THE PRETHOUGHTS
THE RESULTS (November 19, 2023)
Sheynnis Palacios of Nicaragua is Miss Universe 2023!
It's the first win for the land of lakes and volcanoes, Nicaragua! It's also a first win for Central America (even though Panama's Justine Pasek inherited the 2002 Miss Universe crown when Russia's Oxana Fedorova was dethroned). Our new Miss Universe, Sheynnis Palacios also has the same last name as Miss Universe 1986-Venezuela's Barbara Palacios so Vega is now no longer the only last name to be repeated among Miss Universe winners (Dominican Republic's Amelia Vega in 2003 and Colombia's Paulina Vega in 2014). Sheynnis is the 7th former Miss World contestant to win Miss Universe (succeeding Lebanon's Georgina Rizk in 1971, Holland's Angela Visser in 1989, Namibia's Michelle McLean in 1992, Botswana's Mpule Kwelagobe in 1999, Philippines' Catriona Gray in 2018 and Mexico's Andrea Meza in 2020). Sheynnis made the top 40 at Miss World 2021/22 but not the top 13. This is also first time that a new country has won since Angola's Leila Lopes in 2011. Sheynnis was born on May 31, 2000 in Managua, Nicaragua making her the youngest of the reigning Miss Universe winners defeating Miss Universe 2021-India's Harnaaz Sandhu who was also born in 2000 but on March 3. She studied at the Universidad Centroamericana and pursued a degree in mass communication. At the same time, she also played varsity volleyball for the university. She was also the 2016 Miss Teen Nicaragua winner and placed in the top 10 of the Miss Teen Universe 2017 pageant held in her country.
The land of the eternal smile, El Salvador was a gracious host country for the second time after hosting in 1975 and even president Nayib Bukele gave a speech during the pageant but this pageant came together very nicely. It was not announced during the telecast who won the online vote. Some special awards were also handed out which included Miss Congeniality won by Spain's Athenea Perez who was most deserving considering the hardship she had to endure being the first Miss Spain of color. The Spirit of Carnival Award was won by Philippines' Michelle Marquez Dee. It's interesting to note that Europe only had two delegates place (Portugal and Spain) and these were the same European countries that placed last year!!! How did I do with my predictions? Well, I picked 13 of the top 20 plus 2 alternates (Peru and Namibia) and 1 honorable mention (Cameroon). 4 of the semifinalists missed my list and they were: Nepal (who was in my next tier) as well as Chile, Jamaica and Portugal. Chile and Jamaica were literally my next two delegates below my next tier as I knew Jamaica is a doctor who received flack for accidentally saying 'she puts herself before others' during her national pageant then corrected herself. Chile and Portugal were suspected by others so there weren't really any jaw-dropping surprises this year as it could have gone many ways. Interviews were held before the preliminary swimsuit and gown competitions so usually this leads to more surprises than expected and interview was rumored to count for 50% of the preliminary interview score whereas swimsuit and gown each counted for 25% of the preliminary score. Commendations are in order for Cameroon and Pakistan earning their first placements ever and with Pakistan's debut delegate too! The 7 ladies in my list that didn't place were: Mexico (next year's host country but there were forces working against her even though Melissa made top 4 at the famous Miss Earth 2018 pageant as she was the last Mexican to be crowned under the directorship of former Miss Universe, Lupita Jones but the franchise has been given to a new director, Cynthia de la Vega who was originally dethroned as Miss World Mexico for 2011 under Lupita's tenure so a lot of hmmmm's here as Lupita has also been vocal about not accepting trans delegates when the owner of Miss Universe, Khun Anne is trans. Lupita was even seen leaving the venue when Mexico didn't place.), Dominican Republic (who previously dated Marc Anthony who is currently married to Nadia Ferreira who was a finals judge so there were clearly forces working against her), Curaçao, France, Zimbabwe, Panama and Trinidad & Tobago. Also, did you notice that I had Nicaragua 10th in my list just like the winners of 2022, 2019 and 2017?? I think I have a new lucky spot!
I will say that it was interesting to see anomaly delegates actually place this time rather than getting the special segment treatment as we have seen many times before. One of the mothers (Colombia rather than Guatemala) placed as did one of the trans delegates (Portugal rather than Netherlands) and one of the burkini wearing contestants (Pakistan rather than Bahrain) placed and we also had the body positivity candidate (Nepal) place so there were a lot of historical firsts in this pageant so the Miss Universe is headed to an interesting future with the age limit being lifted for 2024 so we shall see if we can find a new record for the oldest Miss Universe contestant!! The age limit was 28 but we saw a 30-year-old (Bulgaria) and a 29-year-old (Latvia-delayed one year due to Covid) compete for 2023 so exceptions were made for these ladies.
Mexico was officially announced as the host country for 2024 as I previously mentioned in earlier prethoughts as it is rumored that Venezuela originally put down a $6 million non-refundable deposit only to bail likely due to elections in 2024 so plan B was Mexico and we saw the announcement come from Raul Rocha Cantu who has been working closely with Khun Anne on the Miss Universe spa line. 2024 will be the fifth time that Mexico hosts Miss Universe succeeding 1978, 1989, 1993 and 2007. The last two were major boo-fests particularly targeting then Miss USAs Kenya Moore and Rachel Smith who became targets of poor sports when the Mexican delegates didn't place as high as they did. Let's hope the booing doesn't happen again in 2024. Paula Shugart opted to leave her position as MUO president to pursue other endeavors like writing a book describing a rich history with the Miss Universe Organization since 2001 succeeding Maureen Reidy so I'm sure Paula has many tales to tell and I'm sure she remembers the boo-fest that 2007 turned into so she is leaving just in time. I actually thought 2024 would be Paula's last pageant before retirement but maybe 2024's venue had something to do with this but actually, she said she wants to work with her husband in his cannabis business as she advocates for its use to prevent various ailments.
