MISS UNIVERSE 2008 FINAL THOUGHTS

Let’s start off with both of the hosts. Jerry Springer was better than I had thought he was going to be, so good choice. Mel B. was a good choice as well, and they fed off eachother quite nicely, so not much to say here.

The stage designs throughout the whole evening were beautiful as expected, and I enjoyed all of the Vietnamese dancers performing in between segments. The thing is, depending on which country ends up hosting the pageant, I could expect different cultures. Like back in 1999, when Miss Universe was held in Trinidad & Tobago-it was obvious that a carnival theme would dominate the presentation. Or in 2005, when it was in Thailand-I expected an Asian inspired production. The same goes here, the rich cultures of Vietnam were instilled in this year’s pageant and it was very interesting to learn more about this beautiful Asian country. So with that said, the stage, performances (with the exception of Lady Gaga), dancers, everything, had that Vietnamese flavor. So 2 thumbs up on the venue!
As expected, the girls introduced themselves in their national costumes. I can’t say much except for I could start to distinguish who stood out the most.
YAY! The moment we’ve all waited a year for; the announcement of the top 15. At this point I had my list of favorites in front of me hoping that they would make the cut.

VENEZUELA!!!! My favorite for the crown was the first one called! Very happy for Dayana!
KOSOVO. I had her placed in my top 25, but I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful she was in person.
MEXICO!! Another one of my choices, and an obvious contender for the crown.
VIETNAM. She had only made my top 20. I was thinking that it would be like 2005 when Thailand didn’t make the cut, in Thailand. But I guess Vietnam tried really hard to make it.
SOUTH AFRICA!! My choice from Africa made the 15. I was happy because this girl really knew how to ramp the runway.
AUSTRALIA!!! I was so happy when this girl was called. She was my choice from Asia & Oceania. I thought that she was absolutely stunning.
JAPAN. I was a little disappointed because I only placed Japan in my top 20. I thought Korea was more deserving of a semis spot.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC!!! She too, was in my top 15 so there was no surprise here. I snuck her in even though I thought her prelim gown was hideous!
ITALY. Boring. Just filler to me.
COLOMBIA!!! One of my frontrunners for the title, I loved her after seeing a video of her at a Vietnamese Hospital with the children. This girl has soooo much compassion.
RUSSIA!!! This girl had been a favorite for me, but I was surprised to see that she photographed way better than she looked in person. Still part of my top 15.
HUNGARY. Next please.
CZECH REPUBLIC!!! Since there were so many girls that I had favored I placed Eliska as my 17th spot. Otherwise She was in my top 25!
USA!!!!! My final favorite for the Miss Universe title. She was my choice for Miss USA and I thought she looked amazing during the finals!
SPAIN!!!! I liked her from the very beginning! I knew she was going to make the semis, because she had a unique look.

I was not at all surprised that PUERTO RICO didn’t make the cut. I always repeat this but I loved Ingrid before her surgeries, and by the time she made it to Universe, she had become somewhat of a different girl, not looking completely natural. She became the "Zizi Lee" story of 2008. If Ingrid stayed the same, I firmly believe she would've had no problems making the semis. I'm also surprised that TRINIDAD & TOBAGO was shut out. Anya was an outstanding representative, and should've been up there instead of Hungary, Japan or Vietnam. PANAMA not being in the semis was also a big disappointment, because she was a wasted beauty-I wonder what the voting criteria was this time around?

Out of the top 25 girls I had chosen overall, 13 out of the 15 girls were part of my list. This year was a competitive one and I totally knew that I had to choose more than 15 girls. It’s really hard to pick out 15 girls and be totally accurate, because we don’t know what the judges are looking for. I have a friend who tries to make me think that he can choose every single girl out of the top 15 by just looking at the girls introduce themselves, but I think he’s full of it. He has an Uncle who works for the organization and he also likes to find out the results before they are announced on TV, and then pretends that it’s his first time seeing the girls. Oh please! Not even the top pageantologists out there can get 15 out of 15…. So whatever makes him feel superior.
The swimsuit competition…..

Lady Gaga performed her hit "Just Dance" and she kinda sucked. I like the recording way better than her live interpretation of it. Her dancers looked as if they had made up a Grade 7 style-slumber party choreagraphy, when girls would make up dances with their friends and perform it at a halloween house party (pizza, chips and pop)-Gaga did not impress me at all.

Overall, the top 5 best swimsuit presentations to me were:VENEZUELA, MEXICO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, USA and COLOMBIA.

