Miss La Paz Maria Laura Nietch is barred from Miss Bolivia 2009

Beauty pageant scandals and controversies continue to heat up after a winner of Miss La Paz (capital of Bolivia, a landlocked country in the South America) was barred to join the Miss Bolivia 2009 by the Gloria Promociones, the pageant organizer.

Maria Laura Nietch, 18, was supposed to join the Bolivia's national pageant that will select their representative to the Miss Universe to be held in the Bahamas on August 23. But the pageant organizer contested that Nietch is not eligible to compete because she is not a Bolivian but an Argentinian national.

Originally, Nietch migrated from Argentina but she has been living for 15 years in Bolivia.

The only good news for Nietch was the decision of the organizers to keep her as the official winner of Miss La Paz 2009. She can continue her title and will go straight to Miss Bolivia 2010 if her Bolivian citizenship will be dealt with.

According to La Razon, Nietch does not have dual citizenship but she was already in the process of nationalization. Her nationalization was delayed by bureaucratic procedures.

Her runner up, Pamela Chavarria of Illimani, will go on as Seniorita La Paz in the Miss Bolivia pageant which will be held on May 15 in Sucre.

Classic Reactions During Beauty Pageants

The final announcement of winners in a beauty in pageant is one of my favourite portions of the competition since you see here real or genuine reactions from the contenders - though not all but at least most of them. This is the part which I call the unguarded moment of the winners. Though they know cameras are all eyes on them, they simply decide to show their real feeling unconsciously.

One of the best moments I have witnessed on television was in 1999 when Miss Botswana was announced the new Miss Universe. Definitely, she wasn't expecting to win the title - I'm sure of it - and she was thinking Miss Philippines as the winner. After all, Miss Philippines was clearly what the Miss Universe Organization would have like to win. At the announcement of the final three, Miriam Quiambao was positioned at the center which is a tradition for the pageant. Did you know that? In fairness, Miriam was the best at that time to win the title.

Here is another classic example of an unguarded reaction by the current Miss Bolivia-Universe 2008 who is going for the Miss Universe 2009 pageant. Look at how happy she was.

India's Sushmita Sen, like1999 Miss Universe Mpule Kweglagobe of Botswana, was not expecting the title in 1994 in Manila, Philippines. Her reaction clearly says it all. Her runner up Miss Colombia, Carolina Gomez Correa, was highly touted to bring home the crown. Incidentally, Sushmita was my favourite that year and I actually predicted her to win the crown basing from a magazine where she stood out in group picture by the pool.