THOUGHTS OF MISS UNIVERSE
2021
Congratulations to Miss Universe 2021, Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu of India! This is the third Miss Universe crown for the country where love is the essence of life succeeding their previous wins of Sushmita Sen in 1994 and Lara Dutta in 2000. Harnaaz also happens to have been born in the year 2000 when her country last won! Harnaaz was born on March 3, 2000 which also makes Harnaaz the first Miss Universe to be younger than my website which was started on June 9, 1998. Harnaaz is also much younger than her fellow Miss Universe titleholders. The next youngest would be Miss Universe 2017, South Africa's Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters who was born on June 28, 1995 so even she is five years older than Harnaaz! Harnaaz's win propelled India into the elite eight countries that have won Miss Universe three times or more. The other 7 countries are: USA, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Philippines, South Africa, Sweden and Mexico. See the updated list of Who Has the Most Miss Universes. Some also suspect that since South Africa, Mexico and India have all recently crowned their third Miss Universe winners that another country that has two Miss Universe winners could be in line to win for 2022 and I know Steve Harvey is probably aching to crown Colombia after his notable blunder from 2015 when he announced Colombia as the winner when she was actually the runner-up and had to correct to mistake and announced Philippines as the winner causing an uncomfortable transfer of the crown. Let's see who Colombia crowns next year or could it be Brazil with their streak since hosting in 2011 being broken in 2021? Or even Thailand with their streak also being broken in 2021?? Let's keep an eye on these countries! My friend Wassim also noted that countries winning Miss World in recent years have soon after won a Miss Universe crown and Harnaaz's win follows this trend. i.e. USA won Miss World 2010 then Miss Universe 2012, Venezuela won Miss World 2011 then Miss Universe 2013, Philippines won Miss World 2013 then Miss Universe 2015 and 2018, South Africa won Miss World 2014 then won Miss Universe 2017 and 2019, Mexico won Miss World 2018 then Miss Universe 2020 and now India after winning Miss World 2017 has won Miss Universe 2021 so perhaps there's other Miss Universe wins in store for other countries that have recently won Miss World like Jamaica did in 2019 or Puerto Rico 2016 or Spain 2015? So many possibilities!
Harnaaz's family couldn't attend the pageant due to Covid restrictions but they definitely cheered her on from home. Pictured here are Harnaaz's brother Harnoor holding pet dog Roger, mother Ravinder and father P.S. Sandhu. This is the first year that the Miss Universe pageant was held in Israel, in the resort city of Eilat and the team behind the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest which was also held in Israel was behind the production of the 2021 Miss Universe pageant and I must say they did a very fine job. The Universe Arena that the pageant was held in was built in Portugal before being shipped to Eilat. The stage production was magnificent and Miss Universe has shown the Universe how they consistently set the standard of staging a great pageant and I was very pleased with the result. My friend Hernan mentioned how fitting it is for a country starting with I (India) to win in another country starting with I (Israel), like how a V country-Venezuela won in Vietnam in 2008. Of course, the 2020 Miss Universe pageant was held in May 2021 due to Covid affecting the world in 2020 giving Mexico's Andrea Meza the shortest full term reign as a Miss Universe for approximately seven months and at the time, there were talks that the 2021 Miss Universe pageant would be held in Costa Rica (whose delegate made the top 10 for 2020 but went unplaced for 2021...) but that deal obviously didn't materialize and the announcement that Israel would host Miss Universe came as a surprise.
