Venezuelan Stefania Fernandez won the 2009 Miss Universe pageant in the Bahamas
Dressed in a flowing red gown, Fernandez embraced runner up Miss Dominican Republic as the announcement was made, and received the crown from last year’s winner, Dayana Mendoza, of Venezuela. The sparkling tiara fell to the floor at one point, as Fernandez danced in joy.
Miss Venezuela was the fairest of them all!
Venezuela, a beauty-obsessed South American country, has won the Miss Universe pageant six times.
During a question-and-answer segment with the five top finalists, Fernandez said she believed women have overcome obstacles such as hitting the proverbial glass ceiling.
“I feel we have reached the level that men are at,” she said.
The other top-five finalists were runner-up Ada Aimee de la Cruz, followed by Miss Kosovo, Droga Ganusha; Miss Australia, Rachael Finch; and Miss Puerto Rico, Mayra Matos Perez.
The top 15 finalists appeared in bathing suits before the final 10 were chosen for the evening gown segment.
Pageant co-owner Donald Trump told reporters, “I think this is the most beautiful group of women I’ve ever seen.”
The televised event includes musical performances by Flo Rida, Heidi Montag, David Guetta and Kelly Rowland.
Montag gave her first live performance, singing “Body Language” from her debut album.
Fans cheered on the blond star of MTV’s “The Hills,” although NBC, which is broadcasting the event in the Bahamas live, blocked out more than half of her performance as they introduced the 15 finalists.
“It’s my first performance live and it’s in front of a billion eyes. So I’m very excited to show everyone what I’m coming with,” said Montag before her performance.
Hosts are Billy Bush, co-anchor of “Access Hollywood,” and Claudia Jordan, a former Miss Rhode Island USA who has appeared on several TV shows. Judges include actor Dean Cain and supermodel Valeria Mazza.
Miss China, Wang Jingyao, was named Miss Congeniality and Miss Thailand, Chutima Durongdej, won Miss Photogenic.
Many contestants have suffered from dehydration in recent weeks, and Jewel Selver, Miss Turks and Caicos, went home Saturday to recuperate, said Esther Swan, Miss Universe spokeswoman.
Miss North Carolina USA crowned Miss USA 2009
Kristen Dalton
Miss North Carolina USA Kristen Dalton was crowned Miss USA 2009 on Sunday, beating out 50 other beauty queens in the live pageant televised from Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. She will now go to the Bahamas in August to compete in the Miss Universe pageant.
Contestants from all 50 states and the District of Columbia competed in the pageant, aired live on NBC. Contestants were judged by their performance in swimsuit and evening gown modeling contests and their responses to a question asked onstage; unlike the rival Miss America pageant, Miss USA contestants do not perform a talent.
Kristen Dalton, Miss USA 2009
The 21-year-old aspiring motivational speaker from Wilmington edged out first runner-up Miss California USA Carrie Prejean, of San Diego, and second runner-up Miss Arizona USA Alicia-Monique Blanco, of Phoenix. The top 15 contestants worked the stage in white string bikinis designed by pop star Jessica Simpson swimwear line. Rocker Kevin Rudolf performed his song Let it Rock, followed by The Veronicas, who performed their single, Untouched, as the top 10 beauties showed off their choice of glittering evening gowns. Dalton wore a flowing, blue Grecian number that stood out among a series of white gowns. Her title comes with a year use of a New York apartment, a public relations team, a two-year scholarship at the New York Film Academy and an undisclosed salary.
Heidi Montag To Perform At Miss Universe Pageant
The ‘Hills’ star and aspiring singer is set to perform at the competition, which airs August 23 on NBC.
On August 23, “Hills” star and aspiring pop singer Heidi Montag will be taking part in the Miss Universe pageant — but not as a contestant.
Heidi busted out a few notes during her short stint on “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!” earlier this summer, but this time around Heidi will perform her song “Turn Ya Head,” off her album, Unleashed, on the pageant stage, according to “Access Hollywood.”
Fellow performers will include Flo Rida, singing “Right Round” and “Jump” during the swimsuit competition, and Kelly Rowland singing “When Love Takes Over” with French DJ David Guetta during the evening-gown portion of the competition.
Heidi has always had musical aspirations. She told MTV News earlier this year how she’s wanted to break into the music industry since she was a kid. “I’ve wanted to do music since I could talk,” she said. “I used to do plays and singing and voice lessons and practice Britney routines when I was, like, 12. This is the biggest dream of my life.”
For Unleashed, Heidi worked with some big names, like Cathy Dennis, who wrote Katy Perry’s smash hit “I Kissed a Girl.” “I just love making fun music, like Lil Wayne,” she said. “He’ll do a rock song, and then he’ll do a rap song. I get to choose my own songs. It’s something I love doing. I’m having so much fun doing it, and it’s not too much pressure. It’s more on my own.”
Miss Universe Miss Calif. Carrie Prejean
Carrie Prejean says that she is planning on penning a book about her experience as Miss California, a title she was stripped of by pageant organizers this week.
“I’m going to be writing a book soon and it’s going to be letting people know the truth about what’s going on and what has gone on through all of this,” Carrie told Billy Bush in an interview for Access Hollywood and “The Billy Bush Show” on Wednesday.
As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, Carrie was fired from the role of Miss California on Wednesday of this week. The Miss California Organization removed the controversial beauty queen from her post due to what they claimed were “contract violations including Ms. Prejean’s unwillingness to make appearances on behalf of the Miss California USA organization,” the group’s Executive Director, Keith Lewis, said in a statement.