2023 marks the first year that the Miss Universe pageant is officially under the new ownership of wealthy Thai trans-woman, Jakkaphong “Anne” Jakratutatip (affectionately known as Khun Anne) born on February 17, 1979. Anne is the Chief Executive Officer of her company, JKN Global Group. Anne is short for Andrew which was Jakkaphong’s English name when living in Australia building her empire starting with finding a niche market to have English nature programs translated to Thai and making them available in the Thai television market. According to Forbes magazine, Khun Anne is the third richest transgendered person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$210 million (6.37 billion baht) in 2020. Anne is also a long-time Miss Universe fan who stepped up to purchase the Miss Universe Organization for $20 million U.S. from the previous owner, IMG. This also technically marks the first time that the Miss Universe pageant will be female-owned although Khun Anne was born male in 1979 and later transitioned to female after fathering a son and a daughter using donated eggs from a German woman. The announcement of JKN ownership was made official on October 25, 2022 and an Extravaganza reunion to celebrate the new ownership was held on November 7, 2022 featuring several former Miss Universe titleholders but this was close to the upcoming date of Miss Universe 2022 actually held earlier this year on January 14, 2023 so 2022 was the 4th leap year after the Miss Universe pageants for 2014, 2016 and 2020 which were all held in the following year. It looks like we are now on track to catching up so there shouldn’t be any more leap years with postdated pageants for a long time but we never know what the future holds! There was some assistance from previous owner, IMG for the 2022/23 Miss Universe pageant but Khun Anne did make an appearance with those now famous words, “Hellooooo, Universe!” succeeded by some very distinctive screams and the world met Khun Anne. In some parts of the world, she has also been dubbed Tia Anne (Aunt Anne) and we started learning more about this character. The Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants were once under the Miss Universe organization umbrella but that changed for 2021 when Miss USA 2008-Texas’ Crystle Stewart’s Miss Brand took ownership of those two pageants only to have some controversy develop involving some allegations that the 2022 delegates felt that they were wasting their time competing when it felt like the cards were stacked in the favor of Texas’ R’Bonney Gabriel who did indeed win Miss USA 2022 but an investigation was conducted which resulted in no wrongdoing found and R’Bonney later silenced her critics when she went on to win Miss Universe 2022 as well. Apart from that, there were also allegations of Crystle’s husband Max acting inappropriately with some of the contestants resulting in him not being involved with the 2022 pageants and this troubled tenure led Crystle to give up directorship and the 2023 Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants were given to Laylah Rose Loiczly who ran the pageants successfully without any major issues. Laylah was able to secure a better channel (the CW) to broadcast Miss USA but the Miss Universe pageant has a three year deal with the Roku channel (a streaming service which seems to differentiate the U.S. and Canada frustratingly) and Telemundo for the Spanish version from 2022 to 2024 but many were hoping that Khun Anne would be able to get Miss Universe back on a major network like the previous ones that aired it like CBS until 2003 when NBC aired it and then FOX aired it as of 2015 to 2019 and 2021 (A smaller channel called fyi aired 2020). I guess we’ll see if a major U.S. network will pick up Miss Universe for 2025. Khun Anne seems set on turning Miss Universe into a brand and new products are being developed like the Miss Universe beverage and a skincare line and spa in addition to branded items like clothes, handbags and cosmetics and some of these items will start making appearances worldwide at various trade shows in 2024 so we shall see if Khun Anne can make the Miss Universe brand successful and if these items will sell. Khun Anne also started demanding winners and not runners-up to be sent to Miss Universe which caused some pageants to create separate pageants to choose delegates for Miss Universe and Miss World and various other international pageants. It has long been the case for one country to hold one large national pageant and choose to send their winner to Miss Universe or Miss World or another pageant like Miss International. But I call her Khun Anne the Barbarian due largely to the dramatic shift in franchises and national directors that occurred this year and has become more of a thing in recent years. There were a lot of loyal pageants and directors that sent their winners to Miss Universe but in 2023, they introduced a bidding process for the franchise holders and some lost their franchise only to be outbid and have the franchise given to someone else and this even led to some problems along the way. 
