THE PRETHOUGHTS
THE RESULTS (Nov. 27, 2017)
It took 39 long years but Mandela's rainbow nation has finally captured its second Miss Universe crown thanks to Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters. In June, Demi-Leigh participated in a video to promote women’s self-defense in the case of a carjacking and then was carjacked herself only a few days later and escaped which prompted her to make more self-defense videos and she would then form her own charity called 'Unbreakable' so this story put her over the top and was presented in a dramatic fashion during the telecast. Demi-Leigh was a favorite from the beginning. Recently, South Africa won the 2014 Miss World crown thanks to Rolene Strauss but the runner-up at Miss South Africa was sent to Miss Universe and even though the Miss World and Universe pageant coincided this year again, South Africa opted to send their winner to Miss Universe rather the runner-up this time around and it paid off. South Africa's participation in Miss Universe is quite storied as they won their first Miss Universe crown in 1978 thanks to Margaret Gardiner but the Apartheid era led to a ban on South Africa's participation from 1985 to 1994. Tisha Snyman placed as 1st runner up in 1984 and the next Miss South Africa 1985 (Andrea Stelzer) who was affected by this ban ended up country-hopping and Andrea would win Miss Germany 1989 and place in the top 10 at Miss Universe 1989. In 1995, during the only Miss Universe pageant to be held in Africa in the country of Namibia, South Africa would return and would place in the top 10 thanks to Augustine Masilela. Now Demi-Leigh can share her story with the world as Miss Universe 2017 and can use her message to empower women which is right in step with the IMG era of pageantry. This year also saw the return of the Mikimoto Miss Universe crown that was used from 2002 to 2007 and it has returned this year after a fall-out with DIC who made the crowns used from 2014 to 2016.
This year, the formatting was different in how the semifinalists were selected as they were grouped by region (the Americas, Europe and Africa/Asia Pacific) so while this method may not necessarily feel fair if the best of the best happen to come from one region of the world, it does guarantee some equal representation. There have been years where a continent was shut out such the 1995 Miss Universe pageant where no European delegates placed and in the 2009 Miss Universe pageant where no Asian delegates placed. How did I do with my predictions? Well, I picked 8 of the top 16 plus 3 alternates (Croatia, Canada and Jamaica). The 5 ladies that missed my list were: Brazil, China, Ghana, Ireland and Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka, Ireland and Ghana were all mentioned my next tier below honorable mentions. China was a total surprise whereas Brazil was favored by others but I just didn't see it at all with her that I didn't even give her a next tier mention... I was expecting surprises with this new format but there are always surprises and while I tried to pick some delegates that weren't on other people's lists, of course, they would have to choose some other surprises. Bless.
My full commentary on Miss Universe 2017 will be posted on December 2.
The delegates are arriving in Las Vegas so it is time once again for the first round prethoughts for the 66th annual Miss Universe pageant! The 2017 Miss Universe pageant will be hosted for a third year in a row by Steve Harvey and is expected to have at least 93 delegates compete which far surpasses the record previously held by both the 2011 and 2012 Miss Universe pageants which both each had 89 delegates compete. Three countries are expected to be making their debut at the Miss Universe pageant this year and they include: Cambodia, Laos and Nepal. Like 2015, the calendar year of 2017 is the second to have two Miss Universe pageants in it so one can only wonder if this going to be a trend and if 2018 will be a yet another Miss Universe-less year and will there be two Miss Universe pageants in 2019? We shall see once we know when the 2018 Miss Universe pageant will be held. The 2016 Miss Universe pageant was held in January 2017 in the Philippines and now for the sixth time in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, the 66th annual Miss Universe pageant is being held on November 26, 2017 at the AXIS at Planet Hollywood. The previous winners of the Miss Universe crown in the pageants held in Las Vegas were: Mexico’s Lupita Jones in 1991, Venezuela’s Alicia Machado in 1996, Mexico’s Ximena Navarrete in 2010, USA’s Olivia Culpo in 2012 and the Philippines’ Pia Wurtzbach in 2015. The only country to have placed in all 5 previous Miss Universe pageants held in Las Vegas is Mexico and the land of the Mariachi has claimed both of its Miss Universe crowns in Las Vegas in 1991 and 2010 so will this year’s Mexican representative, Denisse Franco, do it a third time for the land where the optimism lives in their hearts?? But who truly will be ‘leaving Las Vegas’ as Miss Universe 2017?
