Miss World 2008 Trivia

I asked my bestfriend, Wiki, about some statistics for the upcoming Miss World 2008 pageant in Johannesburg City, South Africa and these are what he gave me unselfishly. Enjoy these information my dear fellow beauty pageant fanatics.

Along with this report are two pictures I borrowed from an equally beauty pageant fanatic from a pageant crazy island in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico.

 

  

Returning countries and territories

• Seychelles last competed in 1999.
• Antigua and Barbuda, Egypt and Honduras last competed in 2004.
• Chinese Taipei last competed in 2005.
• Barbados, Congo DR, Portugal, St. Lucia, Uruguay and Zambia last competed in 2006.

Withdrawing countries and territories

Estonia, Grenada, Nepal, Panama, Romania, Slovenia and Suriname will not compete this year. Estonia, Romania, and Slovenia decided to withdraw themselves in the competition for financial issues and lack of sponsorship. Panama had problems with the regional organization and Miss Panama didn't have the South African visa at the time. Miss Suriname, Mireille Nederbiel, was not allowed to compete in Miss World by the decision of pageant organizers. The organiser of Miss Nepal pageant said it was postponing the contest scheduled for August 23, 2008 to unknown date, after the Maoist women’s wing, which has trained its sights on Miss Nepal, announced a Kathmandu Valley shutdown on the day to prevent the event.

Contestants notes

Egypt: Meriam George was replaced by Sanaa Ismail Hamed at the last minute for some undisclosed reason.

Hong Kong, China: Miss Hong Kong 2008 winner Edelweiss Cheung will not compete for the crown of Miss World 2008. The 1st runner-up, Skye Chan, will take over. Cheung will take part in Miss Chinese International 2009.

Philippines: Janina San Miguel was replaced by her 1st runner-up, Danielle Castaño due to Janina's personal reasons.

Thailand: Miss Thailand World will not be held this year, so last year's 1st Runner-up, Ummarapas Jullakasian will represent Thailand in Miss World 2008.

Vietnam: Trần Thị Thùy Dung is not allowed to participate in the pageant since her scandal of didn't graduate high school, as well as all the runner-ups or finalists who competed at the same pageant were also prohibited. The second runner-up of Miss Universe Vietnam 2008, Dương Trương Thiên Lý was appointmented as the replacement.

Tansey Coetzee (South Africa) placed as a semifinalist in Miss Universe 2008. While Athina James (Antigua and Barbuda), Alizée Poulicek (Belgium), Laura Tanguy (France), Alfina Nassyrova (Kazakhstan) and Olivia Carey (Mauritius) also competed at the same pageant, but they unplaced.

Fatimih Dávila has competed at Miss Universe 2006 pageant but unplaced.

Marelize Roberts (Namibia), Rosarita Tawil (Lebanon) and Nicosia Lawson (Cayman Islands) will compete in Miss Universe 2009.

Tamara Almeida (Brazil) placed as the first runner-up at Miss Maja Mundial 2006 and the second runner-up at Miss Tourism Queen International 2007. But in Miss TQI, she represented a special region, Fernando de Noronha, a Brazilian archipelago. Geisha Nathali Montes de Oca (Dominican Republic) also competed in this pageant, but unplaced.

Hannelly Quintero (Venezuela) placed as a top 5 finalist in Reina Hispanoamericana 2007.

Nataly Chilet (Chile) placed as a top 8 finalist in Miss Earth 2005 and a top 6 finalist in Miss Continente Americano 2007.

Gabriela Zavala (Honduras) placed as a top 8 finalist in Miss Earth 2004.

Elodie Delor (Martinique) placed as a top 16 semifinalist in Miss Earth 2007.

Jennifer Palm Lundberg (Sweden) placed 3rd runner-up in the Miss World Sweden pageant but won the title when all of the Top 3 declined the crown. This after arguments over the contract for the winner, which saw the original winner Amanda Ulfdotter being fired and the 1st runner-up and 2nd runner-up declining the crown for various reasons.

Miss Universe Trivia

"We, the young women of the universe, believe people everywhere are seeking peace, tolerance and mutual understanding. We pledge to spread this message in every way we can, wherever we go.”

