| The delegates are currently rehearsing in Bangkok, Thailand |
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FIRST RUNNER-UP: Puerto Rico (Cynthia Olavarria)
SECOND RUNNER-UP: Dominican Republic (Renata Sone)
THIRD RUNNER-UP: Mexico (Laura Elizondo)
FOURTH RUNNER-UP: Venezuela (Monica Spear)
TOP TEN: Peru, USA, Latvia, Switzerland and Israel
TOP FIFTEEN: Trinidad/Tobago, Norway, Indonesia, Greece and South Africa
NATALIE GLEBOVA is 23 years old and comes from Toronto, the commercial capital of Canada. Born in Russia, she and her family moved to Canada when she was only 12. Eventually she received a commerce degree, but her real interest was in modelling. She hopes to pursue a Masters' Degree one day, but for the next year, she will stay in New York City and travel to different countries, as a representative of the Miss Universe Organization. She is the third delegate to this pageant to be sent under national director Denis Davila, who brought the license in 2002 and formed the Miss Universe Canada Pageant, with a focus on finding glamourous representatives for Canada.
This year's edition of Miss Universe proved to be one of the most boring telecasts ever. An attempt at 'grandiosity' fell flat on its face. The pre-taped introductions were as uninspiring as the exact same ones, done since 2003. The opening dresses were a monstrosity of purple and red, by noted C-Grade fashion designer Tadashi. We were further amused by the antics of the host, Billy Bush, as he classified Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico as 'South American' countries. The eveningwear parade and swimwear parade were made even more boring, with elevator-type music playing in the background. I am personally in favor of music like that used in Miss Universe 2002 and 2003, which adds a touch of drama to the event with instrumental/synthesized tunes which complement the girls. Vocals and/or live performers usually take away from the delegates, but the music used this year was simply sleep-inducing. Add to that mistake one of the worst set designs, ever. The overall design, including background, were as cheesy as those used in Miss Universe 1994, looking as if they were painted for a third-grade school play, and not an international event geared towards fashion & beauty. Pageant sets in the 21st century should, once again, not take away from the girls, but create a modern, simplistic setting which gives a hint of fashionability and minimalism. Stages can also be grandiose, as well, but if that is the case, the theme should be extravagant and truly give us a cultured feel for the theme. This was simply a cheap imitation. The low-point was the set used during the swimsuit competition, which had to be one of the ugliest sets to grace a stage for any event, EVER.
The results of the pageant clearly noted Miss Universe's catering to its target audience: Latin America, especially pageant-crazy countries such as Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. I guess in the big picture, this is a business, and those girls placing so high will mean that tv networks in Latin America will fork out more cash next year. After all, most other parts of the world shut out the broadcast. Indeed, we also saw little of them in the semi-finalists group in 2004 or 2005. LAst year, only 5 of the 15 semi-finalists came from the Eastern hemisphere. This year was even more insulting to beautiful representatives from Albania, Lebanon, Antigua & Barbuda, France, Chile, Ethiopia, etc. who were left out in the cold for the tacky, outdated 'Barbie Doll' look approach by most of the Hispanic contestants. In its business strategy as a whole, if Miss Universe hopes to regain a viewing audience in Europe, Africa or Asia, where it is virtually dead, it must have a more representative group of semi-finalists. The 2002 and 2003 group would be better examples.
What Are They Looking For?
Every year, this questions is asked by fans of the Miss Universe Pageant, as they try to figure out the final outcome. Since the advent of internet pageantry, the eventual winners of the crown since circa-1998 have been in the group of hotly mentioned favorites, with the exception of Mpule Kwelaglobe. So, the question remains...who will it be this year?
MISS UNIVERSE 2005: Canada
FIRST RUNNER-UP: Venezuela
SECOND RUNNER-UP: Greece
THIRD RUNNER-UP: Puerto Rico
FOURTH RUNNER-UP: Japan
TOP TEN: Antigua and Barbuda, South Africa, Chile, Colombia, USA
TOP FIFTEEN: Thailand, Albania, Norway, France, Latvia
Alternates: India, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Lebanon and Russia
Fantasy List (In my Ideal World)
Miss Universe: RUSSIA
Court (in order): IRELAND, UKRAINE, CROATIA, ALBANIA
Top Ten: ANTIGUA, LEBANON, ETHIOPIA, CANADA, CHILE
Top Fifteen: FRANCE, KOREA, INDIA, VIETNAM, GUATEMALA
ASIA AND OCEANIA
THAILAND - Initially, I was impressed by how bold and fashionable this Miss was compared to her predecessors...but as time went on, and finally ending with the Presentation Show, she seems to have totally lost that spark. she is still facially pretty, but her gown is unflattering, and she has no stage presence of catwalk capabilities. She will probably make the Top 15-10 for being the host country AND being attractive, but its not set in stone.
