So how do you end a turbulent year in pageantry?? With more turbulence, of course!!
2015 became the first year to have two Miss Universe pageants in it to make up for the loss of a missing Miss Universe pageant in 2014. The 2014 pageant held in January 2015 seemed to tie in with then pageant co-owners NBC and Donald Trump’s competition, “The Celebrity Apprentice” which became the last edition of that show to be hosted by Donald Trump who is apparently being succeeded by Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 1996, Donald Trump purchased the Miss Universe Organization and later in 2003, NBC partnered with Donald Trump and started airing the Miss Universe pageant including its sister pageants Miss USA and Miss Teen USA and the first edition of “The Apprentice” began filming that year and aired in January 2004. Since 1996, one controversy after another put pageantry in the headlines over the years be it a fall during the evening gown competition or a dethronement and almost dethronements or just controversial answers given during competition. Dwindling interest in pageantry in the 90s which happens to be my favorite era in pageantry prompted the inevitability for controversy to be present for pageants to stay in the news and to get ratings. 2015 became a turning point when Donald Trump announced that he was running for president and made some controversial remarks about Mexicans that may have stemmed from a sour deal when Mexico hosted Miss Universe 2007 and the businessmen behind the deal didn’t pay up at first and it went to court but they won a significantly larger amount than what was initially owed but they couldn’t collect it since it got tied up in the Mexican court system. Miss Universe 2007 became an unpleasant experience when members of the predominantly Mexican audience booed then Miss USA, Rachel Smith even after she fell since she advanced to the 5 and the Mexican delegate was eliminated in the top 10. Trump was also booed when shown during the telecast which was an episode reminiscent of Miss Universe 1993 which was also held in Mexico City and when Miss Mexico didn’t make the top 10, boos throughout marred the event and then Miss USA, Kenya Moore was especially targeted along with then host, the legendary Dick Clark. When it came time for the Miss USA 2015 pageant, on June 24, one of the original performers, Latin singer J. Balvin said he would no longer participate at Miss USA because of Trump's comments and from there the Miss USA pageant needed a complete overhaul with new hosts, judges and performers and a new network but it happened and all came together nicely. A lot of Latin countries said they would also boycott Miss Universe at the time so change was inevitable and very much needed for the survival the Miss Universe family of pageants so Donald Trump ended up buying back the share in the pageants that he sold to NBC in 2002 after that year's winners were chosen. In 2015, NBC broke its ties with Donald Trump and refused to air Miss USA which ended up being picked up by the Reelz network which recognized that the delegates competing for Miss USA shouldn't have been punished for what happened so after Miss Teen USA happened, it was announced that Trump bought back NBC's share of the pageants and sold it all to the WME/IMG Group which heads the William Morris and Endeavor Agencies which are highly renowned talent and modelling agencies headed by executives Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell and then we learned that FOX would be the airing the pageants so it became the dawning of a new day! We’re here from every state and now we’re on our way-a-hey! But has much changed?? Donald Trump did host an episode of Saturday Night Live which is an NBC show in November 2015 after the deal was done so maybe there is more to this story than we know like perhaps they weren't too keen on keeping the pageants and this was more of an escape tactic... Trump is currently leading the polls of the Republican candidates and we will learn what the outcome of the U.S. presidential race is over on November 8, 2016 and whether or not all of this was worth it. So the timeline goes that Miss Universe aired on CBS from 1960 to 2002. NBC aired the pageants from 2003 to 2014/15 and now in 2015, FOX takes its turn in airing the pageants. The other major American network ABC is the one that airs the Miss America pageant.