Those lines are the Miss Universe own creed and it is read during the pageant from 1960 to 1990. Did you know that? We'll if you haven't known anything about the pageant, let's start with these trivias I have collected from different papers and blogs.

1. Miss Universe 1957, Gladys Zender from Peru was the youngest Miss Universe in history. She was 17 when she won the title.

2. At 64 inches (1.63 m) tall, Miss Thailand 1965, Apasra Hongsakula is the shortest Miss Universe ever crowned.

3. Amparo Muñoz of Spain, Miss Universe 1974, was resigned shortly before her reign ended and did not crown her successor, but she was not formally replaced. Amparo’s runner-up, Helen Morgan of Wales, went on to represent the United Kingdom in the Miss World pageant later that same year. She won, only to resign a few days later when she was revealed to be an unwed mother.

4. 2002’s winner, Oxana Fedorova of Russia, became the first Miss Universe who officially did not finish her reign, making first runner-up Justine Pasek the first Panamanian to hold the title. Fedorova was crowned in Puerto Rico in mid-May, and was replaced by Pasek in late September. It is unclear whether Fedorova was fired for failure to perform her duties (the official version), or chose to resign because she had not expected the heavy workload.

5. In 1999, Botswana sent Mpule Kwelagobe as its first ever delegate to the pageant and she won the title.

6. In 2007, Riyo Mori of Japan was crowned in Mexico City, Mexico in another controversial competition. All ten finalists were brunettes. When Miss Mexico failed to make the final cut, the crowd loudly booed Miss USA who did pass despite falling over in the evening gown competition. Interestingly, two delegates who fell wearing their evening gowns advanced to the final question round. They were Miriam Quiambao, Miss Philippines 1999 who tripped and gracefully recovered during the preliminaries; and Rachel Smith, Miss USA 2007 who slipped during the evening gown competition. Quiambao managed to place as first runner-up while Smith ended up as 4th runner-up.

6. There are only ten winners from Asia. Most of these winners represented four countries from East and Southeast Asia, each country having two titleholders each. They are Akiko Kojima and Riyo Mori of Japan in 1959 and 2007, Gloria Diaz and Margarita Moran of the Philippines in 1969 and 1973 respectively, Apasra Hongsakula and Porntip Nakhirunkanok of Thailand in 1965 and 1988, and Sushmita Sen and Lara Dutta of India in 1994 and 2000. The two other winners were from Western Asia, Georgina Rizk of Lebanon in 1971 and Rina Messinger of Israel in 1976.

7. Miss Universe 2000, Lara Dutta’s (India) finalist interview was the highest individual score in any category in the history of the Miss Universe contest, as her perfect interview saw a majority of the judges giving her the maximum 9.99 mark. It was the last year such scores were televised until 2007.

8. The Philippines has won the Miss Photogenic award seven times (including a back-to-back and a three-peat), followed by the UK and Puerto Rico, both with five. Puerto Rico won its five awards during a six-year period (1999-2004, did not win in 2000).

9. Four Miss Universe winners were awarded Miss Photogenic: Margareta Arvidsson (Sweden, 1966), Margarita Moran (Philippines, 1973), Janelle Commissiong (Trinidad/Tobago, 1977) and Denise Quiñones (Puerto Rico, 2001)

10. Miss Universe 1996, Alicia Machado, of Venezuela, was warned to be possibly dethroned by the organization because she exceeded the maximum weight required during her reign, but the requirement was not enforced.

11. Miss Guam 1999, Trisha Heflin, was disqualified from the pageant that year for being pregnant, a report initially denied by officials in Guam. Finalist Mpule Kwelagobe’s final question on the night of the live telecast was whether she thought a Miss Universe who became pregnant should be allowed to continue her reign, to which she responded that she should, since being pregnant was a sign of femininity, which Miss Universe stands for. Her answer to this controversial question would meet with the approval of the audience, as evidenced by the applause she received, and would earn her the title that night.

BLOGGER NOTE: In the picture is the dethroned 2002 Miss Universe winner from Russia, Oxana Federova during the swimsuit competition in Puerto Rico. She registered so far the highest score in this category never achieved by any beauty queens as par as Miss Universe is concerned. She garnenerd a score of 9.88.