Although Venezuela was my favorite, Colombia dominated this competition just because she had the most stage presence and her body looked amazing. USA was the buffest of them all, except that her arms were a little skinny. Mexico was very curvy. Dominican had just enough stage presence to be up there. Spain kept on opening her mouth which was a little weird-maybe it was a way to try to look sexy.

*I’m surprised that the judges were marking these girls VERY LOW. I was expecting to see Australia (She had an amazing body) with a high mark, but she just didn’t cut it. The rest of the girls had average stage presence and bodies if you ask me. Kosovo was kind of vampirish in a weird way, but likable. Russia was hot-but lacked in presence.
Then the Top 10 were announced: Kosovo, Australia, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, USA, Dominican Republic, Russia, Italy and Venezuela.
No surprises there as the scores were displayed on the tv screen. The judges were right on, except for the inclusion of Italy. I did not get her at all. I thought that she was a little too plain and boring. She did not impress me whatsoever. I would've replaced Italy with South Africa or Czech Republic.

The Evening Gown segment included music sung by Robin Thicke. The song was called "Magic". Perfect choice! I love him. He has such a soulful voice and the music fit perfectly. The stage set up was gorgeous and the Vietnamese dancers added a nice touch.
Let's begin….

Kosovo's fuschia gown was a little over the top. Trying a little too hard to be high fashion, it was well delivered anyway. I wish she had done something different with her hair though. But I couldn't get over her gorgeous face. Her lips were very "Angelina".

Australia's red gown was beautiful, but I think it was not edgy enough. The judges were looking for something less pageant, and this gown totally fit the "pageant image" category. But I don't think that Laura should've gotten the lowest mark. She was a little stiff too.

Spain impressed me way more in the prelims, but when she was placed beside the other top contenders, she didn't quite fit. Regardless, her gold gown was nice and it fit her well. Her presentation was okay.

Mexico's gown reminded me of a figure skating outfit. I wasn't really feeling it. I wish she had worn the yellow gown that she presented during the prelims. Her presentation though was very graceful and sexy. She totally deserved a spot in the top 5.

I absolutely loved Colombia's gown. When I saw it during the prelims I didn't really like it, but when she walked out on stage during the finals with her presence, she floored me. She was absolutely stunning, sexy and classy all at the same time. I liked how it was very trendy and it flowed very nicely. She also added a nice touch by being vibrant in her presentation. Absolutely gorgeous!

USA, USA, USA!!! Tsk…What a shame! I felt so bad, because my heart went out to her the minute she wiped out. The shoes she was wearing were not the same ones she wore during the prelims, and were a couple of inches shorter. So when she came out, she stepped on the back of her dress causing her to fall. Crystle was one of my favorites for the crown and I truly think that she deserved to be in the top 5. Her gown was very similar to the Carlos Alberto that she had sported at Miss USA (but in a different color), and it looked amazing on her. Had she not have fallen, she would've been in the top 5 instead of Dominican or Russia. But I do commend her on how she picked herself up, applauded and kept on going. Unfortunately the fall cost her a top 5 placement.

Then Dominican Republic showed up in that awful pantyhose-sewn-together-cut-up-mirror evening gown. How tacky was that? I think she was trying to be a little edgy but it looked very cheap, in my opinion. However, her stage presence was amazing and she carried herself in a very sexy way. And the gown was recycled as well (It was worn by a former Miss Venezuela contestant). And if I'm being completely honest, I don't think she would've placed in the top 5 if miss USA hadn't fallen, just because I thought her gown was atrocious. Really? Come on now!

Russia tried to pull an "Oxana" by wearing a dress that did not flatter the figure and in my honest opinion, the dress was boring. I don't have much to say about it except that she did a great job wearing the gown. She had model looks, which wouldn't necessarily have been classified as "pageant". I think the judges liked her because she was from Europe and she looked unique in comparison to the other Latinas. I was off the fence with her, but I think I liked her in the end.

Italy was a disappointment to me from the minute she was called into the top 15. I thought her black evening gown with the scarf was very boring. If she was going to wear black, she should've chosen a number that was more risque than the dress she wore. Her presentation was blah.

Finally, Venezuela came out wearing an evening gown similar to a dress that she had been sporting for a couple of months now, but in yellow. The dress was very elegant and it had sewn in crystals training the pattern of her bodice. She looked amazing, and she carried the evening gown very well. She was also wearing blue-aqua granite stoned earrings. And her shoes were yellow with golden heels. Her whole look matched, and she looked beautiful. I'd give her a take 2 as whole, because I still preferred Colombia's presentation the best.

