From flags to Facebook, 22-year-old Jimena Navarrete has quickly made it clear what she plans to promote as the world’s newest Miss Universe – her home country of Mexico.
“I want the whole world to know about my country and my people,” the Guadalajara native said after beating 82 competitors for global bragging rights at the pageant in Las Vegas.
“I imagine that they’re all going crazy in Mexico right now,” she said through an interpreter. “I’m extremely proud and I’m sure they’re very proud, too.”
She donned a flowing red dress, strutted confidently in a violet bikini, and said onstage that the Internet is indispensable and requires parents to impart family values.
The model-turned pageant queen then posed for pictures with a Mexican flag and Mexico’s last Miss Universe as congratulations from her countrymen came pouring in.
“Her triumph is a source of pride and satisfaction for all Mexicans, who see in her the fruits of perseverance,” Mexican President Felipe Calderon said in a statement. Immediately after her win, Calderon said on Twitter that her victory would help Mexico’s image as a country.
“We won, long live Mexico!” Navarrete said on her fan page on Facebook, spurring 478 “likes” and 218 comments in about one hour.
She was cheered by Spanish-speaking reporters clamoring to talk with her after the pageant, and twice answered questions about Arizona’s recent immigration law.
“Every country has the right to impose and enact their laws,” she said, wearing her new sash and sparkling tiara. “But I tell you that all the Mexicans and the Latins that are living here in the United States are hardworking people – people who want to improve on their quality of life.”
The Miss Universe pageant is known for grabbing headlines – and Navarrete appears ready to make her mark.
She’s Mexico’s second Miss Universe. Lupita Jones – Navarrete’s national pageant director – won in 1991. Navarrete has been modeling since she was 15 and came to Miss Universe after winning for Jalisco, then Mexico, in the country’s Nuestra Belleza pageant.
Navarrete replaces Miss Universe 2009 Stefania Fernandez of Venezuela. She also spoiled a bid by Miss Venezuela Marelisa Gibson from giving the South American country a third consecutive victory. Neither Gibson nor Miss USA Rima Fakih made the top 15 finalists.
With fans in some 190 countries watching on television and keeping tabs on social networks, Navarrete and her competitors introduced themselves while wearing over-the-top national costumes. They then danced in silver and black dresses for the show’s opening number before the last 15 finalists were announced.
The final 15 walked in swimsuits while Cirque du Soleil musicians played Elvis Presley songs including “Viva Las Vegas.” The last 10 impressed in their gowns while John Legend and the Roots played a soulful medley including “Save Room.”
By the end of the show, seven of the top 10 trending topics on Twitter had to do with the pageant, its contestants, its judges or owner Donald Trump. The mogul co-owns the pageant with TV network NBC.
The show was without any major gaffes, except for Miss Philippines’ answer when asked what her biggest mistake in life was and how she fixed it.
“In my 22 years of existence, I can say there is nothing major,” Venus Raj said.
Before the pageant, Raj was rated among the top contestants in an online poll on the pageant’s website. She finished in fifth place.
Asked by Olympic gold-medal figure skater Evan Lysacek how she felt about unsupervised Internet use, Navarrete said the Internet is important.
“I do believe that Internet is an indispensable, necessary tool for the present time,” she said through an interpreter. “We must be sure to teach them the values that we learned as a family.”
Lysacek was one of this year’s nine celebrity judges. The others were actresses Jane Seymour and Chynna Phillips; actors Chazz Palminteri and William Baldwin; magician Criss Angel; MSNBC anchor Tamron Hall; drummer Sheila E.; and supermodel Niki Taylor.
Navarrete won a package of prizes including an undisclosed salary, a luxury New York apartment with living expenses, a one-year scholarship to the New York Film Academy with housing after her reign, plus jewelry, clothes and shoes fit for a beauty champion.
Campbell won the Miss Congeniality Universe award. Miss Thailand Fonthip Watcharatrakul won Miss Photogenic Universe and a second award for having the best national costume.
First runner-up was Miss Jamaica Yendi Phillipps, while second runner-up was Miss Australia Jesinta Campbell.
Fakih, a 24-year-old Lebanese immigrant from Dearborn, Mich., spurred celebrations among Arab-Americans when she won Miss USA. Pageant records aren’t detailed enough to show whether Fakih is the first Arab-American, Muslim or immigrant to win Miss USA.
Miss USA has not been named Miss Universe since Brook Lee won the title in 1997.
Did you watch the Miss Universe 2009 pageant last night? If so then you will know that Miss Venezuela Stefania Fernandez took the crown.
The competition took place in Nassau, Bahamas, last night when the 18 year old walked away with the crown. Miss Dominican Republic Ada Aimee De la Cruz, l. (say that when drunk) was the first runner up.
