THE PRETHOUGHTS
THE RESULTS (Jan. 26, 2015)
That second Miss Universe crown that has eluded the world's finest coffee land for so long has finally been won. Colombia's Paulina Vega Dieppa is the new Miss Universe succeeding Colombia's first win in 1958 by Luz Marina Zuluaga. Will Paulina now be given a mansion and famously declared tax exempt for life? I will say I was somewhat disillusioned by the results of this pageant but I'll live with it. The choices for the top 5 were just not very good and the question and answer rounds reflected this. The last name "Vega" is the first last name to be shared by two Miss Universe titleholders as it is also the last name of Miss Universe 2003, Amelia Vega.
Being that this is the 2nd Miss Universe crown for Colombia, my friend Paulo pointed an interesting pattern from recent years that pointed to this win for this year that he dubbed Miss Universe not-2014 being that we are now in 2015. In recent years, the big 4 pageants have followed a certain pattern. In 2012, Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss International crowned the candidates from the host country (plus Miss Earth awarded the 1st runner-up to the home girl). In 2013, the big 4 crowns were shared by Venezuela and the Philippines, each country claiming two winners. In 2014, the other big 4 pageant winners were their countries’ second outright victory: Puerto Rico won its second Miss International after first winning it in 1987, Miss Earth crowned a second Filipino candidate six years after their first one, and although Rolene Strauss is actually the third Miss World from South Africa, she was the second to win it on the spot, as Anneline Kriel inherited the title in 1974 after the dethronement of Helen Morgan. Now, Miss Universe follows this pattern as a country has won its second title and that country is Colombia. He even picked her to win!
In terms of my predictions, I picked 10 of the 15 semifinalists plus 1 alternate (Ukraine) and 2 honorable mentions (Netherlands and Brazil). The 2 that escaped my list were in my next tier (Italy and Indonesia) so the semifinalists made sense this year for the most part. The 5 ladies in my list that didn't place were: Lithuania, Puerto Rico, Thailand, Canada and Serbia. Did you notice something interesting? I picked Ecuador to win Miss Universe 2012 but Ecuador was 2nd runner up in 2013. In 2013, I picked Ukraine to win and now Ukraine was 2nd runner up for 2014/15! Does this mean that since Venezuela was my winner this year that Venezuela will be 2nd runner up in the next Miss Universe pageant?? Or have I jinxed it now that I mentioned it?
I will post my full commentary on this 63rd Miss Universe pageant on February 4.
(says in extreme valley girl voice) Like, Oh my God, you guys! You know what's, like, totally ratchet?!?! This, like, whole controversy over that selfie where Miss Israel and Miss Lebanon are seen standing next to each other. It's like, I mean, these countries are, like, at war and stuff? And they're all like, 'I guess I took a good selfie, selfie, selfie (eyes progressively widen psychotically), selfie, selfie, selfie... Let me take a selfie.' It's like there's, like, so much drama. I'm just so sick of the drama. There's too much drama. Why all the drama? Drama. Ugh. This is like totally a big to-do about nothing. It's like, can't we all just get along? What's with all this fraternizing with the enemy noise? Like, why can't we just be free? It's not even summer, why does the DJ keep playing 'Summertime Sadness'? Who goes out on Mondays? Like, the walls in the mall are totally, totally tall.