I was expecting to see some dropouts due to Covid as France's delegate had tested positive after arriving in Israel which led to her being quarantined for several days and not being able to participate in all activities but she recovered in time and even made the top 10! Originally, 78 contestants were expected to compete but that number actually grew to 80 with Bahrain sending a first time delegate who did not wear a swimsuit for the preliminary swimsuit competition and she didn't even wear a tight fitness wear outfit but just a pantsuit with loose flowy fabric at the legs which was interesting (not even a burkini??) but for instances like that, I don't know that I would even bother. With various forms of a vaccine now available this year, most travellers to Israel were expected to have three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine or two doses within six months and show proof of vaccination upon arrival. There was supposed to be a debut of the United Arab Emirates competing this year but those plans fell through so we’ll see if they compete in 2022. Returning this year were the countries of: Equatorial Guinea, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Sweden, and Turkey. Morocco was the most surprising of these nations since they last competed in 1978 but their relationship with Israel likely encouraged their participation this year. However, the original winner of the Morocco title, Fatima-Zahra Khayat suffered a leg injury and as a result, her runner-up, Kawtar Benhalima competed instead. Morocco hasn’t placed since 1957. Of course, politics led to some withdrawals including nations like: Barbados, Belize, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Uruguay. Indonesia has been doing well in recent years so their non-participation is perhaps the most shocking. Malaysia also has had consistent participation recently but these two nations opted to boycott this year accusing Israel of war crimes and discrimination against Palestinians. In 2019, the Eurovision contest which was held in the city of Tel Aviv was also boycotted by several performers. Some members of South Africa’s government had also voiced that they would not support Miss South Africa, Lalela Mswane as she competed for the Miss Universe crown but Lalela had the last laugh as she finished in the very respectable position of 2nd runner up. In the wake of a new Covid Omicron variant discovered in South Africa, travellers from Southern African countries were banned from entering other countries but Lalela had been granted special permission to enter Israel to compete along with Namibia’s delegate, Chelsi Shikongo. Many people feel that the delegates should be allowed to pursue their dreams and compete in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the crown and leave the politics out of it. The official announcement to hold the Miss Universe pageant in Eilat, Israel was done on July 20th with date of December 12 confirmed on October 27th. The event was brought to Israel after Israeli Miss Universe producers Tali Eshkoli (who also produced the 2019 Eurovision song contest in Israel) and Assaf Blecher became involved. Blecher described it as a dream come true and as a previous producer for Miss Universe, he had been working for years to bring the production to Israel. He believed it would happen, mainly to showcase to the world the story of his country as warm, loving and accepting. The Miss Universe pageant is also currently owned by IMG with co-CEO, Ari Emanuel who is also of Israeli descent. This year’s special performer was Israel’s own Noa Kirel. Surprisingly, the other major international pageant, Miss World which was supposed to be held on December 16 in Puerto Rico was postponed on the day of the pageant to March 16, 2022 and this was due to about a quarter of the contestants testing positive for Covid after being in Puerto Rico for a month and exposure to performer Bad Bunny who had recently performed for a large concert but Miss Universe appears to have done everything right with a tight schedule and most importantly, no technically skipped years although 2014, 2016 and 2020 were held in the following years but we are all caught up and Miss Universe is still regarded as superior! Miss World 2019, Toni-Ann Singh of Jamaica having won her title in December 2019 has had the longest reign as Miss World since there was no 2020 Miss World pageant due to Covid and now, there won't be one in 2021 either so assuming it doesn't get postponed again, her reign is more than 2.3 years long. Miss World started in 1951 and Miss Universe started in 1952 but now due to Covid's impacts, Miss Universe has held more pageants than Miss World has! Miss International which is the Japanese owned major international pageant has also not had a pageant since 2019.
Steve Harvey returned as host this year after skipping the 2020 pageant (which was hosted by Mario Lopez and Olivia Culpo-Miss Universe 2012) but since having Steve Harvey means a return to a major network, FOX after the 2020 pageant aired on fyi, I can tolerate Steve. However, the U.S. ratings were considered low this year drawing in 2.7 million American viewers compared to 2019's 3.8 million viewers but with the plethora of media out there in the streaming world, it is becoming increasingly harder for major events to draw in the viewers they once did and also, people have viewing parties for events like these and even I attended one myself so I question how accurate these numbers are and they were up against football games on the other major networks and sporting events tend to enjoy higher ratings so it also depends on the competition. They probably could have done more to publicize this pageant though. Carson Kressley also returned to co-host the preliminaries and was color commentating for the final telecast. It did feel like the national costume competition was also needlessly long. Not everything has to be 2 hours. Keep it tight. Later, I realized it was so long since they were using the national costumes for the opening introductions of the delegates and that's why they made El Salvador go out a second time without a mask covering her eyes. This year's selection committee was once again all-female as it has been since 2018. The impressive panel of judges were: Iris Mittenaere (Miss Universe 2016 of France), Urvashi Rautela (actress, model and Miss India 2015 and also my prediction to win Miss Universe 2015 but went unplaced), Adriana Lima (Brazilian supermodel), Adamari López (Boricua actress), Rena Sofer (actress), Marian Rivera (Filipino actress) and Lori Harvey (daughter of Steve Harvey) with two others serving as preliminary judges: Cheslie Kryst-Miss USA 2019 (who color commentated for finals) and Rina Messinger-Mor Goder (Miss Universe 1976 and Israel's only Miss Universe) who I was very glad to see return as she hasn't been seen attending a Miss Universe pageant since 1978 and she didn't judge finals but was featured as a special guest during the telecast. I loved that Rina was featured in the intro driving the 'Miss 1976' car greeting Andrea Meza in the 'Miss 2020' car and it was a cool way of showcasing the desert land in Israel with Noa Kirel's exotic chant almost bringing the past into the future with Noa Kirel's performance at the start of her song 'Bad Little Thing' with a great set of dancers that some people originally thought were some of the delegates but no, the delegates walked on stage shortly after.