This makes the second year in a row, and six total, that Venezuelan has won the crown. For a list of the top 10 reasons why the country keeps winning then check the jump below.
[Click thumbnails for a larger view]
I just hope that Stefania Fernandez does a sexy spread like her predecessor Dayana Mendoza. I also hope she doesn’t get too upset that Heidi Pratt’s performance isn’t overshadowing everything.
Now for the 10 reasons that Venezuelan’s keep winning follow the jump.
According to the World Values Survey Venezuela is home to some of the most contented people in the world. Indeed 55 per cent of the Venezuelans questioned said they were “very happyâ€.
2. Venezuelans are exotic
Venezuela, which has a population of 28m, is a melting pot of different nationalities and as a result many interesting and unique offspring are reproduced. Ethic groups include Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Arab, German, African and indigenous and 60 per cent of the population are known as ‘Mestizo’, meaning those who are a mixture of Europeans and Amerindians.
3. Venezuelans live in a beautiful, diverse country
Venezuela – which lies at the northern extreme of South America, bordered by Colombia to the West, Brazil to the South, Guyana to the East, and the Caribbean Sea to the North – is a country of striking natural beauty, ranging from the snow-capped Andean peaks in the west, through the Amazonian jungles in the south, to the beaches of the north.
It is considered to be among the world’s 18 most biodiverse countries, featuring diverse wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. Some 38 per cent of over 21,000 plant species are unique to the country while 23 per cent of reptilian and 50 per cent of amphibian species are also unique to Venezuela.
4. Venezuelans appreciate natural beauty
With all that flora and fauna – not to mention other national beauty spots like the Angel Falls, in the south – around it is little wonder that Venezuelans are keen aesthetes. Indeed Venezuela’s national tree is the araguaney, whose characteristic lushness after the rainy season led novelist Rómulo Gallegos to refer to “the golden spring of the araguaneyesâ€.
5. Venezuelans live very near to the beach and the sea
Some 73 per cent of Venezuelans live less than 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the coastline, meaning tans, beach bodies and tousled, honeyed locks. There are 2,800 kilometres (1,740 miles) of coastline.
6. Venezuelans are Roman Catholic
Depending on which sources you use, between 92 and 96 per cent of Venezuelans are Roman Catholic. Perhaps it is the morality that the Bible offers that helps make beautiful women. I wonder what God would think about nose and boob jobs.
7. Venezuelans can bank on good weather and gain an impressive bronze tan
Because of its proximity to the Equator, Venezuela experiences few climatic variations. There are really only two seasons – dry and wet – and the average temperature is about 27C. Last one to the beach is a loser!
8. Venezuelans have a rich cultural heritage
Venezuela may have some of the largest oil reserves in the world, but it also boasts interesting heritage, art, and culture, having been heavily influenced by the Caribbean context – unlike much of the rest of South America.
9. Venezuela are named after one of the most romantic and beautiful places in the world
Venezuela owes its name to Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci. In 1499, a year after Christopher Columbus first explored the Orinoco River Delta, Vespucci sailed along the northern coast of South America (then called Tierra Firme) until he reached Lake Maracaibo. The stilted huts that indigenous people had built along the shore reminded him of the Venetian homes in his native land, so he named the land Venezuela, or “Little Venice.”
10. Venezuelans are mad keen on beauty pageant competitions
So perhaps this is the most significant factor. The Miss Venezuela contest is the country’s national beauty pageant of Venezuela – and it has been held since 1952. After months of preparation and grooming, the final competition, broadcast live on television across Latin America, lasts four hours.
source: Top 10 reasons why Venezuela has the most beauty pageant winners [The Mirror]
Dayana Mendoza maybe Miss Universe 2008 and Miss Venezuela, but what I like best about her is – she is freaking HOT.
This very sexy photoshoot of her for the September 09 issue of Maxim Magazine proves just that, here is some tidbits from her interview:
What was the reaction like in Venezuela when you won?
Venezuela went 12 years not having a Miss Universe. They did, like, parades. In South America we’re big fanatics of pageants. My parents told me that when I won, cars were going through the streets honking like after a soccer match.
And when you got home, were people still going crazy?
I saw all these Venezuelans with the little flags, and they were crying, and I was kind of crying as well. I really enjoyed how much happiness I could bring to so many people by winning. And I think we needed it in my country.
Does a guy have to be an oil tycoon to get a date with you?
No, he doesn’t have to be a soccer player or an actor, either. He just has to be a special guy who is very genuine.
Dayana Mendoza will crown the Miss Universe 2009 winner when the pageant takes place on Sunday August 23.
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.
“I want the whole world to know about my country and my people,” the Guadalajara native said after beating 82 competitors for global bragging rights at the pageant in Las Vegas.
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.