The Miss America pageant struggled to find a network home during those years. 2007 was on CMT, 2008-2010 were on TLC, In 2011, Miss America found itself back on ABC but since then the pageant has been a paid presentation so the Miss America organization has to pay ABC to air the pageant. Miss America didn't go back to having a post-dated title until 2013 when New York's Mallory Hagan won Miss America 2013 and later that year in September 2013, New York's Nina Davuluri won Miss America 2014 and things went back to normal for that pageant. But it took 9 years for Miss America to return to normalcy so I hope it doesn't take that long for Miss Universe to return to normal but it is possible that 2014 could be a forever skipped year so time will tell what happens with the dating of the winners title. I have been told that whoever wins the 63rd Miss Universe pageant being held on January 25, 2015 will still technically be named Miss Universe 2014 but I'm pretty sure they will be extra careful not to mention the year and simply call this the 63rd Miss Universe pageant rather than Miss Universe 2014. Mind you, the Miss Universes of the 1950s all had post-dated titles (i.e. the first official Miss Universe, Finland's Armi Kuusela's sash said Miss Universe 1953 but she was crowned in 1952 so would we be pushing all the Miss Universe titleholders from 1960 forward one year?) Maybe Miss Universe should have kept the title postdated back then to avoid the confusion caused by the skipped year of 2014. But who would have seen this coming? History has been wrecked! Some speculate that the reasoning behind this Miss Universe pageant being delayed was actually caused by scheduling from NBC who co-owns the pageant with Donald Trump because of the tie-in with Donald Trump's other NBC show, 'Celebrity Apprentice' which started on January 4, 2015 and this edition was expected to be held in 2014 but was delayed by the network to the current season so I'm sure that there's some connection there. That and the delay of trying to find a venue outside of the United States but since that didn't materialize, Miss Universe is back again in Miami for the first time since 1997. This time it is being held in the FIU arena at Florida International University in Doral, Miami, Florida. The Miami region has hosted more Miss Universe pageants than any other city having hosted from 1960 to 1971, 1984, 1985, 1997 and now 2014/15. This delayed pageant also gives Gabriela Isler, the second longest reign as Miss Universe and the first reign to span over 3 calendar years. The longest Miss Universe reign still belongs to Miss Universe 2011, Angola's Leila Lopes who reigned from September 12, 2011 to December 19, 2012 = 15 months and 1 week. Gabriela Isler's reign from November 9, 2013 to January 25, 2015 was 14 months and 2 weeks pushing Miss Universe 2005, Canada's Natalie Glebova to the third longest reign from May 31, 2005 to July 23, 2006 = 13 months and 3 weeks.
Miss Universe 1953, France's Christiane Martel was crowned with what I call the dangling star crown. Miss Universe 1954 to 1960 wore a laurel wreath inspired crown with a star at the centre. Miss Universe 1961 and 1962 wore what I call the orbit crown then in Miss Universe 1963 we had the initial prototype of the classic Miss Universe crown with the lady in the middle with scepter design that looked a little rough at first but was more perfected in 1973 and worn through to 2001. Then came the sponsored crown era. From 2002 to 2007, we had the Mikimoto crown. They conveniently bailed after Japan won in 2007 and in 2008, Dayana Mendoza was crowned with a Vietnamese company CAO Fine Jewelry's designed crown but when Dayana said her farewell the next year, she wore the Mikimoto crown oddly enough. Then from 2009 to 2013, it was the Diamond Nexus Labs crown named 'Peace' for which the online public voted likely because its design was the closest match to the classic Miss Universe crown last worn by the 2001 titleholders. On a little side note, when Miss Universe 2008, Dayana Mendoza declared the winning crown was, 'Peace'. With Dayana's accent, it almost sounded like she yelled out, 'Piss!' Dayana's accent later came in handy when she appeared on the Celebrity Apprentice asking a florist on the phone if they had... peonies.
In any case, here we are in the present with this 63rd edition and for 2014/15, Czech company DIC (Diamonds International Corporation) has designed a new crown as part of a ten year deal with the Miss Universe organization. Here we see a picture of reigning Miss Universe, Gabriela Isler wearing what some think might be a prototype of the crown to be unveiled during the final night's pageant but they could be teasing us and this might not be the actual crown.
Unstoppable is a good word to describe Migbelis Lynette Castellanos, the woman who has been my winner for Miss Universe since she was crowned Miss Venezuela. I encourage all of you to watch this video of her appearance on a show called El Nuevo Dia and see why Migbelis has IT. That mysterious x-factor or star quality that sets her apart and makes her a winner.