It was down to a top 16 this year (compared to last year which had a top 21) with the 16th spot going to the winner of the online vote which was Vietnam for the second year in a row and the top 16 competed in swimsuits after their chat with Steve Harvey with the top 10 then competed in gowns and the top 5 answered the judge's questions with a cut to a top 3 this year so this was a similar format to what we saw in 2019 back when Miss Universe was on FOX but this format was decent and it didn't feel overly interview-heavy.
Some special awards were also handed out which included Best National Costume which went to the delegate from Nigeria – Maristella Okpala. Two special awards were given on preliminary night with the Spirit of Carnival Award won by THE Bahamas-Chantel O'Brien. I found it odd that she was categorized under The Bahamas and appeared in the T's alphabetically instead of the B's this year (it's like the opening of 2002 all over again...) but the name of the country is technically The Bahamas but if you're going to do this, why not THE USA or THE Netherlands or THE Cayman Islands?? The social impact award went to Chile's Antonia Figueroa. They appear to have permanently done away with the regional divisions with Europe getting a higher quota of delegates in previous years when that was implemented and interestingly enough, Europe only had two delegates place (France and Great Britain) which happened to be the same two European countries that placed last year coincidentally but only France advanced to the top 10. In 2019, there were 20 quarterfinalists and they were selected by region (the Americas, Europe and Africa/Asia Pacific) with 5 wildcard spots. How did I do with my predictions? Well, this year had some major surprises but I think the winner was quite clear from the start. For those of you who read my first and second round prethoughts, you will know that India was my winner up until preliminaries when I was debating between Belgium and India but of course, I just had to make the wrong choice... Ugh. I decided at the end to give Belgium my win when I should have stuck with India as it turns out Belgium didn't even place so it looks like Kedist of Nazareth with her stunning face and compelling story of being adopted from Ethiopia didn't pull her into the semifinals. Coincidentally, this is the second year in a row when I chose a delegate that was born in Africa but was representing a first world nation as last year, I chose Canada's Nova Stevens who had a similar story but also went unplaced... This is strangely enough the third year in a row that my winner didn't even place. Ireland 2019 didn't place either and I thought she had the accomplishments that the IMG era was looking for. I picked 8 of the top 16 plus 2 alternates (Vietnam and Japan) and 1 honorable mention (Philippines). 5 of the semifinalists missed my list entirely and they were: Aruba, THE Bahamas (okay, we get it...it's THE Bahamas, not Bahamas), Great Britain, Panama and Singapore. Interviews were held before the preliminary swimsuit and gown competitions so usually this leads to more surprises than expected. The eight ladies in my list that didn't place were: my winner Belgium, Brazil (whose streak in the semifinals was broken this year as they had placed every year from 2011 to 2020 whereas the streaks of USA placing every year since 2011 continues and the Philippines placing every year since 2010 which gives them the longest streak in the semifinals still currently), Canada, Namibia, Portugal, Ghana, Spain and Chile. What happened to my ladies that didn't place? First off, Belgium was a favorite and Kedist of Nazareth would have been a fitting choice to win in Israel which also notably has a town called Nazareth from which a certain Savior hailed but her story of being adopted from Ethiopia and recently reunited with her father which was similar to last year's Canadian delegate, Nova Stevens who also happened to be my prediction to win for 2020. I did notice Belgium's ill-fitting gown in preliminaries but thought the judges would look past that and there was also the whole Denny Mendez effect. Denny Mendez was Miss Italy for 1997 and my prediction to win that year but being the first black Miss Italy led to some