No part of this story can be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg.
Mhar Jayson Cortez, 30, was recently crowned Mister International Singapore in August and was set to represent Singapore at the 17th Mister International 2025 on September 25 in Thailand.
But in a surprising turn of events, he announced on September 2 via Instagram that he is pulling out of the upcoming international competition.
Mhar wrote: “This dream has guided me, challenged me, and shaped who I am, but I have realised that to grow and protect my wellbeing, I must take a step back. Every lesson, every moment, and every inspiration from this journey will stay with me forever.”
It is such a pity, as we think his strong looks might have taken him far in the pageant.
Born in the Philippines, Mhar, has lived in Singapore for the past nine years. He is married with a daughter who turns two in November.
According to LinkedIn, he works as a principal engineer at Mun Hean Group and has been with the company for more than five years.
Mhar declined to be interviewed for this story when 8days.sg reached out to him.
Meanwhile, pageant organiser Beam Artistes, responded via the Beam Search IG account, threatening legal action, albeit without directly mentioning Mhar.
“Contestants who have been selected to represent their country in an international competition should see it as an important mission and not change their minds as and when they like it. We shall be taking legal action against contestants who have breached their contracts with us and who have wasted our time, effort, and money,” they wrote.
A Beam Artistes representative told 8days.sg that Mhar had informed them that he wanted to withdraw from the Mister International pageant as there was no financial support given to him.
“[However] he didn’t inform us before putting [the IG post] up,” Beam Artistes founder Samuel Seow told 8days.sg in a phone interview.
According to Beam Artistes, they were still having ongoing discussions with Mhar about the issue when Mhar went ahead to post his withdrawal announcement on Instagram without informing them. They also said that their attempts to contact Mhar afterwards went unanswered.
Samuel alleges that Mhar was never officially crowned as Mister International Singapore. “He kept begging me to be in Mister International Singapore,” Samuel said.
“We then just went along with it. But then later came the problems of him being promoted at work and needing to go to New Zealand,” said Samuel.
Mhar needed to be in New Zealand for a month, according to Samuel, who also revealed that the trip had to be extended.
Samuel further alleged that Mhar wanted to stop by Singapore before going to Bangkok for the pageant and had asked for a loan.
“He wanted us to loan him a sum of money — S,900 — before he would be willing to inconvenience himself, and fly from New Zealand to Bangkok with a stopover in Singapore,” Samuel said.
Beam Artistes are now working to find a replacement contestant to represent Singapore at Mister International 2025, according to Samuel.