The controversy ensued when the turbulent year of 2015 culminated in a now infamous crowning of the 1st runner up as Miss Universe. It was down to the final two, Colombia and Philippines and declared Colombia as the winner leaving us to believe that Colombia had become the second country to win Miss Universe two years in a row after Venezuela did it in 2009. While watching this pageant with friends, I pointed out that Colombia didn’t get a full year reign as Paulina Vega reigned as Miss Universe for almost 11 months from January 25, 2015 to December 20, 2015 (There have been shorter reigns though such as Barbara Palacios Teyde, Miss Universe 1986 who reigned just over 10 months from July 21, 1986 to May 27, 1987) and this seemed to justify Colombia winning again like when the Miss America pageant had two pageants in 2013 (one in January and one in September) and the state of New York won both times. After two minutes, Steve Harvey stumbled back on stage revealing that he read the card wrong and that the 1st runner up was Colombia and the new Miss Universe was actually Philippines. A shocked Pia Wurtzbach walked to the center stage where Ariadna Gutierrez was standing still wearing the crown and sash giving Paulina Vega the painstaking final duty to remove the crown from her fellow country’s delegate and crown Philippines. Steve Harvey took control of the situation as the ladies stood awkwardly together on stage and said he would take full responsibility for this and to not blame the ladies and that it was still a great night… It used to be that the 1st runner up was announced first and then the winner but since 2011, the winner was announced first and then the runner-up as is done in the onslaught of reality competitions such as American Idol which also is a FOX show and airs its last season in 2016. This may have caused confusion. I have even seen something like this happen at another pageant I attended. When I attended a Miss Vancouver pageant years ago, the male host said that the second princess (third place) was the girl who actually placed second and named her causing the female host to scream out “No!” and she then corrected him to say that the second princess was actually the girl who placed third. So perhaps Steve Harvey could have thought 1st runner up meant 1st place initially.
But was it all a publicity stunt or some P.T. Barnum-esque plot to get us all talking about Miss Universe? This episode was all over the news and social media that night and the next few days so it indeed did get news outlets to actually cover and report on the pageant whereas if this was a normal crowning, it wouldn’t have been in the news. The length of time at the end of the telecast was also unusually long because in recent years, usually they cut to credits shortly after the crowning which further fueled the publicity stunt speculation. The girls didn’t come up to congratulate Ariadna right away and Australia’s Monika Radulovic said in a talk show that the teleprompter said Philippines won so they knew something was wrong. Backstage after her crowning, Pia called this a very non-traditional crowning and said it was very 2015. This is the age in which we live! Controversy leading to publicity has become the name of the game these days. When asked how he would handle it if he still owned the pageant, Donald Trump suggested that the two could have been co-winners. Perhaps he was suggesting what was done during Miss World 2010 where the USA’s Alexandria Mills won but her runner-up from Botswana often made appearances with her at various events. Just after the erroneous crowning, backstage, Colombia’s Ariadna Gutierrez said while wiping away tears that everything happens for a reason so she is happy. Ariadna certainly gained a lot of publicity from this so even bigger things are in store for her after all of this. And I’m not talking about the 1 million dollar deal she was offered to do a video with adult film company, Vivid Entertainment… I’m sure Ariadna will be warmly embraced by her country after this happened as Colombian pageant queens are often treated like royalty and she will get even more job offers that she otherwise would not have received if this hadn’t happened. There are a lot of Colombians though who refuse to accept her loss saying that there are pictures of her wearing the sash and crown. Ariadna was often said to be the doppleganger of Colombian celebrity, Sofia Vergara who tweeted, 'La Reina de todos modos @gutierrezary #colombia,' which in Spanish means 'The Queen anyway' and even Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos tweeted after deleting his initial congratulatory tweet saying to Ariadna "For us you'll always be our Miss Universe. We feel very proud." Some even deemed what happened doubly cruel to Colombia since their 1st Miss Universe, Luz Marina Zuluaga passed away earlier this month. 2015 may have been the first year to have two Miss Universe pageants in it but it was also the first year in which two Miss Universes passed away. The USA’s Sylvia Hitchcock Carson-Miss Universe 1967 passed away in August due to cancer and Colombia’s Luz Marina Zuluaga-Miss Universe 1958 passed away in December due to heart failure.
Pageantry has seen episodes like what happened this year before. Some examples include: Mrs. World 2006 where Alan Thicke as the host clearly announced that the winner was Mrs. Russia but the previous year’s winner mistakenly went and crowned the 1st runner-up Mrs. Costa Rica making her and many others believe that she had won. The director yelled, “What have you done?!?!” and the crown and sash were taken away from Mrs. Costa Rica and Mrs. Russia was crowned and sashed but this whole episode led to some enraged contestants venting about everything and emotions were high. Miss California USA 2008 saw the wrong winner, Cristina Silva crowned during the night of the pageant but the day after it was discovered there was an error in the tabulation of the final scores and the actual winner Raquel Beezley was later crowned and Silva no longer retained the title. A similar scenario to Miss California USA 2008 was Miss Universe Canada 2013 which also had the wrong winner Denise Garrido crowned on the night of the pageant and after a mistake in the final scores was corrected, the actual winner, Riza Santos was declared the winner the day later.