JAPAN - I have never been a big fan, mostly because I found the facial features of this six-footer to be a turn-off. What she lacks in communication skills and facial beauty, she made up for with amazing stage presence and catwalk skills. I was in the camp of naysayers about the bizarre gown choices, but after seeing the video, I realize that she really did make it work, and thats the key to MU success. Strong contender for the Top 15-10-5.
LEBANON (Nadine Njeim) - After seeing some recent Lebanese contenders look beautiful in MW and then disastrous when showing up to MU, its refreshing to see that Nadine stayed intact. Her face is one of the most beautiful in competition, and she has good stage presence/catwalk capabilities. Her physique could be better, and her gown does not complement her. However, the overall package SHOULD be up there. Let us no forget politics tends to be an issue, so that could keep her out. Should be in the Top 15-10.
OTHERS in ASIA - The pageant is in Asia, but don't expect a repeat of the 1988 MU Pageant, as the contenders just are not there. The alternatives/additions begins with Amrita Thapar (India), who has one of the best personalities and has the stage presence/catwalk skills to make it. Her downfall is her poor physique, although she shined in the eveningwear segment. Definitely still in the running. Also highly-mentioned is Artika Devi (Indonesia), who has surprised us with an offbeat look (that works) in terms of hair and eveningwear, and an impressive onstage performance. It creates a sharp contrast to most of the Asian contestants, and the political angle can only help her. Definitely still in the running. We should not totally ignore Singapore, who is one of the more beautiful representatives from her country, and Philippines, who also has the 'modern edge' and did a great job onstage in both segments, with a certain flair in her walk.
EUROPE
ALBANIA (Agnese Vuthaj) - Facially she is beautiful. Her onstage presentations were both strong, but not outstanding. While I think her 'classic' beauty merits a semi-finalist berth, its also difficult to say. Strong contender for the Top 15-10-5.
FRANCE (Cindy Fabre) - Facially attractive and has gone for a clean, modern look throughout events. Her presentation onstage was strong, and the gown, although very busy, complements her smile and skin tone. Strong contender for the Top 15.
NORWAY (Helene Traasavik) - In the shadow of Kathrine Sorland, Helene has managed to make herself stand out, less on facial beauty, and more on presence and personality. She did a better job in the eveningwear segment in standing out. Strong contender for the Top 15-10.
LATVIA - This country's first participation looks to be a successful one. Facially, she is attractive despite a bad smile. However, her look is clean-cut and elegant. Her gown is traditional yet stylish. Her presentation skills are lacking, however, and so it becomes more difficult to say whether can make it to the very end. Strong contender for Top 15-10-5
GREECE - Here is a beauty who is completely under-noticed. All in all, she is gorgeous! Blonde hair, beautiful eyes, tall, trim and managing to work a very old-fashioned style the best she can. Just based on this, she is a strong contender for the Top 15. OTHERS in EUROPE - There is so much potential in Europe, but its difficult to say who will be lucky enough to make the cut. The group is rather uniform, looks-wise, with less stand-outs than last year. Croatia is absolutely beautiful, with delicate features, but unfortunately lacking in presence. Italy is similiar to France, but is less successful in making herself stand out, and in the show-down between the two, France clearly wins. Russia is simply a sex bomb who is not Oxana, but still manages to carry herself very well onstage. Serbia & Montenegro is beautiful, but her look is almost haggard in the presentation show. Georgia, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands
AMERICA'S
USA (Chelsea Cooley) - Admittedly, Chelsea does not match up in any way to the beautiful Shandi Finnessey. Still, she is the representative of the USA and most likely will get a Top 15 spot for ratings' sake. She seems clearly out of her league in this contest.
CANADA (Natalie Glebova) - After a few years of coming out of its shell at MU, Canada is finally represented by a true crown contender. She has the porcelain European face, complemented by a ripped body and the lack of the usual Eastern European fashion disasters. At this point, she is the best of two worlds and clearly among the front-runners for the crown. She should try to exude a bit more personality when interviewing, but she does not lack it on the runaway, where she is simply oozing with energy and sex appeal. Strong contender for the crown.
