The scorching heat of the high noon sun didn’t hinder the employees of ABS-CBN as they joined It’s Showtime on their grand welcome to Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray, who on February 22 paid a visit to the network two months after her triumph in the prestigious international beauty pageant.

Surrounded with red and orange foliage and floras comparable to the color of the lava gown she wore during the grand coronation night, her beauty indeed stood out as she sashayed down the red carpeted ramp in her sleek white sweetheart long gown and her precious Mikimoto crown, and being assisted by host Vhong Navarro who stood as her dapper escort.

As she waved and greeted everyone while walking towards the noontime show’s studio, Alicia Keys’ chart-topping hit “Girl on Fire” resonated in the venue, to which the dancers synchronized their moves with as they displayed various cultural dances from different ethnic groups of the archipelago in their varied traditional costumes.

Upon arriving at the backstage of It’s Showtime, guest performers Marcus Davis, James Reid, and Billy Crawford began serenading the beauty queen with their recently released upbeat track “Filipina Girl”, to which she grooved along with his playful arm candy for that day, Vhong.

As soon as she stepped on the chandelier-lit stage and roamed around to greet everyone in the studio, she was welcomed by the loud cheers from the Madlang People, who were then wearing identical red shirts with “Welcome Home, our Miss Universe, Catriona!” emblazoned on those. The male hosts, random kids, and members of Hashtags approached her one-by-one to give her red roses and express their love and pride for her.

The gregarious hosts joined them afterwards and thrillingly welcomed her back to the show and had a fun exchange with her.

Catriona imparted spending the New Year’s Day watching the hilarious and wild reaction videos of her fans during the announcement of her victory, including that of Vice Ganda and his friends, and how her glorious stint turned her emotional because she was able to give joy to her countrymen and bring back the crown to the Philippines.

On the other hand, her handsome escort Vhong confessed getting nervous for being tapped to be the one to assist her, but her kindness kissed those jitters away, thus he thanked her.

“Kanina kinakabahan ako pero sabi ni Catriona, ‘Huwag kang kabahan. Basta enjoy lang’,” he jested.

Then he added, “Pero Catriona napakabait mo. Saludo ako, wala akong masabi. Kanina sa backstage 'di ba dapat ano lang siya, poised-poised. [Pero] hindi, sumasayaw-sayaw kami kaya nawala ‘yong kaba ko. Parang 'di ako tagarito, parang ako ‘yong guest, kinakabahan ako. Pero napakabait mo, maraming salamat.”

When asked by host Karylle on how she feels to finally bring home the crown, the 25-year-old stunner seemingly turned emotional.

“Sometimes I really have to pinch myself kasi how do you let that sink in to see all the people come out, just kahapon meron akong grand parade. And to see all the people turn out kahit sobrang init ‘yong araw, just to see the joy on their faces, I really can’t believe it sometimes but I’m just really, really grateful lang talaga to be able to bring this kind of honor back to the Philippines,” she replied.

When Queen Catriona gave her message to everyone who supported her from the very start, her heart is purely overflowing with gratitude.

“I’m just so grateful naman po for all of your support. If it wasn’t for you in the times that I felt discouraged or I felt overwhelmed, I always look to you for strength and it carried me up to the very end hanggang ngayon po. So I just wanna say thank you, I wanna give it all back to you ‘cos you’re really the reason I feel so fulfilled being in this position. Thank you,” she blurted out.

Catriona also let Vice touch her lustrous Mikimoto crown twice, with the latter saying that it tasted sweet and just the sight of her makes his gayness grow fonder.

He also tested her wit by asking her the question, “What the most important lesson you’ve learned in your life and how do you apply it to your lava walk?”, to which she gamely responded, “You know what, life goes around and you just have to keep going and going with aura.”

Of course, the It’s Showtime family didn’t let this opportunity simply slip without making her do her signature “lava walk” and even taught Ryan Bang how to do it.

Thank you, Catriona, for showing the whole world that there’s really ain’t nothing in this world like a “Filipina Girl”. Mabuhay!