You Only Live Once so Noyonita Lodh of India took her once in a lifetime chance to compete for the Miss Universe crown and is also well prepared for this year's pageant showing up every inch a contender. The country where love is the essence of life seems to be making a comeback in the pageant world. India, the world's 2nd most populated country was once a powerhouse at the Miss Universe pageant placing every year except one from 1990 to 2002 but they had a 4 year absence from the semifinals from 2008 to 2011 but India looks poised to placed for a 3rd year in a row with promising Noyonita. Femina Magazine was back to holding a separate pageant to crown India's Miss Universe representative titled Miss Diva Universe. Manasi Moghe placed in the top 10 in 2013 also crowned in the Femina run pageant. India's Miss Universe representatives from 2010 to 2012 when former Miss Universe, Sushmita Sen organized the I Am She pageant to select India's representative. A lot of this conflict started due to the Miss World pageant deciding not to accept runners up to the Miss India crown as in the good old days, the highest scoring representative at the Femina Miss India pageant went to Miss Universe and the 2nd place delegate would go to Miss World but that all changed in 2007 where they flipped it so that the winner would go to Miss World and the runner up to Miss Universe. That obviously didn't go over well either but now India seems to have adapted to the differences of the Miss World and Miss Universe pageants and is holding separate pageants to crown appropriate titleholders for each pageant. Noyonita has also won awards for her dazzling catwalk skills and she is remarkably well-spoken which has become an expected trait of many Indian pageant representatives. India has 2 Miss Universe titleholders: Sushmita Sen in 1994 and Lara Dutta in 2000 so will Noyonita become their third?
M.J. (Mary Jean) Lastimosa is the pageant-obsessed nation of the Philippines' latest hope who is representing this tropical haven of Asia at this year's Miss Universe pageant. The Philippines placed as 1st runner up in 1999, then had a ten year absence from the semifinals but the 2010s have been very good for the Philippines as they currently hold the longest streak in the semifinals placing 4 years in a row now and all 4 of those were placements in the top 5 which is an astounding achievement. It began with Venus Raj placing as 4th runner up in 2010, Shamcey Supsup was 3rd runner up in 2011, Janine Tugonon was 1st runner up in 2012, and Ariella Arida was 3rd runner up in 2013. Interestingly enough, the Philippines has never had a 2nd runner up but they do have two winners of whom they are very proud, Gloria Diaz in 1969 and Margarita Moran in 1973. Mary Jean Lastimosa competed previously for the Philippines' crown against the 2011 and 2012 winners who both fared well so with her experience, strong catwalk skills and overall appearance, Mary Jean could very well get yet another consecutive top 5 placement for the Philippines and possibly their third Miss Universe win. The Philippines has been doing very well lately in the international pageant scene winning various worldwide competitions. Adding to MJ's strength, she is also quite brainy holding a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Mindanao. Champion Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao is rumored to be a judge for this year's Miss Universe pageant which could help Mary Jean so shall the Lastimosa be first?
Rolene Strauss won Miss South Africa and since the Miss World pageant was held before the Miss Universe pageant, she competed in the Miss World pageant and as predicted by numerous people including myself, Rolene did win the Miss World crown leaving a blank space to be filled by her runner up at Miss South Africa, Ziphozakhe Zokufa who now has the chance to compete for Miss Universe. In previous years, the Miss Universe pageant was normally held before Miss World in the calendar year but that all changed in 2012 when Miss World was held in August 2012 and Miss Universe was held in December 2012 and it has been like this ever since so this too is one thing that one can only wonder if it will ever return to the way it was. Had Miss Universe been held before the Miss World pageant, Rolene's participation could have changed everything but in the end, I feel that Miss World was the right pageant for Rolene anyway and it worked out well for her in the end. Ukraine also had a strong contender with their original winner, Anna Andres, who would have been an amazing follow up to last year's Ukrainian gem, Olga Storozhenko who was my prediction to win last year and also finished in the top 10. Anna resigned from her position due to personal reasons so runner up Diana Harkusha is now representing Ukraine at this year's Miss Universe pageant. China's representative is also a replacement. Naiqing (Nora) Xu was originally supposed to compete but resigned to complete her undergraduate education so Yanliang (Karen) Hu is now competing for Miss Universe as China's representative. Tanzania's Carolyne Bernard resigned due a foot fracture caused by a car accident so Nale Boniface is now representing Tanzania. Thailand's original rep, Weluree Ditsayabut resigned after making some political statements so runner-up Pimbongkod Chankaew is now representing Thailand. So will any or all of these replacements end up placing or not placing at Miss Universe? There have been replacements in previous pageants that have done extremely well so you really never can tell so we shall see what happens!
-Like Mother, Like Daughter: Finland's Bea Toivonen is the daughter of Miss Finland 1985, Marja Kinnunen so I love to see beauty titles run in the family and Finland hasn't placed since 1996 when Lola Odusoga placed as 2nd runner up so is it time for a return? Finland even has 2 Miss Universe titleholders: Armi Kuusela (1952) and Anne Marie Pohtamo (1975).