As previously reported by AccessHollywood.com, Tami Farrell, Carrie’s runner-up and the former Miss Teen USA, has stepped into the role of Miss California and will be taking on her duties. Tami was previously Miss Malibu.
However, Carrie told Billy on Wednesday that she felt the firing was due to her answer on the question of gay marriage.
“It’s just because of my answer, I think,” she said. “None of this would be happening right now if I just said, ‘Yeah, gays should get married. You’re right, Perez Hilton.’”
While competing in the Miss USA competition in April, Carrie said she believes marriage should be between a man and a woman, in response to a question about gay marriage from Perez Hilton. The blogger later claimed her comments cost her the national crown.
Less than a month later, semi-nude photos of Carrie surfaced online. While pageant rules prohibit nude photos of contestants, Miss Universe Organization owner Donald Trump allowed Carrie to keep her crown.
On Wednesday, however, when she was stripped of her title, Keith claimed in a statement that Carrie, “is unwilling to fulfill her obligations under our contract and work together.”
While speaking with Billy on Wednesday, Carrie said she believes her decision to write about her experiences frightened pageant organizers, including Lewis.
“I think that’s basically what it comes down to. I think that Keith Lewis heard that I wanted to write a book and I wanted to tell my story and he was scared,” she said. “He was very, very scared by that.”
However, Carrie’s communications difficulties seem to extend beyond the Miss California organization. On “Larry King Live” on Wednesday, Carrie’s pastor, Miles McPherson, denied she had a book in the works.
“She does not have a book deal – all those allegations are false,” he told Larry, adding that she’d been “cooperating” with the pageant.
While Carrie claimed Keith was frightened by her plans, she said he stood strong in other areas, putting his foot down on a number of opportunities she was offered as Miss California.
“Every single day just people [were] saying, ‘Hey, can you do this, can you do that?’ And the thing is, is that I have to ask Keith Lewis to do everything and everything that I want to do, he says, ‘No,’” Carrie claimed. “He says I can’t do it and he offers me other things.”
Carrie said amongst her offers from Keith through the pageant channels was the chance to drop her clothes.
“He offered me a Playboy job. He [said], I have two requests; one is ’I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!,’ he gave the rate and everything, and the other one was Playboy. I mean, why is my director giving me Playboy jobs? Why?” she said.
Carrie said she was upset over being offered a spot in Hugh Hefner’s magazine.
“He said, ’It’s $140,000. Let me know if you want to do it,’” she said. “I mean, I couldn’t believe it. This is the type of person that we’re dealing with.”
Keith made an appearance on “Larry King Live” on Wednesday evening, where he responded to Carrie’s claims, and stopped by Access Hollywood’s offices later that night, where he elaborated on his thoughts to Larry.
Asked if he encouraged Carrie to do Playboy, he told Access, “Absolutely not.”
“We passed the information over as she herself instructed us in writing to do,” Keith continued. “She said, ‘Do not, do not censor me, pass everything into me, don’t reject anything, I want to know everything I’m offered.’ We followed her written directive.”
And he added that he wasn’t worried about Carrie’s writing aspirations – and in fact, the book had been the final straw in their working relationship.
“I’ve worked in Hollywood 20 years, and I think the great thing about the truth is that it’s easy to remember,” Keith said. “You can see I’m here today, so I think it speaks for itself… When we were in the discussions of trying to amend the contract per her request to allow her to write a book, we received written confirmation that not only was she writing a book, but that she had already entered into an agreement to write a book — that’s a problem for us. Our talks broke off at that point.”
The Miss Universe Pagent
Miss Universe 2007
Riyo Mori from Japan: Miss Universe 2007
Mori, 20, the 56th winner of the title, was given her $250,000 (U.S.) diamond-and-pearl crown by last year’s winner, Zuleyka Rivera of Puerto Rico, watched by a live audience of 10,000 and some 600 million television viewers worldwide.
A lifelong ballet dancer from a village near Mount Fuji, Mori wore a striking black gown with coloured lapels for the final. Winning surpassed the ambition of her grandmother, who told her as a child she wanted her to be Miss Japan one day.
Miss Universe 2008
Miss Venezuela, Dayana Mendoza Miss Universe 2008
Miss Venezuela, Dayana Mendoza, 22 , was crowned as the Miss Universe 2008 held in Vietnam. She was once kidnapped in her homeland and says the experience taught her to remain poised under pressure.
The Miss Universe Pagent
THE BAHAMAS TO HOST THE 2009 MISS UNIVERSE® PAGEANT AUGUST 23rd
Donald J. Trump, NBC Universal and Paula M. Shugart, President, Miss Universe Organization, announced today that the 58th Annual MISS UNIVERSE® Competition will air live from Paradise Island, Bahamas. The glamorous live event, featuring some of the world’s most beautiful women, will take place at Atlantis, Paradise Island resort and air live on NBC and Telemundo on Sunday, August 23rd this summer.
“Paradise. There is no better name for the beauty of the Bahamas and this island,” said Paula M. Shugart. “The worldwide telecast will highlight the warmth, beauty and hospitality of the Islands of the Bahamas as well as the world renowned Atlantis resort. We have had a wonderful working relationship with the Bahamas and Atlantis for many years and I’m very excited this global event will take that partnership to a whole new level.”
“The people of The Bahamas are very proud and excited at the opportunity to host some of the most beautiful people in the universe in some of the most beautiful islands in the universe,” said The Bahamas’ Minister of Tourism & Aviation, Senator Hon. Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace. “This feels like the perfect match. We look forward to showcasing the hospitality of our people, the clarity of our waters, the vibrancy of our music, dance, food and spirit.”
Logo for Miss Universe
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