For example, Indonesia’s Miss Universe representative has long been selected for 30 years through the Puteri Indonesia pageant which has long invited reigning Miss Universe and Miss World titleholders to attend their pageant and that was rewarded in recent years with a string of placements for Indonesia only for this year to have the franchise abruptly taken away and given to one of Khun Anne’s friends, Poppy Capella who is a singer and actress and she was also awarded the franchise for Malaysia but after Indonesia’s Fabienne Nicole Groeneveld was chosen the winner, there were allegations from six contestants of the 2023 Miss Universe Indonesia pageant who filed complaints with police, accusing local organizers of asking them to strip to their underwear for "body checks" for scars or cellulite, in a room with about two dozen people present, including men. Five of the contestants said they were then photographed topless. Poppy denied all knowledge of this. The Miss Universe organization posted on X (formerly Twitter), "In light of what we have learned took place at Miss Universe Indonesia, it has become clear that this franchise has not lived up to our brand standards and ethics.” The organization also said it would be cancelling this year's Miss Universe Malaysia as the Indonesian franchisee, Poppy also held the license for the pageant but it said it would make arrangements for the Indonesia 2023 title holder, Fabienne to compete in the 2023 Miss Universe pageant so while Fabienne is listed as an official delegate, there was word of a Malaysian delegate being selected in a private event by the name of Serena Lee but she appears to not be listed as an official delegate so perhaps Malaysia will not be participating this year as a result of the controversy (this has since changed and Serena has been permitted to compete representing Malaysia) and it appears Kyrgyzstan has dropped out after we saw three different delegates chosen but the most recent winner seemed unprepared sponsorship-wise to go so it’s looking like 85 contestants are expected this year assuming no other dropouts. Many other franchise holders from the previous year also withdrew in protest of the bidding process including the former director of Mauritius, Nevin who has been a friend of mine since I started this website in 1998. One of the most shocking franchise changes was that of Mexico which has been directed by Mexico’s first Miss Universe, Lupita Jones who won the title in 1991 and has been running the Nuestra Belleza Mexico pageant since 1994/95 which later changed to Mexicana Universal in 2018. However, Lupita has voiced her disapproval of transgendered delegates competing to represent Mexico at Miss Universe which obviously doesn’t meet the approval of the new transgendered owner of Miss Universe, Khun Anne so other directors that don’t get with the times and comply with the rules had best watch out. As of 2024, Mexico’s franchise to select their representative for Miss Universe has been awarded to Raul Rocha Cantu with directorship from Miss World Mexico 2010, Cynthia De La Vega. Raul has been assisting Anne with the Miss Universe spa line and has been seen in other countries like Venezuela trying to negotiate potential host countries for future Miss Universe pageants and he was instrumental in negotiating TV Azteca to broadcast Miss Universe in Mexico. There is a rumor circulating that Venezuela was supposed to host the 2024 Miss Universe pageant and they even put down a six-million dollar non-refundable deposit only to have Venezuelan government officials bail due to 2024 being an election year in Venezuela supposedly. Earlier this year, Khun Anne teased that the 2024 host country would be a Latin country that has won Miss Universe more than once which led people to speculate that it was either Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico or Colombia but it looks like she couldn’t outright reveal the country because of the uncertainties. It is looking like Mexico may be the 2024 Miss Universe host country to save face and hold Khun Anne’s words true but we remember what a boo-fest 1993 and 2007 were particularly targeting the representatives of the USA those years (Kenya Moore and Rachel Smith) and each of those years were under different ownerships so we shall see how 2024 goes under Khun Anne’s ownership but Paula Shugart is still president and I know she remembers 2007 but business comes first and all this speculation could be entirely wrong and there may probably be a special announcement during the 2023 pageant announcing the true 2024 venue if the deal is secured like we saw for El Salvador and their president, Nayib Bukele appeared during the 2022 Miss Universe pageant securing 2023 being hosted in El Salvador. In September, stock in Khun Anne's JKN Global Group, which owns Miss Universe, recently plunged significantly after the content distribution and airtime media buying company announced it could not fully pay 609 million Thai baht worth of debentures due on September 1, the first lot of its seven tranches of debentures worth 3.36 billion Thai baht. This is causing some to think that the company could go bankrupt but it looks like Khun Anne believes they should recover by the end of the year but JKN stock has been going down ever since but many stocks appear to have taken a hit this year. Also, the ticket prices for those attending the pageant in El Salvador are the most expensive they have ever been. The cheapest seats are $500 U.S. each with the next step up being $1000 U.S. for VIP seats and $2000 platinum seats which are already sold out! I’m sure there are seats reserved for the delegates’ directors and family/friends. There’s a lot of uncertainty and we don’t even know if JKN will be able to sustain Miss Universe so could we see yet another ownership change in the near future?
One… don’t pick up the phone! ‘Cause it might be Khun Anne saying, ‘Helloooo…’ Just when we thought the changes would stop with the inclusion of women who are married and/or have children for 2023, some big news broke on September 12, 2023. The reigning Miss Universe, R'Bonney Gabriel announced on social media that starting with the 2024 season, there is no longer an age limit so now ALL adult women (be they single, married, with or without children and transwomen) can all compete for their Miss USA state titles or their national titles to get to Miss Universe. 