Since the scores were once again displayed on the corner of my television, it was easy to figure out who would advance to the top 5.

Before they announced the top 5, Jerry and Mel announced the winners of the Congeniality and Best National costume awards. The winner of Miss Congenialty was Miss El Salvador, Rebeca Moreno. And the winner of the Best International Costume that was voted on by the public via the nbc.com website was Miss Thailand, Gavintra Photijak (Sorry Miss Philippines!). Her costume was a replica of a traditional Thai warrior-very cool costume. I have some observations on that too. It seems that more recently that judges and/or voters tend to go for a more simple costume in comparison to back in the day, where they would choose big, elaborate colorful costumes.

They announced the top 5: Colombia, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Russia.

* At this point I was hoping that they had averaged the scores, but I know it didn't work like that anymore. Just so they could sneak Miss USA in there. But that wouldn't have been fair.
They went straight into the final question segment. Now just bear in mind, that I actually don't remember what the exact questions were, so these are my interpretations of what was said during the final question and answer portion. The following statements are classified as "along the lines of…."

Miss Colombia was up first and she received her question from former Miss Universe, Jennifer Hawkins. She was asked a question along the lines of "If you were to change any moment in life, what would it be and why?-Taliana greeted the audience in Vietnamese, kinda lost track and then answered by saying that she doesn't regret anything because of the love and support of her family, and that everything had been perfect. Kind of a "patty" answer, but I commend her for answering in English, when clearly she could've answered better in Spanish. I didn't care though. After everything had been said and done, I had slated her to be in my top 2. She has such a beautiful smile.

Miss Venezuela received her question from who I called the freak judge, Louis Licari…..he creeped me out. Each of his eyes looked as if they were looking in different directions, and he looked like a drunk with botox. He asked Dayana something about men being at more of an advantage then women. Dayana answered the question by saying that God created men and women to be equal, but the main difference between the sexes, no matter what life they lived was that men think the fastest way to get to a point is to go straight whereas women know that the fastest way to get to a point is to go through curves to fix each curve to get to that point. Good answer with a lot of personality-she may not have quite answered the question but she definitely displayed her personality, which is important, especially during this final round of the competition.

Miss Dominican Republic got her question from Donald Trump Jr. What a loser! He thinks that he's all that because his father is Donald Trump. To be honest, he's just riding on his father's coat tails. I think he was just a waste of space. He asked Marianne a question about overcoming difficult times in life, and how she did it…something like that. Marianne answered saying that she's lived a difficult life, having to start working at an early age and dealing with only having one parent. I actually don't really remember what else she said, but all I know is that the interpreter kept on interrupting. Regardless, I think she answered her question confidently. I think I was too distracted by looking at my refelection in the mirrors of her dress-hahahaha!

Miss Mexico received her question from the internationally reknowned fashion designer, Roberto Cavalli. I love his clothing line! His designer label is sooo high fashion and he always comes out with new and exciting designs. LOVE IT! He asked Elisa, "When do you think a woman is truly satisfied?" Elisa greeted the audience, and then proceeded to her answer. She explained that a woman is most satisfied when she has a balance of mind, soul, career and community-but the way she executed her answer was waaay to pageant patty. She answered her question, no doubt, but unfortunately her personality did not come through. I remember in previous pageants when Ali Landry and Julie Moran would be used as backstage commentary, they would always stress that the girls personalities must come through during these interviews. All the girls are beautiful, but what distinguishes the difference between all of them? Mexico answered flawlessly, but her answer was overshadowed by first answering in a very pageant patty way, and second not displaying her youthful personality. I liked her-and my thoughts went both ways. Maybe the judges liked her maturity or maybe they wanted a little bit of flavor.

Finally, Miss Russia was up. Her final question was given by Eesha Koppikar. She was obviously of Indian decent, and very intelligent. At first I thought she was a former Miss India titleholder, but I was mistaken. Although she was gorgeous enough! Eesha asked Vera a question along the lines of women in this day in age still being discriminated against, after working so hard. WOW! That's a question that would be asked at the Femina Miss India pageant….Vera answered the question by saying that women are stronger now then ever, and that they work hard for their goals, and in the end women will be the strongest. I don't think she answered the question at all, but in saying that I think her personality definitely came through. I started to like her more at this point. At first I wasn't sure, but when I saw her close up, Miss Russia definitely deserved to be up there. I thought her teeth were massive though. In certain angles she kinda looked like she had horse teeth…but regardless, she was a great representative for Russia.

