THE MISS UNIVERSE PAGEANT 2008

The 57th annual Miss Universe Pageant was held midst much fanfare in Vietnam on the 14th of July. Miss Venezuela, Dayana Mendoza won the crown what many believe to be the most prestigious beauty pageant in the world, with amazing ease and consistency marking the country fifth Miss Universe title equaling Puerto Rico’s record. Miss Colombia finished second, marking the fourth time the South American nation finished in second place which included three consecutive first runner-up finishes (1992-94) one of which was to Sushmita Sen in 1994. Dominican Republic, Russia and Mexico rounded off the final five contestants.

Unlike other years the contest started with no firm favourites and crafted a very open field. With each week passing Venezuela’s Mendoza affirmed her pole position among the eighty delegates with a confident display in the preliminary competition which included a super splendid display in the evening gown competition. Colombia, Mexico, India and USA proved to be the firm favourites behind Venezuela.

The most high profile contestant was Ingrid Reviera from the pageant loving nation of Puerto Rico. She was a second runner up at the Miss World pageant in 2005. She came to the pageant armed with a very public news of a failed sabotage at her bid to become Miss Puerto Rico Universe 2008 as most of the national contestants felt that she was too experienced to be part of the pageant. Nevertheless, she gave a mediocre performance at the preliminary competition and could not gain a berth in the final 15. Adding to the injuries was a faulty make over and terrible surgeries to enhance her looks.

India’s Simran Kaur Mundi, was perhaps one of the country better delegates in the recent years but failed to make the cut this year. Her exclusion was hotly debated and completely astonishing as she had proved to be a firm favourite among the local press and the various pageant websites; prime among those were Missosology.org and GlobalBeauties.com which rated her among the top fifteen and top ten delegates consistently.

Yet the politics of her exclusion will torment the Femina Miss India organisers for a long time. Her performances at the preliminary competition were superior especially at the evening gown segment and she was the only contestant in the competition to finish as runner up in every preliminary contest (Swim Suits, Ao Dai/Traditional Vietnamese Costume Competition and National Costume). Perhaps the inclusion of the very undeserving yet stunningly beautiful Puja Gupta, Miss India Universe 2007, at the previous edition of Miss Universe in Mexico led to Simran’s exclusion this year. India’s placement at Miss Universe 2007 drew heavy flak for the Miss Universe Organisation. Yet Simran did represent India with complete conviction and deserves credit for the same.

This years pageant was hosted by former Spice Girl Melanie B aka Scary Spice and Jerry Springer the host of ‘Americas got talent’. The judges included famed designer Roberto Cavalli, Miss Universe 2004 Jennifer Hawkins and India’s own Esha Koppikhar amongst others. Vietnam had pulled up all stops to host the pageant even building a state of the art convention centre to host the pageant. The country’s delegate made it to the top 15. Thailand won the online National Costume contest which replaced the traditional online Miss Photogenic contest while El Salvador won the Miss Congeniality title, a contest where the delegates themselves vote for a contestant who left a lasting impression of friendship on them. The newly born nation of Kosovo scored a top 10 finish though many argue the fact if the delegate deserved the same. Similarly the inclusion of Hungary and Japan shocked analysts.

Miss USA Crystal Stewart, who has a colourful history of perseverance behind her (she competed five times for her state title of Miss Texas which included two consecutive first runner-up finishes before she won the title), slipped on her heavily beaded train of her evening gown in the segments competition. This is the second consecutive year that a Miss USA slipped in the evening gown segment. Last year at the Miss Universe Pageant in Mexico, Rachel Smith, the then Miss USA slipped on the hem of her jeweled gown and instantly became a star on the video sharing website YouTube.com. Both these contestants recovered with much poise except Rachel Smith made it to the top five while Crystal Stewart failed, the fall costing her the very deserving top five finish.
In the end the sparkling and effervescent Miss Venezuela confirmed her country’s superiority in beauty pageants by razing the field and dismissing close favoutites in Mexico, Colombia and USA (who scripted her doom by slipping). Her answer to the difference between the lives of men and women was crafted with delicious diplomacy while it was profoundly intense. She remarked that men go straight to the problems core and try and fix it while women go round the curves, fixing every nook and corner before taking the problem head on. In addition to her final answer she topped the evening gown segment and finished second in the swim suit contest.
The show glamourous as ever celebrated beauty, poise and intelligence of women the world over. The winner can look forward to a year of opportunities and appearances for charitable organisations working towards eradication of AIDS and promoting its awareness. The only hitch, I hoped it would be India in place of Venezuela.
Sayan S. Das