28 years of age used to be the limit but women are delaying getting married and having children to compete in pageants and now they don't even have to do that! Is it business or is it progress/inclusion? Numbers of entrants for state pageants have dwindled in recent years so by removing the age limit and allowing women who have been married and/or have children to compete, this will increase the number of entrants. An interesting example here is that Miss District of Columbia Teen USA 2021 only had two contestants and yet the winner, Hannah Gilliard went on to be 1st runner up at Miss Teen USA 2021! A lot of people take issue with the fact that married women are now allowed to compete for the title of “Miss” Universe particularly when there are already Mrs. and Ms. Pageants that exist but none of them are anywhere near as popular as Miss Universe so now, women who aged out long ago and thought the chance eluded them now have a chance to pursue their dream and compete for their national titles and after winning that, possibly win Miss Universe! The race is now on to see who will be the new oldest woman to win Miss Universe defeating the current record held by Miss Universe 2022, R’Bonney Gabriel who won her title at the age of 28 years, 9 months and 3 weeks and it was R’Bonney herself who suggested lifting the age limit during the round of judges’ questions at Miss Universe 2022. Mara Martin asked R’Bonney, "Miss Universe recently made an inclusive change allowing mothers and married women to compete this year. What’s another change you’d like to see and why?" R’Bonney answered, "For me, I would like to see an age increase because I am 28 years old and that is the oldest age to compete and I think it’s a beautiful thing. My favorite quote is, “If not now, then when?” because as a woman, I believe age does not define us. It’s not tomorrow, it’s not yesterday, but it’s now. The time is now that you can go after what you want." The age limit was only recently upped from 26 to 27 in 2013 and to 28 in 2018 and as of 2024, the age limit is gone so now, I’m wondering if we will see some of those legends that aged out years ago return to compete for their state or national titles. Miss Universe delegates have to be at least 18 years of age but interestingly enough, 3 of the Miss Universe winners of the 50s, Finland’s Armi Kuusela in 1952, France’s Christiane Martel in 1953 and Peru’s Gladys Zender in 1957 were all 17 years old when they won their respective Miss Universe titles. During the early years of Miss Universe, married women could compete. This year’s married delegates are far from the first married women to compete at Miss Universe. In fact, Miss India 1952, Indrani Rahman was married with a child when she competed for Miss Universe 1952 without incident but going unplaced but the rules changed shortly after and this caused controversy with Miss USA 1957, Leona Gage when it was discovered after she won that she had been married twice and had two young sons at age 18 (she also lied about her age claiming she was 21) which led to her disqualification after Miss Universe preliminaries where she made the top 15 but was not permitted to compete in finals marking 1957 as the only year that USA did not compete through to the finals and USA’s top 15 spot was given to the 16th place delegate, Argentina’s Monica Lamas. With the 2023 rule already in place to allow married women with children to compete, we have two contestants already for 2023 that fall under this category and they are the delegates from Guatemala and Colombia so let’s meet them now. Guatemala’s Melanie Michelle Cohn Beck was the first married delegate to win her national title to compete at Miss Universe 2023. Michelle is 28 years old and is married to Andres Matheu and the couple has a 6 year old son, Luca and a 2 year old daughter, Bella. Michelle was born in Guatemala City and she has an English father and a Guatemalan mother, is a graduate of Galileo University earning a degree in public image and media. She also works as a model and television presenter and also does philanthropic work through her beach clothing line venture. 
Michelle has international pageant experience already as she competed for Miss Grand International 2013 representing Guatemala but going unplaced and she would later compete in a smaller pageant called Miss America Latina del Mundo where she would finish as 3rd runner up. The heart of the Mundo Maya has never captured the Miss Universe crown and they haven’t placed since 2010 when Jessica Scheel made the top 10. Will Michelle make her family extra proud and capture a first Miss Universe crown for Guatemala? The second married woman to compete for Miss Universe 2023 is Colombia’s María Camila Avella Montañez. Camila is 28 years of age and is married to Nassif Kamle and they have a 2 year old daughter, Amelia. Camila did have a rocky road to the crown though as she was originally supposed to compete for Miss Colombia back in 2018 but the board of directors opted to cancel her participation due to her having a manager which they perceived as troublesome since the manager would have control had she won Miss Colombia and they also said she had professional photographs taken which were apparently against their rules and she was not permitted to compete so this is a case where the rules may have been somewhat excessively strict similarly to what saw Miss Florida USA 2017, Genesis Davila dethroned for allegedly hiring outside professional makeup artists only for her to come back and win Miss Florida USA 2018 and go on to make the top 5 at Miss USA 2018. Now, we have Camila who has a chance to capture another Miss Universe crown for the land of passions and emeralds. Colombia made the top 10 last year and has won Miss Universe 1958 thanks to Luz Marina Zuluaga and for 2014 thanks to Paulina Vega so is it time again?
It would take a few years but in 2018, the first transgendered contestant would be crowned by Spain represented by Angela Ponce that year and Angela would also go unplaced at Miss Universe 2018 but would get a special segment during the telecast highlighting her story. Miss USA 2021 would see its first transgendered delegate with Nevada’s Kataluna Enriquez who also went unplaced. Now, here we are in 2023 with the Miss Universe pageant being fully owned by a transwoman, Khun Anne and we have not one, but TWO openly transgendered Miss Universe contestants this year so let’s meet them. The Netherlands sends us Rikkie Valerie Kollé who first began modelling making the top 4 on season 11 of Holland's Next Top Model in 2018. In 2019, Rikkie was among the finalists of the Netherlands’ edition of the Elite Model Look contest. Of Indo-Dutch descent, Rikkie was born on April 6, 2001 to supportive parents that encouraged her transition. Also, Rikkie wants to raise awareness of social media haters after receiving numerous negative messages and even death threats on social media after winning her national title but she chooses instead to focus on the positive and supporting remarks that she receives on social media and she wants to be a role model particularly to young people in the trans community and she says it’s important to be there and have someone to inspire them or to refer to because it was more difficult for her when she was a child. With the support of her parents, Rikkie started puberty-blocking treatment at age 12 and started hormone replacement therapy at age 16. Her full transition occurred in January 2023 at age 21 giving her the feeling that she was now a complete woman and she found it liberating. It was a long, arduous journey for little Rik to grow into Rikkie but she wants people to realize that we are all just human beings and deems it unnecessary to put ourselves in boxes in this new era. 
Melissa Flores represents the land where the optimism lives in their hearts, Mexico! Melissa is 25 years old and hails from the state of Michoacan and is said to have a smile that lights up a room. As a child with two older brothers, she was more of a tomboy playing with toy cars and aspiring to be an astronaut but due to her height, her family suggested she try modelling and competing in pageants and she grew fond of pageantry after competing and ties it to her career as a psychologist since she has always had an interest in helping others and performing charity work. She says that pageants gave her a voice and helped make the connection between her career and pageants.
