Miss France Chloe Mortaud Arrives First in Bahamas

The first delegate to arrive in Bahamas is Miss France Chloe Mortaud.

They say that "the earliest bird catches the worm first". Will this saying be vindicated once again with her winning the next Miss Universe crown?

Chloe arrived Thursday night at 10 pm in Bahamas. She was happily received by the host beauty queen, Kiara Sherman, and officials from the Ministry of Tourism, protocol officers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and a contingent of police officers.

She took the home number of Miss Bahamas who isn’t scheduled to check into the hotel until early next week. The first thing she said was how excited she is to be in the Bahamas because she always wanted to come here. Chloé was very impressed with the warm welcome she received, remarking that the people are so friendly. After a brief stay in the Lynden Pindling International Airport’s VIP lounge, she was whisked off to the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort in a limousine, led by police outriders.

Two more contestants are scheduled to arrive today – Miss Albania and Miss Kosovo. They will be flying in this afternoon with Miss Universe fashion photographer Fadil Berisha who will spend about five days here taking the officials photos of the contestants for the Miss Universe website.

Fadil works with the Miss Albania and Miss Kosovo organizations. So, don't be surprised if Misses Albania and Kosovo gets better treatment as it happened in the past.

Meanwhile, here is a picture of Miss Paraguay Mareike Baumgarten departing for Bahamas.

Will Miss Bahamas Kiara Sherman Penetrates the Top 15?

I am excited with Miss Universe 2009 and starting tomorrow we will be witnessing the arrival of all the delegates from around the globe. Bahamas will be the center of the world for beauty pageant lovers like me.

For the last three weeks, we've seen a lot of the latest pictures of some of the delegates who are being hyped by their fans. We saw their transformations. We loved some of them and bashed some of them. But why on earth we aren't talking much about the host country's representative? She's just waiting in Bahamas to welcome all the ladies and I think we need to look at her transformation also.

Kiara Sherman is definitely one of the most bashed delegates this year together with Miss Singapore Rachel Kum and Miss Philippines Pamela Bianca Manalo.

Yes, Kiara was lambasted when she won her title by her fellow Bahamians because they believed she was not the perfect choice. But looking at her latest photo, I am convinced that Kiara is working so hard to make her country proud of her.

She is definitely better now and hopefully she might give Bahamas its first ever Top 15 finish in the history of Miss Universe.

Do you think she could penetrate the Top 15 considering homecourt advantage?

Ife Bethel Sears Resigns as Miss Earth Bahamas 2009

Controversy continues to storm Miss Bahamas Organization as news broke out yesterday that Ife Bethel-Sears resigned as Miss Earth Bahamas 2009. She was the first runner up at the Miss Bahamas 2009 pageant where Kiara Sherman emerged as the victor or the over-all winner.

Humor has it that the reason why she relinquished her crown is because she is not happy with her placement from the very start. According to some pageant observers, she really wanted the title of Miss Bahamas or nothing. And, because more and more Bahamians are expressing their disappointments over the selection of Kiara as the over-all winner, Ife saw this opportunity to jump in to the bandwagon. This is her own way of protesting of what she believes as unfair judgment.

Well, as a pageant observer, this act from a beauty queen who did not get the top prize shows lack of sportsmanship. Ife is definitely bitter. In my own standard, this attitude from Ife does not make her a real beauty queen. So, it is just right that she resigned because I personally believe she can't perform the duties of a beauty queen. She is not a role model.

Thus, I am praising her decision of stepping down from her throne. Clap! Clap! Clap!

Bethel-Sears is the daughter of the former Minister of Education and Attorney General of the Bahamas Alfred Sears. This might be one of the factors why she was brave enough to resign. I am just speculating.

There is no development yet on who will replace her.

Kiara Sherman Wins Miss Bahamas 2009

Bahamas, the host country for the Miss Universe 2009 pageant, has chosen their representative.

Kiara Sherman was crowned Miss Bahamas Universe 2009 under the theme "A Taste of the Bahamas Through Elegance" at the Nassau Wyndham Resorts, Rain Forest Theatre on Sunday, May 25th.

Photo is courstesy of The Eleuthera News.

The sold out gala event featured a plethora of young, talented ladies who were narrowed down stepwise to first 12, 8, then 5 and eventually the final three who were crowned Miss Bahamas International, Miss Bahamas Earth and Miss Bahamas Universe in order of ascendancy.

Sherman will now play as hostess to the eighty plus international beauty queens at the 58th Annual Misss Universe pageant on August 23.

Crowned as Miss Bahamas Earth is the heavy favourite IFE Bethel Sears. Many fans have been disappointed when she did not get the Miss Bahamas Universe title.

Amanda Appleyard is crowned as the Miss Bahamas International.

Alyssa Knowles and Camille Kenny were crowned third and fourth runners-up respectively.

The pageant is not without controversies.

Originally, there were seventeen women who signed up for the pageant, but three dropped out citing personal differences with pageant organizer Gaynell Rolle-Stubbs.

Last year's Miss Bahamas Universe Sacha Scott did not show up; rumour has it that she refused to attend the pageant because she has never received her prizes. In place of Scott, her runner-up Garnell Storr, Miss Bahamas Earth 2008, was introduced simply as "Miss Bahamas."

One of the contestants, Enna Thomas, a big favorite but failed to reach the semifinals, walked out of the event before it was finished and did not claim her two special awards.