On to the Colombia-Philippines connection as it was interesting that Philippines and Colombia were the top 2 as the Miss Philippines pageant (Binibining Pilipinas) is actually directed by a very notable Colombian, Stella Marquez de Araneta who placed in the top 15 at Miss Universe 1960 then later reigned as the first Miss International in 1960 winning that crown for Colombia and later married a Filipino businessman. Previous Filipina delegates have also been wearing gowns by Colombian designer, Alfredo Barraza but Pia Wurtzbach didn’t wear a Barraza gown. She actually had a gown emergency since her original gown was ill-fitting so the red gown that she wore during the preliminary competition was one of nine that she chose from Los Angeles based Filipino designer, Oliver Tolentino who came to Pia’s rescue and the blue gown she wore for the final was designed by another Filipino designer, Albert Andrada.
As for the format of the show, a lot of people seem to feel that 3 hours is too long and drawn out and that the old, tighter 2 hour format used prior to 2014 was sufficient. The stage design for this pageant was very nice. Nowadays, with the LED screens in the background, stage changes can happen in an instant so we have come a long way. The parade of nations was done well featuring each delegate wearing their national costumes as it should be. I liked the little factoids voiced by Roselyn Sanchez after each delegate did her introduction. It reminded me of how it was done throughout the 90s when the delegates were announced as semifinalists. Like when, Daisy Fuentes in 1995 would tell us Colombia was first runner-up for the 3 years prior to that pageant and that year’s delegate was here to win. Yes. Make it sound like a competition and educate the masses with what countries have placed and won before for those who are just getting into Miss Universe. The parade of nations featured songs like: “Beautiful Now” by Zedd, “Lean On” by Major Lazer, and “Cheerleader” by Omi. Some standout costumes included: Australia’s Dame Edna inspired outfit with Sydney Opera House shoulders voted on by the public; Austria’s bearded costume of Austrian transgendered pop star, Conchita Wurst; Argentina’s 70-pound costume was very nicely designed; Denmark’s make-up was fabulous; France’s Eiffel Tower peace signs or as I call her the “Eyeful” Tower; Hungary’s Rubik’s Cube; Spain’s Don Quixote and the duality of man; Thailand’s Tuk Tuk; and USA’s red, white and blue bald eagle.
rather than the winner of that pageant. My top 5 also matched the order of the top 6 in 1994 excluding Slovak Republic and 3 of those 5 actually did make the top 5 but instead of India and Venezuela, it was Australia and France that made the top 5 this year. It’s so hard to resist a good pattern! The next to be excluded was Vietnam’s Thi Huong Pham who was an outstanding delegate this year having competed for Vietnam’s Top Model and Miss Vietnam Universe for a few years before winning it and she made Bjork step aside as we had a new swan gown to admire but I find a lot of these work-of-art print gowns tend to get punished like Sweden’s gown and Ohio’s gown at Miss USA earlier this year. Vietnam’s rep was gorgeous with an amazing body so it was a shock to many that she didn’t place but I did hear an interview with her and wasn’t really impressed so she may have lost it on interview and I also heard from someone who attended rehearsals that Vietnam was bad at taking direction so this was a possible reason to eliminate her. Paraguay’s Myriam Arevalos with her great body really presented with impact during the preliminaries especially in gown and it was enough to pull her into my list but she wasn’t really an early favorite so I wasn’t really terribly disappointed to see her not make it. Peru’s Laura Spoya has a great body but perhaps a bit shorter and some thought she looked a bit on the mature side so maybe that’s why she didn’t make it. Georgia’s Janet Kerdikoshvili was just gorgeous and takes a great picture so I thought she had what it took to place and be her country’s first semifinalist but it was not to be. Even though Janet’s body is great, her gown was a bit daring and I wasn’t sure about her interview skills so maybe that’s what did it. Finally, Kosovo’s Mirjeta Shala got her chance to compete after not being permitted to compete in 2013 as that year’s host country of Russia doesn’t recognize passports of Kosovo so I thought she would be rewarded this year particularly since her country’s pageant is directed by pageant photographer, Fadil Berisha but people also appreciated Mirjeta’s look reminiscent of old Hollywood and her preliminary gown presentation was very strong.