Will Diana Silva get the gold, otherwise known as the Miss Universe crown? The selection of the Silva Belle, Diana Silva as Miss Venezuela occurred in 2022 in a controversial pageant. After the 2022 Miss Venezuela pageant concluded, some of the judges from the panel also started posting on social media that they actually chose the representative of La Guaira, Andrea Romero, who ended up finishing in 4th place, to win the Miss Venezuela crown with Delta Amacuro's Daniela Malavé who finished in 3rd place as Diana's runner-up. One of the judges was Miss Venezuela 1975, Maritza Pineda who went unplaced at Miss Universe 1975 and Maritza posted on social media shortly after the pageant expressing her anger and frustration with the results and that the rest of the panel of judges actually chose La Guaira to win Miss Venezuela. 
Maritza recounted that before the coronation, she left the Poliedro de Caracas to avoid traffic and ran into another finals judge, Ángel Sánchez. Both then met with the general manager of Miss Venezuela, Nina Sicilia, and asked her what had happened. Maritza said Nina told them that there is another jury apart from them made up of 20 people from the Miss Venezuela Organization watching the contestants behind the scenes. Maritza said she was told that supposedly this other jury consists of the beauty committee, artists, make-up artists, designers, etc. but then Maritza said if they had a jury already selected, why put another jury in front of the screen? She said they should just make the selection and send the girl they want and don't make the show jury waste time as she felt it seemed disrespectful. Of course, this kind of judging is nothing new in pageantry. Many contracts that contestants sign have clauses that allow this kind of behind the scenes judging to occur and often when a favorite doesn't place, it's often due to this reason. The Miss Venezuela Organization headed by Miss Universe 2013-Venezuela's Gabriela Isler took over directorship of Miss Venezuela in 2018 (there's that year again!) from Osmel Sousa, who had been directing it for decades. Osmel was supposed to retire but he then started directing Argentina and Uruguay. While watching Miss Venezuela, I actually thought Diana Silva was the right choice based on overall appearance and on-stage carriage and presence whereas La Guaira's representative had a bit of an awkward walk. I think the Miss Venezuela Organization members knew this and went ahead and chose her anyway despite what the show's judges thought. An inVENstigation occurred and there was no wrongdoing found and Diana will be competing for Miss Universe. We remember cases similar to this like at Miss USA 2012 when the Pennsylvanian delegate says she heard the Floridian delegate say she saw a list quoting the exact order the top 5 of Miss USA 2012 leading the Pennsylvanian delegate to believe the results were predetermined and there were similar accusations for Miss USA 2022 as well but after an investigation occurred, there was again no wrongdoing found. The winners of both Miss USA 2012 and 2022 would go on to win Miss Universe as well interestingly enough so will this type of controversy help Diana Silva and will she be the new Miss Universe?? Diana previously competed at Miss Earth 2018 placing in the top 8 but she fainted backstage during the pageant and some speculate that she might have made the top 4 but wasn’t given a top 4 position due to the faint so a win at Miss Universe would certainly be a redemption of sorts for Diana. My friend Hernan likes to point out historical patterns and he finds several pointing to a win for Venezuela this year and one of them was that Diana’s win wasn’t exactly deemed fair similarly to the Miss USA wins of Olivia Culpo and R’Bonney Gabriel. Another pattern is that USA has crowned Venezuelan Miss Universes many times before as happened in 1981 with USA’s Shawn Weatherly crowning Venezuela’s Irene Saez, 1996 with USA’s Chelsi Smith crowning Venezuela’s Alicia Machado and 2013 with USA’s Olivia Culpo crowning Venezuela’s Gabriela Isler so will the pattern continue since the reigning Miss Universe is USA’s R’Bonney Gabriel, will she crown Venezuela’s Diana Silva as the new Miss Universe?? (Note that Miss World also has seen the American winner crown a Venezuelan winner more than once as well in 1991 and 2011.) Another pattern is that there is also a recent 10 year gap between wins which benefited Mexico winning for 2010 and 2020 and USA winning for 2012 and 2022 so since Venezuela won in 2013, does it mean a win for 2023? Hernan also points out that Venezuela didn’t place in 2010, 2011 got top 16, 2012 got a top 3 spot as 2nd runner up and won in 2013 so the same pattern may apply here since Venezuela didn’t place in 2020, got top 16 in 2021, got a top 3 spot as 1st runner up, so does that pattern also point to Venezuela as winner for 2023? Hernan also feels that Gabriela Isler's final answer in 2013 wasn’t that impactful to really win the crown and found it evasive so it may parallel Diana Silva's speaking ability. He also says Venezuela has done well in years that end in 3, like winning in 2013 after being 2nd runner up in 1993, 1st runner up in 2003 so is that a good sign for 2023 or does it mean something else? He says Venezuela also does very well when the pageant is held in November such as Ivian Sarcos winning Miss World 2011 in the month of November and also Gabriela Isler winning Miss Universe 2013 in the month of November and 4 of 9 Venezuelan Miss International winners for 2018-Mariem Velazco, 2015-Edymar Martinez, 2010-Elizabeth Mosquera and 2006-Daniela Di Giacomo all won in the month of November. Diana Silva is a passenger cabin crew member who graduated from the Caracas Air aeronautical instruction center. She studies advertising and is proud of her ecological work that she has been performing since 2018 in the Caracas botanical garden hoping to recover green areas, collecting organic waste and plant various plants. There was talk of Venezuela bidding to host the 2024 Miss Universe pageant then bailing and the fact that Khun Anne originally had to come to Diana’s defense as a rightful and deserving winner of her national title in the first place are causing some to question if she will even place. The fact remains that Venezuela has captured the Miss Universe crown seven times in the years of 1979, 1981, 1986, 1996, 2008, 2009 and 2013 so is there a Silva lining here and is the gateway of South America about to capture an eighth Miss Universe crown with Diana??
