After worrying in my preliminary competition blog about what kind of pageant the 65th Miss Universe Pageant would actually be, about the only thing I didn't like was the opening.
It was all uphill from there.
Don't get me wrong, I love Flo-Rida and loved the opening music, I just didn't care for having the 86 contestants parading on stage with an announcer you could barely hear announcing their home countries. These women worked hard to get there and they should have had their moment and should have been able to introduce themselves and the country they represent.
With all of the talk about setting beauty aside, the top 13 was actually beautiful and since I had mentioned at least 11 of them in my preliminary blog, I was pretty darned happy.
I liked how Steve Harvey spoke with each of the top 13, reminiscent of what Bob Barker used to do in the good old days, and even though it wasn't officially judged, some cracks in the armor of the favorites were shown.
I'm convinced Miss Brazil was doomed from the start with her answer and ultimately she did not advance after the swimsuit round, almost assuredly because of her horrendous response in the Q&A round.
Conversely, Miss Canada probably did advance because of a superior answer and to show that beauty queens come in all sizes. Her hideous evening gown, though, likely affected her into making the cut to the final six.
Miss Philippines coasted into the top six in spite of a mediocre swimsuit and gown due to being the home country representative. A mediocre answer to her first question was definitely a sign of things to come, though. Whereas, the People's Choice, Miss Thailand, only solidified a top six placement with a great swimsuit, decent gown and tremendous answer in both rounds of the competition.
Miss USA was on the bubble to me following an underwhelming preliminary performance, but it was evident from the clip package showing portions of her preliminary interview and her on-stage answer that she was, indeed, a force to be reckoned with. A gown choice that I wouldn't select for a girl competing in anything but a local pageant, sealed her fate and she did not advance to the final six.
If only she had, I would have loved to have heard her answer to Miss Kenya's question, which was a totally inappropriate question for her to have to answer in the first place. This wasn't the Miss USA Pageant, it was Miss Universe, and I would have still given her high points for at least attempting an answer to it.
In swimsuit, I thought France was the clear winner and it wasn't even close, though I would have ranked Colombia and Brazil or Panama - neither of whom advanced to the top nine - second or third. Again, Brazil was already doomed,though, and wasn't going to come anywhere close to winning the crown.
Miss France, on the other hand, only solidified her status following evening gown, where she looked regal, confident and beautiful - the epitome of what a Miss Universe should be.
Would she grab the crown, though, in a year where MUO executives stressed substance over style and Miss France didn't have the story that Miss Kenya, Miss Haiti, Miss Thailand, Miss USA or Miss Colombia had?
The answer, of course, was yes, and then some as decent - but long-winded answers - were enough to give her country only its second crown in Miss Universe history and the first since the second year of the pageant in 1953.
In addition to Miss France, Miss Mexico and Miss Haiti were my favorites in gown, the first two showing that you don't have to compete in stripper shoes and, in fact, you look more elegant if you do not wear those.
France and Haiti were joined in the top six by Miss Colombia, who I thought actually gave the best answer to her question, but did not connect with a Filipino audience who was clearly rooting for Philippines, who gave the worst answer in top 6, and Miss Thailand, who I thought gave the second best answer.
France and Haiti, tho, both were solid and were clearly judges' favorites in other rounds and made it to the top three, where both belonged, along with Miss Colombia, especially if you select the final three on the basis of all areas of competition.
To me, Miss Colombia gave the best answer to the final question, but none really nailed it. Miss Haiti gave a sentimental answer, but it really didn't address the question, and Miss France, again, was a little long-winded, but considering the interpreter didn't give her answer it's proper due - thank you, Victoria Humphrey for pointing that out to me - her answer certainly was appropriate.
In the end, the judges went with beauty over a story and all is well in the Universe tonight, as Miss France is easily the most gorgeous creature to capture the crown since Puerto Rico's Zuleyka Rivera did a decade ago.
And, in the end, the judges got it right and the producers were right on the mark in having two final rounds of questions, which I had feared they would not, fairly compact video packages that allowed us to get to know the top 13 and a slick production that featured the beautiful host country of the Philippines without shoving it down our throats like some prior MUO Pageants did.
Other than the opening, the only other thing I would have changed was to have a cavalcade of swimsuits in the beginning where we saw each contestant in their swimsuit - for ratings sake - and then by doing it allowing only the top 9 to compete in swimsuit and flip-flop it to where the top 13 competed in evening gown, which is my favorite part of the competition and probably is the favorite among real pageant fans, too.
Steve Harvey was both funny and personable as host and should remain.
And, most importantly, he got the winner right this time.
And, so did the judges.
Overall grade: WINNER A+/ PAGEANT - B+ or maybe even an A-
A definite slow start to the proceedings, yes, but overall the rest of the pageant moved along briskly and kept my attention due, in part, to a great top 13 being narrowed down to the right final three.
Good job, MUO and IMG. Keep it up!
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