And although it works with the lyrics, Thailand’s Maria Lynn Poonlertlarp Ehren hopes to make it “3 long years” in a row for the golden kingdom of Thailand by placing in the semifinals for the third year in a row and many people including myself are anticipating a win this time around. In 2015, Thailand’s Aniporn Chalermburanawong made the top 10 and for 2016, Thailand’s Chalita Suansane captured a top 6 spot so will it be a top 3 spot and possibly the win for Thailand this time around?? Thailand has been strong in terms of the online vote as seen in recent years seeing how Chalita won the online vote for 2016 and Aniporn won the National Costume vote in 2015 and Thailand has also won many Photogenic and other National Costume awards over the years so this should only help Maria but she also has other aspects that could work in her favor. Like Miss Universe 2015, Pia Wurtzbach of the Philippines, Maria is also half-European on her father’s side. Pia Wurtzbach’s father is German and Maria Ehren’s father is Swedish. Multiracial candidates have been all the rage in recent Miss Universe pageants as a reflection of the increasingly diversified world in which we live. For example, the 2000 Miss Universe pageant had 4 of the top 10 coming from biracial backgrounds: Canada’s Kim Yee (half Ukrainian-half Chinese), USA’s Lynnette Cole (half Puerto Rican-half white), Zimbabwe’s Corrinne Crewe (half black-half white) and France’s Sonia Rolland (half French-half Rwandan) and even the winner of Miss Universe 2000, India’s Lara Dutta has European ancestry on her mother Jennifer’s side. Maria is 6 feet tall with a great body and is a stunning beauty and many eyes are on her to bring Thailand their third Miss Universe crown following the 1965 winner, Apasra Hongsakula and the 1988 winner, Porntip Bui Nakhirankanok Simon. Thailand has also hosted the Miss Universe pageant twice in two very memorable years (1992-which happens to be the year Maria was born and 2005). Maria also has quite an interesting résumé. She has worked as an English teacher, a DJ, a singer, a digital marketing manager and, of course, a model but she also is well educated having obtained a Bachelor's Degree from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University of Netherlands and would go on to attend the Stockholm Business School for her Master's Degree within the Stockholm University majoring in International Business Commerce. Maria is also fluent in English and Thai and speaks a little Swedish and Mandarin and as we learned from the 2016 Miss Universe pageant, there is more emphasis now on fluency in English considering that Miss Universe has to live in the United States during her reign. Maria has also raised awareness of various social issues as she has advocated towards gender equality, proper trash disposal and care for the homeless. Maria is ready to fight for that elusive Miss Universe crown and win the battle and bring the crown home so will the Thai people be tying yellow ribbons around old oak trees to support her? After the passing last year of their beloved King Bhumibol, a win would bring much solace to a nation in mourning so will Thailand experience joy again through Maria becoming their new international queen?
“Yeah, she's pretty... but is she a Rocket Scientist?!?!” That seems to be the question being asked of today’s pageant titleholders since IMG acquired ownership of the Miss Universe family of pageants in 2015. As demonstrated amongst recent titleholders, it is not enough for a titleholder to simply be confidently beautiful but she must also be uniquely accomplished. For example, take the reigning Miss USA, Kára Deidre McCullough who attended South Carolina State University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry with a concentration in radiochemistry and works as an emergency preparedness specialist in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response. Today’s adult titleholders already are working professionals like the reigning Miss Universe, France’s Iris Mittenaere who works as a dentist and even last year’s Miss USA, Deshauna Barber, who had the unique accomplishment of working in the military commissioned as a quartermaster officer and logistics commander in the Army Reserve as a captain and working as an IT analyst for the United States Department of Commerce. Even recent Miss Teen USA titleholders have had unique achievements like being able to quickly name all the presidents or the preamble to the constitution or hold special honors in the girl scouts. As this year’s host delegate, Kára is expected to have a lot of crowd support from the audience but Miss USA regularly places among the semifinals at Miss Universe missing the cut only 5 times in the pageant’s history (1957, 1976, 1999, 2002 and 2010) and the USA has won the crown 8 times (1954, 1956, 1960, 1967, 1980, 1995, 1997 and 2012) which is more than any other country. Venezuela is a close second with 7 Miss Universe crowns. If Kára was to win the Miss Universe crown, this would make her runner-up at Miss USA, New Jersey’s Chhavi Verg, the first woman of Indian descent to hold the Miss USA title. The USA has had a lot of tragedies recently and even shortly after it was announced that Las Vegas would be the venue for this year’s pageant, the largest mass shooting in modern U.S. history occurred in Las Vegas on October 1 so there probably will be something done to honor the victims of this attack similarly to what was done during the 2012 Miss Universe pageant. But, being the pattern seeker I am, I noticed a very interesting pattern that supports a Miss Universe win for the USA in 2017. For you see, in 1973, the USA’s Marjorie Wallace won the Miss World crown then 7 years later the USA’s Shawn Weatherly won the Miss Universe crown in 1980. In 1990, the USA’s Gina Tolleson won the Miss World crown then 7 years later the USA’s Brook Lee won the Miss Universe crown in 1997. In 2010, the USA’s Alexandria Mills won the Miss World crown and here we are 7 years later with the USA’s Kára McCullough with a chance to bring the pattern to fruition and continue the trend of the USA winning the Miss Universe crown seven years after winning each of its Miss World crowns.