Venezuela’s Mariana Jimenez and this international pageant powerhouse churned out yet another outstanding delegate with Mariana who perhaps had the best body of the pageant. Her walk, hair and styling were all on point as well and she actually would have been a worthy winner of this pageant. South Africa’s Refilwe Mthimunye was the next surprise delegate but as a law student, she is clearly quite intelligent and speaks very well so I’m sure she excelled in preliminary interviews. Her body type wasn’t right for the competition though as she appeared too thin and it didn’t help that the tag was sticking out on the back of her panties so she wasn’t going to advance further. Those hips don’t lie! Colombia’s Ariadna Gutierrez looked amazing with her fit, yet curvaceous body and she was actually a favorite of mine right from when she won her title. She is a very complete queen with an amazing overall style and her public speaking skills are strong. Next up was Mexico’s Wendolly Esparza who did end up getting that apology spot of which I spoke during my prethoughts after all. Donald Trump’s comments about Mexicans during his announcement speech that he was running for president created a lot of chaos afterwards causing Mexico to almost boycott had Trump still owned the pageant so they were back in after WME/IMG took over but Wendolly probably would not have placed had this whole fiasco not happened so it worked to her advantage. It was no surprise that she was eliminated in the first round as she did appear out of shape but Mexico continues its perfect streak in Las Vegas because in the 5 years that Miss Universe was held in Las Vegas (1991, 1996, 2010, 2012 and 2015), Mexico placed in every one of those years and even won both of their Miss Universe crowns in Las Vegas. Another country that almost has a perfect streak in Vegas is France placing in each Vegas year except 1996 when they barely missed the semifinals placing 11th that year. Finally, Thailand’s Aniporn Chalermburanawong (I’m leaving that name alone) was a great delegate from that golden kingdom with a tall frame and lean body but above all, I loved the glow this girl emitted from her face enhanced by her beaming smile. Thailand is another country with a large pageant following as they have won the Miss Universe crown twice (1965 and 1988) and this is the first time that they advanced to the top 10 since their last win back in 1988. Thailand also won the online vote for the national costume competition and even though it wasn’t announced during the pageant, rumor has it that Angola’s Whitney Houston A. Shikongo won the Congeniality award but apparently there was no photogenic award this year.
The top 5 consisted of delegates from different continents and a lot of people appreciated this. We had USA (North America), Colombia (South America), Philippines (Asia), Australia and France could technically represent both Europe and Africa since her mother is from Benin and Philippines is also half-German so we had a good mix of representation in the top 5. Instead of a round of judge’s questions, Steve Harvey asked each delegate a question that was relevant to their countries. Philippines was up first and she was asked, “Earlier this year, there was a controversy in the Philippines about the United States reopening a military base in your country. Do you think the United States should have a military presence in your country?” Philippines responded, “I think that the United States and the Philippines have… has always had a good relationship which each other. We were colonized by the Americans and we are, we have their culture in our traditions even up to this day and I think that we are very welcoming with the Americans and I don’t see any problem with that at all.” It was a well-delivered, pro-American answer which is good given that this is an American owned pageant and all. France was next and she was asked, “Having experienced terrorism firsthand yourself, what is the best way for governments to combat this rising threat?” France said, “Good evening, Las Vegas. (through translator) Hello, World. In my opinion, to fight terrorism, first, we have to know where the problems are coming from. We have to listen to the people who are committing these attacks. So we have to find the problem at its heart and for us French, we have to learn to be happy, to live and to be among ourselves. Merci beaucoup.” I think the translation weakened this answer a tad but and I don’t think she meant to say we need to listen to the people committing these attacks, rather she probably meant we need to educate them. Interestingly enough, even though France has had many semifinalists over the years, this is the first time since their only win in 1953 that France made the top 5 so kudos to Flora on this achievement. Australia was next and was asked. “Australia is taking its first steps towards legalizing marijuana. Do you think that’s a good idea and why?” Australia answered, “Thank you for that question, Steve. (giggles) Now this topic has both positives and negatives and it’s quite debated. I believe that in certain circumstances, legalizing marijuana does have definite benefits. It has been found to be really amazing in treating cancer and has really, really helped those very, very sick so in that circumstance, I definitely do think, yes, we should but the government should definitely weigh both options. Thank you very much.” Australia handled this question quite well. Colombia was asked, “Drug abuse continues to be one of the world’s most serious social problems. What do you think is the best way to handle this issue?” Colombia answered, “(through translator) Good evening, everybody. The ideas that I have that we could use to eradicate these problems that unfortunately are affecting our world is in our homes to incentivize education for these problems because they continue to be large problems for the world. Thank you.” It was a well expressed answer again weakened by the translation but Ariadna is very well-spoken and was remarkably well prepared for this competition. Finally, USA was asked, “Few issues in the United States are more polarizing than gun ownership. The argument really heats up after major tragic events such as San Bernardino and Sandy Hook. What’s your position on gun control?” USA answered, “This is an incredibly difficult issue and the United States is constantly battling and weighing our options. I think that it’s incredibly, incredibly important that all individuals have the right to protect themselves and feel safe (audience applauds) but I also think that sometimes, we need to look at the safety of a whole more than our own personal safety so, so I think we need stronger regulations specifically I think that we need to pay attention… (bell chimes) to pay attention! (laughs)” USA gave a decent response. The ending sort of took away from it but it was still strong.
