August 22, 2009
T'was the night before the 2009 Miss Universe Pageant. All the predictions are in. People will argue in the next few hours on who they think should or should not make the semi finals. Forums, chat rooms and blogs will be at it's busiest until Billy and Claudia announce the top 15 tomorrow evening.
Can you imagine what the candidates for this year's Miss Universe Pageant must be feeling right now? They work all their lives to get to this point and it's only hours away before they find out if their future is going to change forever.
This is one of those years that you immediately know who the front runners are. There are some pretty good number of stunners this year. We think that the theme this year is "exotic". The more exotic looking, the better. France, Germany and The Netherlands sent some pretty exotic contestants this year. It is also interesting to note how Miss Colombia last year, Taliana Vargas, seems to have started a trend of evening gowns this year. Most are made with yards and yards of fabric so they can imitate Taliana's signature move.
We were pleased that the Miss Universe Organization decided to webcast the preliminary competition this year. It gave pageant fans around the world a chance to watch and see how their favorites did. It's amazing what technology can do these days.
It is sad to hear that ticket sales for the main event has been very slow. We were at the Atlantis resort last year for the 2008 Miss Teen USA Pageant and we can honestly say that you have to be prepared to spend a lot of money in the Bahamas. Especially if you stay at the Atlantis resort. Everything was very expensive and the rooms were really nothing special. We were going to cover this year's Miss Universe Pageant live but after seeing the prices, we backed out the last minute. We're sure that a lot of people were discouraged when they saw the room and ticket prices. In this economy, who can afford it?
At any rate, it seems that this year's Miss Universe has grabbed a lot of attention. We haven't seen this much excitement, news and coverage since the early 90's. This year's pageant promises a lot of surprises, great performers and an unforgettable evening.
This is the 58th anniversary of the pageant and we are excited to see who will be crowned as the most beautiful woman in the universe.
Miss Colombia, Taliana Vargas, during the evening gown competition of the 2008 Miss Universe Pageant in Vietnam.
Miss France, Chloe Mortaud (above), has dual citizenship, French and American; Miss Germany, Martina Lee (upper right), is fluent in both German and English; Miss Netherlands, Avalon-Chanel Weyzig (right), is half Dutch and half Indonesian.
Now, let's get on with the good stuff. Who do we think will do well in this pageant? Well, there is no way for us find out how these women did in their preliminary interviews so if we weigh-in heavily just on the preliminary swimsuit and evening gown competitions, there are 5 definite front runners. First, Miss Dominican Republic, Ada Dela Cruz. She's got Miss Universe written all over her. She's very statuesque, very confident and the camera loves her! Second, Miss France, Chloe Mortaud. Talk about exotic beauty. We can already picture her with the new Miss Universe crown on her head. Her pictures have been on every forum, blogs and newspapers. She has a lot of people rooting for her and there is a good reason for that. Third, Miss USA, Kristen Dalton. She's got to be one of the strongest candidates from the United States in years. She nailed both the swimsuit and evening gown competitions during the preliminaries and she just seem very well-prepared. Fourth, Miss Russia, Sofia Rudyeva. She is stunning, sweet and very confident. It's funny how some people thought she was too timid during the preliminaries. We didn't think so. She glided on that stage and performed really well. The fifth and final one is Miss Philippines, Pamela Bianca Manalo. It's about time that the candidate from the Philippines finally gets the attention it deserves. Bianca nailed the preliminary competition and definitely caught the attention of the audience.
With that said, it's quite difficult to pin point who really has the edge because looking at the preliminary judges, there were few of Asian decent. Does that mean the Asian contenders had the edge? They might. There are some strong Asian delegates this year and they all performed really well in the preliminaries. Miss Indonesia is adorable, Miss Malaysia had the best catwalk, Miss Vietnam worked the crowd and Miss Japan and Miss China showed that Asian women can be very fashionable.
There are more contenders this year that could just sneak in and take it all. Miss Ghana is one of them. Jennifer blew us away. She's stunning and just presented herself really well. Miss Kosovo...what an evening gown! She came out and everyone's jaw just dropped. Miss Guatemala was perfect! Her poise and style is pretty hard to miss. Miss Spain was simply stunning in her black evening gown.
What happened to the powerhouse pageant countries like Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Colombia? Well, they are not getting as much attention as they have in previous years. Why? Well, Miss Mexico, Karla Carrillo, is stunning and we love her! But some of the decisions that were made hurt her. Especially during the preliminary evening gown competition. She's got gorgeous hair. Why in the world would she put her hair up like she did? Plus, the evening gown she wore was too plain and had no impact to the audience. We were expecting Karla to come out in something so dramatic like Elisa's gown last year but she looked like she was wearing a negligee. Miss Puerto Rico, Mayra Matos Perez, is a great contender this year but is lacking the appeal. Miss Venezuela, Stefania Fernandez, is gorgeous but something's missing. Miss Colombia, Michelle Rouillard, is very strong candidate but again, another one that made some questionable decisions. We saw Michelle when she won the Miss Colombia title and we were sure that she would continue the streak for Colombia at Miss Universe. Then she arrived in the Bahamas months later and surprise the heck out of us and other fans. She cut her hair really short! Who in the world made her do that knowing she will be competing at the most prestigious pageant in the world?! We supposed that it shouldn't matter. Heck, Miss Tanzania 2007, competed bald! We always wondered how in the world will the crown stay in her head if she would have won the pageant.
Will the Caribbean waters bring luck to both Miss Ghana and Miss Philippines again? In 1999, when the pageant was also held in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad & Tobago, both countries did really well. Miss Ghana, Akuba Cudjoe, made history for being the first Miss Ghana to make the semi finals. Miss Philippines, Miriam Quiambao, also did well and placed 1st Runner Up.
As a final remark, we think it's going to be an evening full of surprises. We think Europe will dominate this year. We just hope that the judges questions won't start any controversy like those at Miss USA. We'd like to wish all the contestants good luck! We will be posting live results here so please visit us again. The top 15 results should be available between 6pm to 6:30pm PST.
Enjoy the pageant everyone!