Speaking of Science, this year’s Polish representative is quite the achiever and could be exactly the type of titleholder that IMG wants. Poland is sending the second runner up from the Miss Polonia 2016 pageant, Katarzyna Włodarek who is a polished Pole who can even pole dance! But don’t you dare dismiss her for that talent because apart from her ability to be a Pole who can pole dance, the absolutely gorgeous Katarzyna is very accomplished as she is also a working doctor at a clinical hospital in Wroclaw where she currently lives. Poland has sent some incredible stunners over the years but they have never captured the Miss Universe crown. In fact, the closest they have come were two 3rd runner up placements in 1986 and 1989 and their most recent placement was in the semifinals for 2012 which was also a Miss Universe pageant held in Las Vegas. Katarzyna, who is passionate about instructing young doctors and is an avid researcher in the field of medicine, could very well be taking a note from Poland’s very own Marie Curie who is the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in the field of Physics back in 1903 and Marie would continue making history winning a second Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911 making her the only woman in history to win two Nobel Prizes. Katarzyna has experience in pageantry as she has also competed in the Miss Model of the World pageant in China so could Katarzyna be Poland’s next big achiever? She has a very strong opportunity to capture a first Miss Universe crown for the land of Frédéric Chopin, where the mountains meet the sea, and of course, Marie Curie!
My friend Hernan also pointed out that it is quite common for streaks in the semifinals to end after 7 years. For example, at Miss Universe, the USA had a 7 year streak from 2003 to 2009 and Brazil had two 7 year streaks (1954 to 1960 and 1967 to 1973) and at Miss USA, Alabama placed from 2010 to 2016 and Tennessee also at Miss USA from 2006 to 2012 and Texas also at Miss USA from 1992 to 1998 so will the streak stop here or will Rachel be able to overcome this?? Rachel holds a business degree and worked in the events industry and the tropical haven of Asia has won 3 Miss Universe titles thanks to Gloria Diaz in 1969, Margarita Moran in 1973 and Pia Wurtzbach in 2015.
All alone, I sit home by the phone waiting for you, Baby! Keysi Sayago represents the international pageant powerhouse nation of Venezuela which as a country has experienced dire conditions over the last few years but this hasn’t stopped them from being a dominant force in the international pageant scene. Venezuela has a high standard in pageantry like no other country and Keysi hopes to bring Venezuela back in a big way after shockingly missing the semifinals last year. Venezuela had an incredible run placing in the top 6 for 13 years in a row from 1991 to 2003 which is an unmatched record and they have a whopping 7 Miss Universe crowns (1979, 1981, 1986, 1996, 2008, 2009 and 2013) making them second only to the USA who has 8 Miss Universe crowns and the Miss Universe pageant is, of course, American-owned… Venezuela is still the only country to have won the Miss Universe crown two years in a row (2008 and 2009). The Miss Venezuela organization knows that IMG wants an achiever and Keysi certainly is one as she works as a mechanical engineer in the National Experimental University of the Armed Forces in Los Teques, Miranda. As part of her video package, I’m sure Keysi will be shown helping people in her nation in turmoil and observing and using her engineering skills to improve the situation. Coming from a humble background, Keysi is the third Afro-Venezuelan woman to win the Miss Venezuela title succeeding Carolina Indriago in 1999 and Jictzad Vina in 2006.
My friend Hernan also points out a pattern supporting a win for Venezuela this year. When Las Vegas hosted the Miss Universe pageant in 2012, USA won, then when Las Vegas hosted again in 2015, Philippines won and they were also 1st runner in 2012 so the next pageant in Las Vegas would be won by the 2012 2nd runner up which was Venezuela so is this good sign for Keysi?? And in the following two Miss Universe pageants held in Las Vegas will the next Miss Universe be from Australia (the 3rd runner up in 2012) and then the next year in Vegas won by Brazil (4th runner up in 2012)?? Will Venezuela also be able to finally catch the USA and win an 8th Miss Universe crown? Keysi certainly hopes the judges will say-say-say so!