As we all know, singer Marc Anthony appears to have a penchant for pageant queens and notably beautiful women and a member of his so-called harem would be this year’s representative of the Dominican Republic, Mariana Downing. Mariana is a model of Dominican descent on her mother’s side and British descent on her father’s side and hailing from Los Angeles, California. She was signed to Wilhelmina models in Miami which is a highly recognized modelling agency. Even the noted Czar of beauty, Osmel Sousa was on hand at the Miss Dominican Republic pageant to assist in her crowning and Osmel was instrumental in Venezuela’s success in international pageantry from the 1980s to 2010s. Marc Anthony and Shannon De Lima had just recently finalized their divorce in 2017 and that was when Marc Anthony moved on to Mariana. This was despite a 27-year age difference and even Marc Anthony’s oldest daughter, Ariana, whom he shares with ex Debbie Rosado, is older than Mariana! Let’s have a look at Marc Anthony’s dating timeline, shall we? Debbie Rosado was a police officer from Puerto Rico. The couple began their romance in 1993 and their daughter, Ariana was born in 1994 but the couple split two months after Ariana was born. After dating Dominican actress Claudette Lima from 1996 to 1998 and actress Mira Sorvino in 1998, Marc would come to meet Miss Universe 1993-Puerto Rico’s Dayanara Torres through friends at a Puerto Rican nightclub in 1998. The two wed in May 2000 when he surprised Dayanara by chartering two private jets and whisking her away to Las Vegas for an impromptu midnight ceremony with only 15 guests and their son Cristian was born on February 5, 2001 (clearly a honeymoon baby!). Then both Dayanara and Marc were judges for the 2001 Miss Universe pageant in May 2001 held in Puerto Rico and won by Puerto Rico’s delegate, Denise Quinones so ‘twas the making of a complete night for Puerto Rico and Ricky Martin even performed! Then, the following year, the 2002 Miss Universe pageant was also held in Puerto Rico in May 2002 featuring Marc Anthony as the special performer with Dayanara in the audience and he expressed his love for her after his performance but in July 2002, things got rocky and the couple separated only to reunite and have a lavish and elaborate religious second wedding on December 2, 2002 and another son, Ryan was born to Dayanara and Marc on August 16, 2003 but the two would separate again in 2004. And then came J-Lo (who Marc had previously dated in 1998 and both of whom happen to be New Yorkers of Puerto Rican descent). Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony unexpectedly shocked the world when they announced their engagement in March 2004 and wed on June 5, 2004. After many rumors, their twins Max and Emme were born on February 22, 2008 but J-Lo and Marc would amicably split in 2014. Marc’s third marriage would be to Shannon de Lima who appeared in Marc’s life after his divorce from Jennifer Lopez. The paparazzi were responsible for making the world aware of their relationship but they separated for some months and reunited and wed on November 2014. Marc got a tattoo of the Statue of Liberty in honor of new wife, Shannon who he said made him feel free but they would divorce in 2016. He would then have a brief romance with Chloe Green, who is the heir of the famous retailer, Topshop. Then, it was in 2017 that Marc started dating our reigning Miss Dominican Republic, Mariana Downing and the two met over dinner in Miami. Marc and Mariana confirmed their romance at the Maestro Cares Gala red carpet in 2017 but the couple soon split and in 2018, Marc Anthony would date Italian model Raffaella Modugno and dedicated a song to her during his 2018 San Diego concert. Soon after he was smitten by yet another Miss Universe contestant, Paraguay’s Nadia Ferreira who was 1st runner up to Miss Universe 2021, India’s Harnaaz Sandhu on December 13, 2021 in Eilat, Israel. Nadia was easily one of the favorites that year and she actually originally met Marc back in 2016 when Nadia (then aged 16) attended a Jennifer Lopez concert and they took a photo together after the show. Nadia would rise to stardom on the Miss Universe stage and in 2022, their paths crossed again at the Maestro Cares Foundation, co-founded by Marc Anthony. On March 8, 2022, various videos started circulating of the couple kissing in a Greek restaurant in Mexico City confirming the dating rumors. They confirmed their engagement on May 12, 2022 with the couple celebrating with a lavish party in Miami. After eight months of engagement, Marc and Nadia tied the knot on January 28, 2023 and are currently happily married. Nadia gave birth to their son, Marco Antonio Jr. on June 18, 2023 (not exactly a honeymoon baby this time…) but that’s where we are now! Whoa! That’s a lot of notable people that have dated Marc Anthmoney, I mean Marc Anthony!
This year’s South African representative, Bryoni Govender is of Indian descent so I thought we would take a moment to honor the first phenomenal Miss South Africa of Indian descent, Kerishnie Naiker. I’m sure we all remember Kerishnie’s impactful performances at Miss Universe 1998 and Miss World 1998 making the top 10 in both pageants. Kerishnie wowed audiences internationally with her stunning, exotic looks and a fabulous head of luxurious, long, curly hair to enhance her beauty even more.