So for the first time since the year 2000, we had a cut from the top 5 to the top 3 to answer the final question. It was from 1990 to 2000 that there was a cut to the top 3 and there was a lot of speculation that the cut to top 3 was eliminated because of Missouri’s Larissa Meek’s unfortunate flub at Miss USA 2001 during her judge’s question causing her to be eliminated even after winning the evening gown and swimsuit competitions and from Miss Universe 2001 onwards, all of the top 5 answered the final question so this was probably Donald Trump’s doing and since he is no longer involved, we reverted back to a cut to the top 3. Those 3 didn’t know what they were in for but they were USA, Colombia and Philippines. We also learned that the remaining delegates would be grouped as the 6th judge to cast a vote for which of the top 3 should be Miss Universe in addition to the 4 judges and the online vote. The final question was simple enough, “Why should you be the next Miss Universe?” which was similar to the final question asked at Miss USA 1990. USA’s response was, “I think that I should be the mext… The mext… The next Miss Universe because I am so passionate and so driven. It is my goal to inspire people from around the world to believe in themselves, to be themselves and to follow their wildest dreams, no matter what those dreams are. I want to work to bring equality towards men and women. It is time to step up into power, women and I want to empower women all over the world!” I’m sure Olivia was a ball of nerves and she stumbled a bit through this answer and made it more about empowering women so a 2nd runner up placement was justified but my attitude while viewing the pageant was they were just going to give it to USA this year but it turns out that wasn’t the case. 
Colombia was next and through her translator answered, “I am positive that I should be the third Miss Universe from my country, Colombia because I have all of the attributes that a Latin woman has. I am a woman who is full of feeling and have the attributes that a woman should have in Colombia and a Miss Universe should have for all of her events.” I know this answer would have been stronger had there not been any interpreter interruptions which again weakened the answer and I got the impression that it wasn’t quite accurately interpreted. Finally, Philippines answered, “To be a Miss Universe is both an honor and a responsibility. If I were to be Miss Universe, I will use my voice to influence the youth and I would raise awareness to certain causes like HIV awareness that is timely and relevant to my country which is the Philippines. I want to show the world, the universe rather, that I am confidently beautiful with a heart. Thank you.” Pia gave a brilliant response that I’m sure she had prepared prior to this pageant but she delivered it excellently. The best part about this answer was that it demonstrated that she understood what the job of Miss Universe actually entailed particularly when she mentioned HIV awareness which is one the causes that Miss Universe works with throughout her year and she even incorporated the “Confidently Beautiful” slogan into her answer and it was rewarded. Pia remained poised and focused while giving this answer. One of the judges, Perez Hilton after the whole crowning debacle said that Philippines was the unanimous choice of the judges and he was surprised when the erroneous crowning of Colombia occurred and he implied that Colombia came across as too overconfident. I think a lot of people appreciated Pia’s humility as well and that genuinely shocked look on her face when Steve Harvey announced the correction to who was the actual winner and Pia’s humble nature seemed to have propelled her to the win.