MEXICO (Laura Elizondo) - Once a fierce contender, Laura's potential is lost in a drab look. No brutal fashion mistakes were made, but the choices do not glamourize her to the point where she could truly compete. Can still place, but not likely to go far.
COLOMBIA (Adriana Tarud) - Here is another high-potential delegate gone bad. Her body is great, her gown complements her, but her look is all wrong, and facially leaves her looking mediocre, at best. Onstage, her presence is excellent, and that could be the key to clinching a semi-finalist berth. Strong contender for the Semi-finals.
VENEZUELA (Monica Spear) - While I have never been a fan of Monica, because her features are too babyish, it is hard to deny that Venezuela will always be a contender. Her styling did not lack much, except impact. Her presence did not lack much, except all sense of personality. She is likely to be a fierce contender for the crown.
CHILE (Renata Ruiz) - The most appealing thing about the Chilean representative is how modern and simplistic her look is compared to the barbie doll look we are drowned with from other contestants in this region. The disappointment was in her ramp walk. It seems that Ms. Ruiz is probably more of a print model than a ramp model. Still, she has presence and the clean-cut look should help her in the competition. Strong contender for Top 15-10.
OTHERS in AMERICA'S - There are other possibilities here and there, but its extremely hard to say just who, because they are all basically on the same level. On that note, we should not totally discount contestants such as Brazil, Panama, Peru from achieving the composite attributes to slip in there.
CARIBBEAN
PUERTO RICO - This island nation has sent another potential star in the form of Cynthia. The upsides for her are many: a doll face, a good body, a noncontroversial gown choice. The downsides are that she has overdone the barbie doll look and uniqueness is still an important aspect. Still, her overall attributes make her stand out. Will be in the Top 15, can go all the way to becoming PR's 6th winner.
ANTIGUA & BARBUDA (Shermain Jeremy) - This island nation is set for its first Miss Universe semi-finalist ever. Shermain is on the top personalities, as it is. Add to that an incredible transformation into a polished stage queen for this pageant, which contrasts with the rougher image we had in MW. Her gown is sexy and complements her vibrance. Her swimsuit performance was fair, as well. Strong contender for the Top 15-10
OTHERS in CARIBBEAN REGION - This is not this region's strongest bunch, even with two top contenders. The likely alternatives/additions are the following: Rychacviana Coffie (Curacao) and Magdalene Walcott (Trinidad). Curacao has the facial beauty and packaging, but also has a total lack of stage presence. Meekness is not a plus in Miss Universe. On the other hand, Trinidad & Tobago has lost her curls, but also a distinctive quality from her MW stint, which makes her blend into the background among a sea of cookie-cutter beauty queens. Still, she has looks, personality, height and presence, and all of that could be enough to carry her in.
AFRICA
ETHIOPIA - By far the most beautiful African contestant, this beauty has all the attributes to advance further, including a superb smile and clean-cut look. The only complaint I have is that she appears to be competing for Miss USA, not Miss Universe. The extremely Western look could benefit and hurt her. Hot contender for Top 15, Top 10.
SOUTH AFRICA (Claudia Henkel) - I firmly place myself in the gallery of fans that feel the SA representative this year looks much too matronly for this competition. The presentation show was the final straw, mostly due to horrible hair and make-up and unflattering poses. The upside is that, she is a decent-looking, tlal woman who speaks well, so she has a chance to place, but is probably far from the crown.
OTHERS in AFRICA - Africa is likely to have 1-2 semi-finalists, max. Ethiopia looks clearly ahead of this bunch, but surprises can happen...remember Telmha Sonhi from Angola last year? But on beauty and poise, the alternative would be Cynthia Kanema (Zambia) who is looking regal and polished in this pageant, and has experience from MW and MI on her side.
Press Views it as Wasted Frivolity
But that is just one piece of the puzzle. The few Thai papers, who make ocassional observations on the pageant, seem harshly critical of the whole thing. One mentioned the haggard appearance and low aesthetic quality of the candidates, in what is supposed to be a 'beauty spectacle.' Just a few days ago, The Nation ran a fierce editorial, lambasting the Thai tourism ministry, in what they claim is a flop promotion. Here are some interesting details from the story, by Suchat Sritarna: Apichart Sankary, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, said 93,458 tourists arrived during the first 15 days of May, down 9.5 per cent over the same period last year. Other tourism-related associations like the International Air Ticket Association and the Thai Hotels Association also confirmed that the figures were not satisfactory. Prakit Shinamourpong, deputy president of the Thai Hotels Association, said Bangkok’s average hotel occupancy rate in the first half of the month was 70 per cent, the same as last year. With the exception of the Dusit Thani and the Sofitel Central Plaza, which were chosen as the official hotels for the pageant, city hotels have not received any extra bookings during the pageant period. “This contest has not yielded any positive result for Bangkok hotels,” a hotel executive said.
