contest itself must be an event that adds value to society around the world and inspires the new generation. And we as an organization learn more from contestants too,” he said.

“We are like other beauty pageants—Miss Universe or Miss World, but in male version. We have an activity during the pageant where contestants spend some time together, learning news and promoting the host city's tourism and charitable awareness. Preliminary interviews, swimwear competition, national costume, and evening wear competitions are entertaining and exciting. But we are not only an 'entertaining event', we are doing something that can inspire people around the world, especially the younger generation,” the head of the competition said.

“I would like to invite all of the people from around the world to open their minds and look at the male pageant in a different way. A male pageant is not just sexy men competing but something more than that. Also, who wants to compete? This is not just competing, it's activities full of fun, friendship, and once-in-a-lifetime experience where you may be the one who can inspire people to come forward to do something different, and maybe even change the world.”

The contest also has deep roots in ecology and environmentalism. Back in 2019, a spokesperson for Mister Global explained the theme of the pageant to Bored Panda.

“The aim of Mister Global is to promote environmental awareness, and we have been promoting this cause ever since we started in 2014,” they said, adding that the contestants and titleholders ought to work to inspire and motivate others.

"Every pageant system is identical but what makes Mister Global different from the others is that we are part of the Top 5 Grand Slam Male Pageants. We have good quality contestants with inspiring stories to tell and great support from our national directors from around the world. We have also garnered much support from our many fans that follow us on our website and the official page. Most importantly, we are true to our advocacy of environmental awareness and charity cause,” the representative told us in 2019.

"For us, we are really surprised that it went viral around the world and we welcome many positive comments. However, the creative costumes segment is nothing new in any pageant system as it has always been a part of it. The winning costume is not about the size or design but the story and culture behind it," they said.