Dayana Mendoza was crowned Miss Universe, in a pageant dominated by Latin beauties. The 22-year-old girl was one of the favorites early on in the beauty contest, held in Vietnam.
Dayana proved her sense of humor while answering gracefully to her question regarding men having it easier in life. She replied,
“men think that the best way to reach a point is a straight line, but we women take some curves and detours to fix everything right”.
As history repeated itself, Miss USA fell during the night gown competition, just as it happened to last yearÂ’s contestant, Rachel Smith, during the 2007 Miss Universe pageant held in Mexico City.
Crystle Stewart quickly stood up, applauded along with the audience and with a smile, continued to model as it nothing had happened.
The Top 10 Contestants:
* Miss Venezuela Dayana Mendoza
* Miss USA Cyrstle Steward
* Miss Italy Claudia Ferraris
* Miss Russia Vera Krasova
* Miss Dominican Republic Marianne Cruz
* Miss Kosovo Zana Krasniqi
* Miss Australia Laura Dundovic
* Miss Spain Claudia Moro
* Miss Mexico Elisa Najera
* Miss Columbia Taliana Vargas
How bizarre is it, that for two years in a row our contestant falls down. I bet Donald Trump is involved somehow.
Crystle Stewart, a 26-year-old entrepreneur from Texas, was named Miss USA on Friday, beating 50 other beauty queens for the coveted crown.
[Click thumbnails for a larger view]
Stewart, of Missouri City, Texas, runs a party-planning and motivational speaking company, as well as modeling professionally. She says she wants to dedicate her life to international philanthropy.
“I want to talk to people about how to set a goal and achieve it,” she told The Associated Press after the show. “Because I just achieved my goal.”
Stewart edged out first runner-up Leah Laviano of Mississippi and Tiffany Andrade of New Jersey.
Miss USA 2007 Rachel Smith relinquished the crown — and the posh New York apartment that comes with it — in a show aired live by NBC with hosts Donny and Marie Osmond from the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The network co-owns the parent Miss Universe Organization with Donald Trump.
Smith, a former Miss Tennessee USA, said she was headed to Hollywood.
Stewart was headed for the publicity circuit. She said she was eager to travel and spread her message of self-improvement to young women. She noted she was one of only a handful of black woman crowned Miss USA in the pageant’s 57-year history.
“I think the United States is coming together,” she said, citing the historic presidential candidacies of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. She declined to name her preference.
“I don’t know, we’ll see. Fundamentally, I’m a Democrat,” she said.
Contestants from all 50 states and the District of Columbia have been in Las Vegas for nearly three weeks, rehearsing and hyping the 57th annual pageant. After stints in Baltimore and Los Angeles, organizers billed the new venue as a city beloved by the event’s international audience.
The pageant tried to showed off its edge, featuring a grinding live rock performance by the band Finger Eleven, music from Rihanna, and contestants in barely there black bikinis and faux-fur coats.
Donny and Marie kept up a steady stream of sibling banter even while swiftly whittling the field.
Donny Osmond told the losers to “put on a poker face” as he sent them home.
“Or use Botox; then it won’t move,” Marie quipped.
Stewart will compete in the Miss Universe pageant in Vietnam in July. She also becomes a spokeswoman for breast and ovarian cancer awareness and other causes, while traveling to promote the organization.
Here they are….glamour shots of the women striving to out claw each other to get to that giant gawdy crown. On April 11th in Las Vegas, the ladies will hit the Theatre for the Performing Arts to take the reigns from Rachel Smith. The 57th Annual MISS USA Competition will be broadcasted on NBC from the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.
Get your TiVo and mute buttons ready!
[Click the Thumbnails for a Larger Image]
AL: Keisha Walding, AK: Courtney Carroll, AZ: Kimberly Joiner, AR: Rachel Howells, CA: Raquel Beezley, CO: Beckie Hughes, CT: Jacqueline Honulik, DE: Vincenza Carrieri-Ruso, DC: Chelsea Rodgers, FL: Jessica Rafalowski
Stewart, of Missouri City, Texas, runs a party-planning and motivational speaking company, as well as modeling professionally. She says she wants to dedicate her life to international philanthropy.