During the 1998 Miss Universe pageant, Kerishnie was first to be called into the top 10 and her evening gown presentation was among the best in history. To the sounds of K-Ci & Jojo performing their hit ‘All My Life’ in front of the Hawaiian audience, the spotlight shone on Kerishnie as the first of the top 10 and everyone was instantly mesmerized particularly by the long velvet attachments that she held up with her arms the whole time showing off incredible strength in addition to her beauty. I’m sure this was inspired by the gown performance of Miss USA 1998-Shawnae Jebbia of Massachusetts who won her title similarly beautifully displaying a scarf covering her forearms. The 1998 Miss Universe special commentators, Ali Landry-Miss USA 1996 and Julie Moran-America’s Junior Miss 1980 upon seeing Kerishnie in her gown were in awe. Ali said, “Wow, Julie, look at this!” Julie said, “This is… this is a stunning gown! She’s so exotic to me.” Ali said, “With the velvet…the combination of the velvet and the beading. Do you know what, I wish she would have put her hair down because I saw…” Julie said, “Oh, we love her hair!” and Ali said, “It’s gorgeous! So long and so beautiful but she…Oh my goodness! Look at the back!” Julie said, “But maybe with this evening gown, she made the right choice.” Ali agreed saying, “That’s right. It would have been too much.” Kerishnie would have to settle for an 8th place finish at Miss Universe 1998 although I had actually predicted her to be 1st runner up to the eventual winner, Trinidad & Tobago’s Wendy Fitzwilliam and coincidentally, Wendy and Kerishnie were roommates while competing for Miss Universe in Hawaii! Wendy commented that her roommate didn’t know how many cents made a dollar since they use a different currency, the rand in South Africa and it was mind-blowing to her! Kerishnie went on later that year to compete in the 1998 Miss World pageant in the Seychelles. She humorously tapped her head in disbelief but with a smile on her face upon hearing the 1998 Miss World host, Ronan Keating mispronounce her last name Naiker to almost sound like Knicker! Ronan asked her how she was and Kerishnie replied, “Very good evening! I’m ecstatic! Thank you very much!” Ronan asked that he heard she liked TV presenting and if that was correct. Kerishnie replied, “Very much so! I currently present two programs back home. A magazine program as well as a cultural event and I’m about to present a health program as well considering that health is my passion. (Kerishnie was studying to be a pharmacist at the time.) Ronan quipped that maybe she would be hosting like him one day which prompted a sweet giggle from Kerishnie. All of the top 10 for Miss World 1998 had to show a picture of a fellow delegate and she chose the host delegate from Seychelles saying, “Yes, this is none other than a very popular choice, it’s Miss Seychelles again! (audience in Seychelles erupts in applause) I have to say that she has been the perfect host. She really has. She has taken such a keen interest in all the girls here and I think most importantly, is that she’s a genuine person who displays a very cheerful disposition at all times.” Kerishnie would do a little better this time around getting a top 5 spot at Miss World 1998 but not the top 3 lamentably.
Brooke’s face does look like she might have some black ancestry but her mother, Tracey Evans Bruk-Jackson is Caucasian so it’s possible she could be multiracial similarly to Zimbabwe’s only Miss Universe semifinalist, Corrinne Crewe who finished 8th at Miss Universe 2000 and was also among my top 10 picks that year. Brooke won the Miss Universe Zimbabwe pageant on her first try! In fact, it was her first pageant ever! She attended the British Academy of Fashion Design in London before taking a job as a Beauty Therapist in Cape Town, South Africa. She signed with Boss Models South Africa in late 2022, before deciding to enter the Miss Zimbabwe competition this year. Brooke looks forward to showing love and serving the people of Zimbabwe and she wants to be an example of grace, understanding and inspiration to the youth of Zimbabwe, to instill the spirit of ‘ubuntu’(humanity to others) and know that together we are strong and anything in life is possible. Of course, African countries have had Caucasian representatives before and three of the most notable even won the Miss Universe crown and they are South Africa’s Margaret Gardiner in 1978, South Africa’s Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters in 2017 and Namibia’s Michelle McLean in 1992 and Brooke actually reminds me a lot of Michelle for some reason so Brooke Bruk-Jackson with her distinctive name could very well follow in Michelle’s footsteps so can Brooke bring the coveted Miss Universe crown to the land where the waterfalls stand out and wildlife thrives?
Hailing from the merciful city of Murcia, Spain’s Athenea Paulinha Pérez Nsué is the first dark-skinned delegate to represent her country at Miss Universe. Athenea’s mother is from Equatorial Guinea and her father is Spanish. She studied marketing and advertising and previously went unplaced at Miss World Spain ten years ago at age 17 but she came back strong at Miss Universe Spain 2023 to win the title only to have her reign tarnished by hateful posts on social media to which Athenea replied, "I'm very sad. I was shocked. I've lived here all my life. I was born here. I'm from Churra and half muleña because of my father. It strikes me that this is happening in a society with so many cultures, which for me means wealth. I love my city and I'm proud to be from Murcia." Athenea happens to be born on May 6 in the year 1996 and only a few months later on September 7, 1996, Italy crowned their first dark-skinned Miss Universe delegate, Denny Mendez who was one of my Shrine honorees and easily one of the favorites for the 1997 Miss Universe crown. 
