Ahtisa Manalo recalls onstage fall during MUPh 2025 coronation night: 'I still have the bruise'

Miss Universe Philippines 2025 titleholder Ahtisa Manalo recalled her viral onstage fall during the evening gown segment of the recently concluded coronation night.

In an interview on Fast Talk with Boy Abunda, the beauty queen from Quezon Province talked about how she fell on the runway in her Val Taguba gown.

"There were stairs and then I think the dulo of the gown flipped and then got caught on my heel," she said. "I still have the bruise."

"I saw I even bounced. I rewatched the whole thing; I did a bounce," she continued with a laugh.

Ahtisa shared that she wanted to get up the moment she fell. "I knew I didn't want to be there for like a [long time]," she recalled. "I just wanted to get up as fast as I could."

The finals night was held on Friday, May 2 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. At the question-and-answer portion of the pageant, she connected her answer to her onstage fall when she was asked about a time in her life when she led by example and the impact it made.

"I fell a while ago on stage. The thing with me is, whenever I fall in life, I always make sure I come back stronger," she said. "Last year, I was here on this stage, and for the second time this year, I'm here putting everything on this stage to be Miss Universe Philippines, because this is mine and my grandmother's shared her dream, and she passed away early this year. This is my ode to her."

Ahtisa ended up winning the highly coveted crown.

In the same interview, Ahtisa said she was "happy" with her answer at the Q&A segment. "I was happy because I was speaking what's in my heart."

"Everyone witnessed it—they were there," she added. 

"I thought that when they asked what is that thing that I could show to everyone, I thought that they were all there to witness my fall. If it's not enough that they saw me fall and stood up and still fought for what I wanted, what better answer could I have given? At least that's what's going on in my head," she continued.

Following her MUPh 2025 win, Ahtisa will represent the Philippines at the 74th Miss Universe pageant, which will be held in Thailand on Nov. 21.