controversy and I felt that the fact that Kedist didn't look like what is traditionally perceived as Belgian that she would not be her country's first Miss Universe similarly to Denny Mendez not winning Italy's first Miss Universe crown but with the world increasingly becoming a global village, I wonder how soon we will see a Miss Universe winner outside of the USA that doesn't necessarily look like the majority of people in that country. Belgium and Italy both have never won the Miss Universe crown but Italy has two 1st runner ups (1960 and 1987) and Belgium has two top 6 placements (1981 and 1992). Next up was Brazil who was an early favorite but the blonde latina look seems to have fallen out of favor but Teresa fell on most lists after preliminaries largely due to a stumbly gown performance in preliminaries but with Adriana Lima being a judge, one would think this would have helped Brazil but it was not to be and their long streak since hosting in 2011 was broken this year. Canada sent an appointed candidate, Tamara Jemuovic who was runner-up to Nova Stevens and Tamara was very well-spoken, beautiful, entrepreneurial and was the overall package but I think since pageantry isn't held in as high regard in Canada as other nations that their delegates suffer as a result. Namibia's delegate Chelsi Shikongo was notably named after the late, great Miss Universe 1995-Chelsi Smith of the USA who won her crown in Namibia and Chelsi looked like she had what it took to replicate her namesake's feat but it was not to be sadly. I loved how Chelsi wore a red gown with a flowy fabric from the neck similarly to Chelsi Smith to pay homage to that iconic queen who became an angel in 2018 after a bout with liver cancer. Portugal's delegate Oricia Dominguez was actually 2nd runner up at Miss Venezuela 2018 and we know how strong those Venezuelan contestants are but they have had a harder time in recent years and I thought Oricia was strong enough and the fact that the Universe arena that the pageant was held in was built in Portugal before being shipped to Israel. Ghana was one of my early favorites as I liked her overall look and she had a stunning physique and a bold blue gown. I saw the judges mostly noting her during the preliminary gown competition so I thought she was in but she was probably close. Spain was another favorite being a more exotic delegate with a Moroccan mother and she carried herself more seductively and not typically European so I thought she would make the cut and Chile was my final choice who performed well in preliminaries as an accomplished delegate who is an environmental engineer, a black-belt in Tae Kwon Do and even a beekeeper but I guess her social impact award was a consolation prize...
ACTUAL TOP 16: |
MY PREDICTIONS: |
Winner=India-Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu |
Winner=Belgium-Kedist Deltour |
1st Runner Up=Paraguay-Nadia Ferreira |
1st Runner Up=India-Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu* |
2nd Runner Up=South Africa-Lalela Mswane |
2nd Runner Up=Puerto Rico-Michelle Colon* |
FINALISTS (alpha'l): |
FINALISTS: |
Colombia-Valeria Ayos |
Paraguay-Nadia Ferreira* |
Philippines-Beatrice Luigi Gomez |
France-Clémence Botino* |
SEMIFINALISTS (alpha'l): |
SEMIFINALISTS: |
Aruba-Thessaly Zimmerman |
Venezuela-Luiseth Materan* |
France-Clémence Botino |
Brazil-Teresa Santos |
Puerto Rico-Michelle Colon |
Canada-Tamara Jemuovic |
The Bahamas-Chantel O'Brian |
Colombia-Valeria Ayos* |
USA-Elle Smith |
USA-Elle Smith* |
QUARTERFINALISTS (alpha'l): |
QUARTERFINALISTS: |
Great Britain-Emma Collingridge |
Namibia-Chelsi Shikongo |
Japan-Juri Watanabe |
South Africa-Lalela Mswane* |
Panama-Brenda Smith-Lezama |
Portugal-Oricia Dominguez |
Singapore-Nandita Banna |
Ghana-Silvia Naa Morkor Commodore |
Venezuela-Luiseth Materan |
Spain-Sarah Loinaz |
Vietnam-Kim Duyên Nguyễn Huỳnh § |
Chile-Antonia Figueroa |
|
ALTERNATES: Vietnam*, Poland, Japan*, Argentina, Czech Republic |
|
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Thailand, Philippines*, Peru, Italy, Honduras |
§ = won online vote |
* = made actual top 16 |
The Prethoughts - Miss Universe 2021
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Some photos courtesy Miss Universe L.P., LLLP