Like Athenea, Denny received both positive and negative comments from her countrymen based on her race. Denny placed 4th in the Miss Universe 1997 preliminary competition and was asked by host George Hamilton about how as a black woman, she caused huge controversy in her country and it must have not been easy and how she survived. Denny replied through her translator in Italian, "I'm very happy to be here. I'm very glad because I know that we are not here representing colors." It was funny how Denny waved in the interpreter because she started with the phrase giving her time to think and she said "Go ahead" to the interpreter in Italian. After the translation was given, Denny continued in saying, "And I have nothing to envy of other Miss Italy’s because this is a door that I have opened and that will continue to open even more." The interpreter knew what to do and she ended her interview with, "And to those people who call me negro, I say, 'It doesn't bother me.'" I also clearly heard a ‘no no no’ in there but the translator cleaned it up to ‘it doesn’t bother me’ and the crowd roared with applause and Denny would get the second highest score in each competition: interview (behind USA who eventually won), swimsuit (won by Curacao) and evening gown (also won by Curacao). During the swimsuit competition, Denny showed off her fabulous long legs and curly hair combined with supreme confidence while during the evening gown competition, her coloring blended so magnificently with the sunset backdrop that she was like art in motion in her black gown with white stripes on the jeweled bodice. Denny was now 2nd overall behind Curaçao's Verna Vasquez advancing into the top 6 where Denny would have to answer a judge's question and she picked the question of Monique Pillard (who entered some really unusual scores that night and Monique passed away in 2018 at age 81 just one day shy of what would have been her 82nd birthday). Monique’s question was, "How would winning the Miss Universe title help you with your career goals?" The interpreter translated as Denny responded saying, "Obviously, it would help me to put an end to the matter that we discussed earlier. It would be a victory upon a victory. That's what it would be." No real career goals mentioned in that answer hence Denny would have to settle for a 5th place finish at Miss Universe 1997. Will a similar fate befall Athenea Perez or could she even go all the way and capture a second Miss Universe crown for the land of the sun, rich in culture and beauty? Spain won the crown once in 1974 thanks to the late Amparo Munoz (Did you notice both Athenea and Amparo both have names that start with A and end with Z?? Is it a sign???) Amparo was quietly dethroned after punching her chaperone (her father was a boxer, you know) and so Amparo didn't return to crown her successor in 1975 in El Salvador which happens to also be hosting this year's Miss Universe pageant so would a win for Spain this year be a full circle moment?? Spain did make the semifinals last year so they’ve got the momentum going so let’s see if the Lord will have Murcia and allow Athenea’s story and fierce modelling skills from all her rhythmic gymnastics training to get her the crown.
So we have two very significant cross-over delegates competing this year and those would be the delegates of Thailand and Puerto Rico. Thailand’s Anntonia Porsild appears to be this year’s frontrunner with good reason because she has already won an international pageant title. Anntonia won the Miss Supranational title in 2019. The Miss Supranational pageant is one of the newer international pageants. It is Polish-based and it started in 2009 and even has a Mister competition as well! The Supranational pageants have been praised as well-produced incorporating dancing and other entertaining elements. There are other international pageants too apart from American-based Miss Universe, like the other original pageants, British-based Miss World, Japanese-based Miss International and years later, we started getting Philippines-based Miss Earth, Thai-based Miss Grand International and there are others like Miss Globe and Miss Galaxy also. Anntonia’s participation in Miss Universe is a rare case where a winner of an international pageant goes on to try to win another one. The only other year where this has happened was the year 2000 where the Miss Universe winner, India’s Lara Dutta had previously won the Dutch-owned Miss Intercontinental pageant in 1997 and oddly enough, one of Lara’s competitors at Miss Universe 2000 was the reigning Miss Intercontinental 2000, Germany’s Sabrina Schepmann who went unplaced at Miss Universe 2000. The general consensus amongst pageant followers is that Anntonia is about to replicate Lara’s feat and win the Miss Universe crown and I have to say that I agree as the Miss Thailand competition was incredibly fierce with her competition being Praveenar (Veena) Singh Thakral who was 2nd runner up and Kirana Jasmine (Jazzy) Chewter who was 1st runner up and it certainly doesn’t hurt that the new owner of Miss Universe, Khun Anne is Thai so it makes sense, no? Anntonia is fluent in English and Thai, born to a Danish father, Morten Porsild and a Thai mother, Tanradee (Nee) Porsild and has lived in several countries around the world. She studied at the International School Ho Chi Minh City in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. She then studied public relations and communications at EU Business School in Barcelona, Spain in 2017, before transitioning to Stamford International University in 2018. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Arts from Stamford International University in 2022 and plans on pursuing her MBA after her reign as she has a full scholarship so Anntonia already has extensive experience travelling the world. Thailand has won two Miss Universe crowns thanks to Apasra Hongsakula in 1965 and Porntip Nakhirunkanok in 1988 so will Anntonia capture a third Miss Universe crown for the golden kingdom of Thailand? But Anntonia isn’t the only high placer at Miss Supranational to compete for the 2023 Miss Universe crown. Puerto Rico’s Karla Guilfu was 1st runner up at Miss Supranational 2021 and she is going to give Anntonia some stiff competition. Karla’s Voice for Change video had her discussing suicide prevention with the motto that it’s okay to not be okay and Karla carries on the great tradition of Puerto Rican delegates having incredible overall looks, bodies and commanding stage presence. Puerto Rico has placed in the top 10 every year since 2018 and Karla is expected to keep this streak going but will she get the win this time? The shining star of the Caribbean has been coming on strong in recent years and they have captured the Miss Universe crown five times (1970, 1985, 1993, 2001 and 2006) with their first winner, Marisol Malaret passing away earlier this year so a win for Puerto Rico this year would be that much more special so it is going to be very interesting to see how the 2023 Miss Universe pageant goes.