In a live telecast that reach over a billion viewers around the world, Miss Angola, Leila Lopes 25, was crowned Miss Universe 2011 at the Creditcard Hall in Sao Paulo, Brasil, defeating off the competition from 89 contestants.The venue was fully booked, Lopes dressed in a beige gown impressed the judges with her catwalk, that was out of this world and also by highlighting in Portuguese the importance about family values.She was followed by Miss Ukraine Olesya Stefankowhile, Miss Brazil Priscila Machado was the second runner-up, the third runner-up went to Miss Philippines Shacey Supsup and Miss China, Luo Zilinrounded closed the count of the top five finalist at the 60th Anniversary of the beauty pageant, considered by the experts as the most significant pageant in the world.
Leila Lopes replaces Miss Universe Ximena Navarrete of Mexico who won the title in 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada.As part of her winning she will get a luxury New York apartment with living expenses, a one-year scholarship to the New York Film Academy, jewelry, clothes, shoes and an undisclosed sum of money. Leila will be sharing the apartment with Alyssa Campanella Miss USA 2011 and Danielle Doty Miss Teen USA 2011.The best in swimsuit were Misses Australia, Angola, Bahamas, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Curacao, Greece, Kosovo, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Perú, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad & Tobago, USA, Ukraine and Venezuela. Venezuela’s Vanessa Goncalves clearly has the best body.
The most beautiful gowns were worn by Misses Angola, Aruba, Bahamas, Bolivia, Cayman Islands, China, Egypt, Estonia, Ghana, Israel, Kosovo, Malaysia, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Ukraine, Venezuela and USA. There’s no question that the gown worn by Miss Puerto Rico, designed by Puerto Rican designer Harry Robles, was the conqueror.The judges of the event included;Amelia Vega,Helios Castroneves, Connie Chung,; Isabeli Fontana; Vivica Fox, Adrienne Maloof, Lea Salonga, Farouk Shami, Italo ZanziThe evening’s hosts, Natalie Morales a news anchor for NBC’s “Today” and Andy Cohen the host and executive producer of “Watch What Happens: Live,” at Bravo, displayed genuine chemistry as they kept the action flowing. Ms. Morales kept pace with the contestants, changing dresses three times, while Mr. Cohen remained sharp and cheery trough the entire event.
The commentators of the event were Style Network’s “How Do I Look” Jeannie Mai and Shandi Finnessy, Miss USA 2004, Jeannie and Shandi provided skybox fashion commentaries throughout the LIVE telecast.Swimsuit Competition Brazilian native pop singer Claudia Leitte turns the heat up throughout the performance of her new single “Locomotion Batucada” during the swimsuit competition.Evening Gowns Accompanied by Brazilian singer and song writer Babel Gilberto, who added a touch of bossa nova to the ambience, singing her single hit “Close Your Eyes” the contestants lit up the night in their evening gowns. Continuing in her winning ways Miss angola shone brightest in a beige evening gown she scored the highest with an 8.913The Miss Congeniality 2011 award went to Miss Montenegro, Nikolina Lončar and the Miss Photogenic 2011 award went to Miss Sweden, Ronnia Fornstedt
The best National Costume went to Miss Panama Sheldry Sáez
The 16 Semi-Finalists:
– Miss France, Laury Thilleman, 20
– Miss Kosovo, Afërdita Dreshaj, 25
– Miss Colombia, Catalina Robayo, 22
– Miss China, Luo Zilin, 24
– Miss Angola, Leila Lopes 25
– Miss Australia, Scherri-Lee Biggs, 20
– Miss Puerto Rico, Viviana Ortiz 24
– Miss Brazil, Priscila Machado 25
– Miss Netherlands, Kelly Weekers, 21
– Miss USA, Alyssa Campanella 21
– Miss Ukraine, Olesya Stefanko
– Miss Panama, Sheldry Sáez, 19
– Miss Costa Rica, (Johanna Solano, 18
– Miss Portugal, Laura Gonçalves, 22
– Miss Philippines, Shamcey Supsup, 25
– Miss Venezuela, Vanessa Gonçalves, 25
Since 2009, Diamond Nexus Labs has made the Miss Universe crown. The crown is set with 1,371 gemstones, weighing a total of 416.09 carats (83.22 g). It contains 544.31 grams of 14k and 18k white gold as well as platinum. The crown features synthetic rubies to represent Miss Universe’s HIV/AIDS education and awareness platform.The 2012 Miss Universe Pageant, will be held at the Trump Ocean Club and Hotel in Panama
The MISS UNIVERSE®, MISS USA® and MISS TEEN USA® pageants are a Donald J. Trump and NBC Universal joint venture. Utilizing its nationwide grassroots infrastructure, the Miss Universe Organization is committed to increasing HIV/ AIDS awareness by focusing on women’s health and reproductive issues. By forging relationships with organizations committed to research and education such as the Latino Commission on AIDS, God’s Love We Deliver, PSI/Youth AIDS, the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, Gay Men’s Health Crisis and Same Sky Trade Initiative. For more information, visit: www.missuniverse.com.
Coming attractions Miss Earth 2011 at Beautiful Thailand and Miss World London 2011, stay tuned for the latest inside information. We also will be following Leila during her activities and duties around the world as Miss Universe 2011. – Examiner