After all of that was said and done, they took one last look at all the delegates. I really couldn't distinguish the volumes of the applauses of the crowd, so at this point it was anyone's game. In my mind, I was thinking that the judges swayed towards Mexico, just because she followed the formula of the pageant girl. But my heart belonged to Miss Venezuela, from the moment she was named Miss Amazonas. So I was going back and forth on these ladies. I knew that Dominican wasn't going to win and I also thought that Russia's overall presentation wasn't strong enough. Colombia was my soft spot, as I truly believed she deserved to be part of the top 2.

Then we got to "preview" the wonderful prizes that Miss Universe would win. BORING! Same old stuff, live at the Trump Towers, acting school, shoes, wardrobes, be represented by Trump's modelling agency and all of that stuff we've heard before. However, I really enjoyed the segment where Riyo was acting and she slapped a guy in the face, and then she smiles right afterwards. Nice! I love Riyo!

Commercial break

Now it was time to say goodbye to our wonderful Miss Universe from Japan, Riyo Mori who represented the Universe extremely well. I was expecting her to come out in some sort of high fashion, weird, harajuku evening gown-because you know how Japanese women are trendsetters! And I was delightfully surprised to see her come out in a tailored fit tuxedo with coat tails, showing off her yummy cleavage. I am extremely happy with Riyo. I felt so bad for her throughout that whole "Pageant Place" experience having to deal with that annoying brat Katie Blair. But the good thing was, that Riyo was always the good one and I saw a wonderful young woman evolve. Her English had improved so fast. I was overall happy with her reign. She is by far one of the best Miss Universe titleholders this century!

It was time for the announcement of the winners. What happened to Mark Ward of Ernst & Young? Must've retired, because I don't think I remember seeing him last year either.

4th Runner Up, MEXICO-I was a little surprised here, because I thought she would've faired better. But at the same time, I wasn't really. Like I said earlier, she to me, sounded a little pageant pattyish and the judges would've either liked it or not. So yeah….I think that she personally should've been atleast 2nd runner up.

3rd Runner Up, RUSSIA-No surprise here. You could tell that she was a little disappointed, but she made it a lot further than what others may have ranked her. I think she deserved that placement.

2nd Runner Up, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC-I think she was confident that she was close to winning, but she seemed happy with her placement. (*If you watch Miss Venezuela, she thought that it was going to be her that was called 2nd. She seemed like she was ready to step forward, before they announced that placement).

*The final 2….Miss Colombia and Venezuela. Very excited and extremely intense moment. They stepped forward, hugged eachother. Venezuela made the sign of the cross (Catholicism) and kissed her hands as well as Miss Colombia's hands as well. Colombia was very happy. They clenched their fists together, and Venezuela rested her chin on their hands as they announced the winner…..

1st Runner Up-COLOMBIA!!!!

The new Miss Universe is Dayana Mendoza of VENEZUELA…..I would've been happy with either of these ladies winning. They were both absolutely gorgeous! But I think in the end, Dayana's personality edged out Colombia's. She always displayed a fun and outgoing attitude throughout the whole competition and I think that's the main reason on why she won as well as being absolutely stunning. Colombia was fresh and very natural….she was also very spunky on stage, so that was a plus. Dominican Republic was the typical sexy Latina, Russia was the modelesque European bombshell, and Mexico was the gorgeous, statuesque aphrodite.
So above all, I think the top 5 was pretty strong. However, if I was judging I would've placed USA in there. Because despite her fall, Crystle remains to be one of the most beautiful representatives the USA has had in a very long time-being unique, exotic and sexy. With that said….Dayana, Crystle and Hilary will have some good times, I'm sure!

Now the biggest disappointments for me in terms of girls I thought should've made it -well….there's a few. The girls that shouldn't have been up there were: Vietnam, Japan, Italy and Hungary. None of these girls impressed me and I was so disappointed. I would've replaced the 2 Asian girls with 2 other Asian girls, being KOREA'S, Sun Lee, and PHILIPPINES', Jennifer Barrientos. I thought that they were way better than Japan and Vietnam. I would've put PUERTO RICO, or PANAMA in Italy's spot, and TRINIDAD & TOBAGO in Hungary's spot. Then that would've been my perfect top 15!

Ah well, you win some and you lose some.

Congratulations Dayana Medoza…you are going to an AMAZING Miss Universe and Viva Venezuela!!!!