THOUGHTS OF MISS UNIVERSE
2015
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.
ACTUAL TOP 15: |
MY PREDICTIONS: |
Winner=Philippines-Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach |
Winner=India-Urvashi Rautela |
1st Runner Up=Colombia-Ariadna Gutierrez |
1st Runner Up=Colombia-Ariadna Gutierrez* |
2nd Runner Up=USA-Olivia Jordan Thomas |
2nd Runner Up=Venezuela-Mariana Jimenez* |
FINALISTS (alpha'l): |
FINALISTS: |
Australia-Monika Radulovic |
USA-Olivia Jordan Thomas* |
France-Flora Coquerel |
Philippines-Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach* |
SEMIFINALISTS (alpha'l): |
SEMIFINALISTS: |
Curaçao-Kanisha Sluis |
France-Flora Coquerel* |
Dominican Republic-Clarissa Molina |
Vietnam-Thi Huong Pham |
Japan-Ariana Miyamoto |
Thailand-Aniporn Chalermburanawong* |
Thailand-Aniporn Chalermburanawong |
Australia-Monika Radulovic* |
Venezuela-Mariana Jimenez |
Brazil-Marthina Brandt* |
QUARTERFINALISTS (alpha'l): |
QUARTERFINALISTS: |
Belgium-Annelies Törös |
Paraguay-Myriam Arevalos |
Brazil-Marthina Brandt |
Dominican Republic-Clarissa Molina* |
Indonesia-Anindya Kusuma Putri |
Peru-Laura Spoya |
Mexico-Wendolly Esparza |
Georgia-Janet Kerdikoshvili |
South Africa-Refilwe Mthimunye |
Kosovo-Mirjeta Shala |
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ALTERNATES: Finland, Netherlands, Belgium*, Japan*, Sweden |
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HONORABLE MENTIONS: Denmark, Spain, Ukraine, Italy, Czech Republic |
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* = made actual top 15 |
THE PRETHOUGHTS - Miss Universe 2015
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Some photos courtesy Miss Universe L.P., LLLP