"International" Broadcast
On a final note, Sritama expressed hope that at least the television broadcast would be well-watched around the world. However, this hope is likely to be an illusion as well. In North America, the pathetic drop in ratings for the Miss USA Pageant has made NBC jittery about the investment placed into the pageant. Almost all European station operators have stopped televising the pageant. In Asia, a deal was struck with Star World last year, which is the only broadcaster for the pageant in countries such as China, India and Malaysia, where local stations have not purchased tv rights. However, bad ratings have made Star World pick up its option again for 2005, but it will delay its telecast until June 15th. The pageant is increasingly being isolated to its strong Latin American market, where most countries have optioned a live telecast on some sort of major network.
Other Controversy
The main controversy surrounding the pageant is the participation of Artika Devi on behalf of Indonesia. In 1996, trouble arose as the media in Indonesia ran photos of the contestant in swimsuit and lambasted her. Protests took place in Indonesia, protesting Artika's participation, but officially, the government has not made an official statement. On a more humorous note, the Vietnamese cultural ministry said that Vietnam's representative should be disqualified, because she did not win the official Miss Vietnam title, the winner of which goes on to Miss World. Miss Universe organization officials felt this was not a legitimate reason to disqualify the contestant.
The Pits
The Thailand tourism ministry's organization of events also seems to have taken Miss Universe down to a new low. We started with "Tasting of Thai Fruit" in the hotel, where the girls were given some fruits to sample and were photographed eating them (Basically, the new high of excitement). This was followed by a "Grand Parade", where the delegates were crowded onto a few floats and quickly driven past some sparse onlookers, as once again, they were photographed. This was followed by a dinner at the "Royal Navy Club", where interestingly enough, a press source reported that the media immediately lost interest in the contestants once a member of the Thai royal family arrived on scene. Only a handful of delegates were chosen for the Krungsri GE Lady Mastercard Event, which can be described as nothing more than a credit card press call.
This was followed by the traditional Charity Auction Dinner, and then a Memorial Candlelight Vigil from Tsunami Victims, where the delegates tried to look pretty for photographers while holding ugly plastic candles. My heart is melting by such a show of charity. For more lessons in putting together fake events for the press, TAT presented Thai Cooking Goes Global, where the delegates ate food and were photographed once again. Oh...I get it...global delegates eathing Thai food...Thai food goes Global...funny...(sic)! If that was not enough, the delegates were then taken on a tour of Singha Breweries, and sadly for them, they were not allowed to drink. Anyone who has toured a brewery before would know how important it is to kill the pain BEFORE starting the tour.
...and if THAT was not enough, there was more excitement in store at the Siam City Cement Event, where a handful of selected delegates attended Siam City Cement's PR event, which probably means Siam City Cement gave a nice, big fat check to TAT...moving on. Finally, the delegates were taken down to Phuket, where they spent the day on a beach, pretending to have fun in a mock beach party. The footage will be used for the final telecast. TAT hopes that tourism in Tsunami-affected Phuket will swing back after Miss Universe. Apparently TAT does not realize that in the countries where most Phuket tourists come from (Norway, Germany, Netherlands, etc.) Miss Universe will not be televised...alas, business is the name of the gain.
...and winding down to the final events., there was a Bank of Ayudhia Money Expo...and yes, as you can imagine, Bank of Ayudhia probably also wrote out a nice big, fat check to get some PR models.
National Costume: Home-Judging?
It was a home victory for Thailand's own Chananporn Rosjan in the National Costume segment. Although we can not go out on too much of a limb here, its presumed that the judges for the National Costume segment were local. This is not the first time this happened. Nicole Simone Dyer won the award in 1999, Gilda García López in 1986 and Charlene Gonzalez in 1994, among others, all with local panels judging the award. Chananporn was accompanied by some surprises: Katerina Smejkalova from the Czech Republic finished second, in a costume which has been used in several pageants several times in the past, but was never recognized. Laura Elizondo from Mexico finished third, in a gigantic Vegas-esque depiction of Aztec culture. Gionna Cabrera of the Philippines, wearing the traditional 'Maria Clara' design sent by the country, and Wenieka Ewing of the Turks & Caicos, wearing a dress that says 'Turks & Caicos Islands', completed the top five.