And Party Every Day! Iraq is back at the Miss Universe pageant for only the second time in the pageant’s history. Iraq’s first Miss Universe participant was Wijdan Burhan El-Deen Sulyman who competed in 1972 when the Miss Universe pageant was held in Puerto Rico that year. Sarah Abdali Idan was selected as Iraq’s representative at Miss Universe just recently on November 1 and was crowned in a special ceremony held at Miss Iraq Organization headquarters in Qadisiya, Baghdad by outgoing titleholder, Shaymaa Qasim who was originally supposed to compete at Miss Universe 2016 but withdrew for personal reasons. Earlier this year, Vian Sulaimani was originally supposed to compete at Miss Universe but she was dethroned as Miss Universe Iraq after violating the contract rules after she was found to have been previously married. As a result, a casting was held and Sarah was selected. Iraq’s return to the Miss Universe pageant is certain to garner much media attention seeing how this nation has been in the headlines for many years now and Sarah has the opportunity to educate the Universe about the beauty of her people. Sarah is 27 years old and stands 5'7" tall. She was raised in Baghdad but her parents originate from the city of Hillah in Babylon. Sarah is quite talented and works as a singer, songwriter and musician and she graduated with a degree in performance arts. Sarah is also the reigning Miss Iraq USA and with her connections to the United States, this can only help her in her quest for the Universal crown. Sarah worked with the American led coalition forces in Baghdad following the invasion of Iraq in 2003 which is how she got the chance to travel to the United States. A placement from Iraq would surely be beneficial to educate the masses about the people of this country and to hopefully improve their perspective. Will stunning Sarah not only get Iraq’s first semifinalist placement in Miss Universe history but possibly a win that would surely garner huge international headlines???
Peru has already crowned their titleholder for 2018, Romina Lozano, so she will have lots of time to prepare and we will probably be talking about her next year but in the meantime, the land of the Incas hopes to place for a second year in a row in the semifinals with their 2017 representative, Prissila Howard. Romina was crowned only one month after Prissila was officially appointed as Peru's representative. Prissila was the 1st runner up to last year's Miss Peru, Valeria Piazza. The recently concluded Peruvian pageant did something very unique and notable. When asked to state their measurements, rather than giving their body measurements like 90-60-90 in centimeters or 36-24-36 in inches, the contestants broke tradition by stating gender-violence statistics to protest the country’s record on these statistics which is timely and relevant given the number of sexual harassment cases that have been featured in the media recently and even gave birth to the #MeToo campaign. For example, one contestant would state, “My name is Juana Acevedo and my measurements are: More than 70 percent of women in our country are victims of street harassment.” I have a strong feeling that IMG will smile on this daring step forward as it takes attention away from irrelevant statistics like one’s body measurements and puts the focus and raises awareness of problematic statistics and this groundbreaking aspect of the Miss Peru pageant was prominently featured in international headlines and this could result in another placement for Peru. Prissila also has previous pageant experience winning the Miss Teen del Pacifico 2010 title and she also placed in the top 10 at Miss Grand International 2016 which coincidentally was also held in Las Vegas. Because France won the Miss Universe title last year, Peru now currently holds the distinction of being the country that has had to wait the longest for a repeat win since their only win was way back in 1957 thanks to Gladys Zender. Peru also hosted the 1982 Miss Universe pageant and former Miss Peru, Jessica Newton and semifinalist at Miss Universe 1987 has done a great job as national director of the Miss Peru pageant inviting Miss Universe titleholders for her pageants and maybe the land of Machu Picchu could be a repeat host in the future. How will Prissila measure up??
More than we can handle. A lot of natural disasters and hurricanes have recently ravaged a lot of Caribbean nations and parts of the United States and one central nation that has made headlines due to this is the Shining Star of the Caribbean, Puerto Rico. The island nation has won a whopping 5 Miss Universe crowns (1970, 1985, 1993, 2001 and 2006) and they have even hosted the Miss Universe pageant 3 times (1972, 2001 and 2002). However, many of the islands are still in a state of disarray with numerous areas without electricity and clean, running water several weeks later. Many high profile celebrities have created fundraisers after Hurricanes Irma and Maria caused much destruction throughout the Caribbean in September 2017. Representing San Juan, Danyeshka (Danna) Hernández won the right to represent Puerto Rico at Miss Universe so a lot of eyes will be on her to see if the story associated with hurricanes and the difficulties with getting aid to them will help her or perhaps other Caribbean nations. Danna has some previous pageant experience placing in the top 7 of Miss Teen Americas 2013. She works as a model and studies Communications, Public Relations and Marketing at the University of Puerto Rico. Another one of those decimated nations many people are eyeing is Haiti with their stunning representative, Cassandra Chéry who, like Danna, also is a model studying Communications. Cassandra is following on the heels of a 1st runner up placement at the 2016 Miss Universe pageant thanks to Raquel Pélissier who matched the 1st runner up placement obtained by Haiti’s Gerthie David back in 1975. Many natural disasters have wreaked havoc on Haiti in recent years particularly the catastrophic 2010 earthquake of which Raquel spoke during the last Miss Universe pageant. Will Cassandra, with her amazing fresh looks and brilliant smile, use all these aspects to her advantage and perhaps be getting Haiti its first win??