Miss Venezuela 2009 – The Good, the Bad, the Worst

By Juan M. Sierra

It’s September the 24th at this South American beauty-obsessed nation, and everybody puts their eyes on the country’s favorite show: the MISS VENEZUELA pageant.

Undoubtedly, it has brought joy and tears to all Venezuelans, which is the main reason why this is the “most beautiful evening of the year” for the country.

But, what makes this edition of the contest so special? Obviously, it’s the lights, beautiful girls and also tons of makeup, but also hilarious and some weird (and also a little stupid) musical (and not so musical) performances were in abundance this time.

THE OPENING

“En una noche tan linda como esta…” as it is traditional, a weird musical opens the evening, this time was a the time for a “Slumdog Millionaire” presentation, YIPES! I mean Come ON!

We’re still in the Miss Venezuela Edition, we haven’t moved to India …  this was so odd, but somehow, so true, Venezuela starts their favorite evening to the rhythm of the main soundtrack of the Asian movie.

Not withstanding the fact that the performance was just “OK” (compared to the usual and exaggerated presentations), the main dancers, local TV stars Wanda D’Isidoro and Jalimar Salomon who hadn’t danced together since they were about 17 years old (which sadly was a long, long time ago) began the production-wise “not so beautiful evening.”

What saved it? The girls… Of course!  They were beautifully dressed and at least could cloud the performers. And to the usual voice of Super Hostess Maite Delgado, Local Host Daniel Sarcos, the Miss… Oh! Wait! I almost forgot we had a new guest, Venezuelan writer Boris Izaguirre (whose catwalk was way much better than the winner’s) the Miss Venezuela had started.

THE SOMOS TU Y YO…MMM PERFORMANCE?

Sick and tired of the same show and of these silly boys every single year, well, grab your buckets, because here we go again with the cheap High School Musical imitators. Not even the originals would fit in this kind of shows (can you Imagine them at Miss Universe?), but the local TV chain keeps on including them as their popularity, in my opinion, seems to go lower and lower.

The teenagers sang (well lip-synched obviously) their new songs with stupid melodies as the public wanted to see their Queens, not these Teens (yes, it’s so disappointing I’ve started considering them part of the annual show). Do I have comments about their performance? Since I’m not as evil as I sound, I will just say it’s just a bit “obvious!”

THE STAGE

Finally, something good to talk about, and it was not just good, it was… AMAZING! The lights, the screens, even the floor was completely outstanding, even better than Miss Universe past editions (let’s just imagine this year’s show was “different” so we may not compare anything to it).

This is definitely a role model for all pageants. Forget about those cardboard figures they used, they’ve incredibly reached another level mixing high-tech sceneries with the traditional elements and colorful decoration of the pageant.

Congratulations!!

THE SWIMSUIT COMPETITION

Once again, we must congratulate the Miss Venezuela organization for their exquisite taste (not in everything but in many things) while choosing the designs (again I’m not going to say anything about the last Miss Universe event), the girls were presented in classical flower swimsuits which were just gorgeous.

Moreover, the stage was phenomenal, I just can’t stop talking about it, as the girls were presented, the camera showed an upper view of the scenario that reflected in a big colorful screen with each contestant’s state was presented in bold letters, BRAVO!!…

Now, concerning the girls I noticed HIGHLY exaggerated catwalks, to the point it went from the attitude to the FLASHY, especially Miss Merida who even threw out the “pareo” thing, HEY! Remember you’re still in a glamorous competition, not walking at the Zoo running away from the animals.

Regarding the girls’ figures, there was no doubt we were in the Miss Venezuela Pageant, perfection was really remarkable and “chubby” girls were evidently not there!… Now, I would like to send my greetings to two girls who combined the attitude with the necessary elegance for a Miss, the first, Miss Zulia, Adriana Vasini, who was in my opinion THE BEST at this point of the competition, the girl was fearless about trying new moves (hopefully it was not a Taliana nor the Dayana) she threw her beach wrap and for an instant I even thought it had fallen, but NOPE! I was so beautifully mistaken when I saw how she magically lifted it up with her high heels as the crowd went insane, CONGRATULATIONS!

Pasquale told me this should be a new move: THE ZULIA. My second best in swimsuit was Miss Miranda, Marelisa Gibson, who was devilishly elegant and the classiest in the complete competition, she showed that having a nice body is important for being a Miss Venezuela, but also rocking it with elegance and glamour is essential as well.

MORE MUSIC OF THE NIGHT…

Back to Miss Puerto Rico, oh, I’m so sorry, for an instant I transported myself to the enchanting Caribbean island, as the “Reggaeton”  was the predominant music style in the pageant. Pop artists were completely omitted this time, so Reggaetoneros “Tito El Bambino” and the gasoline man “Daddy Yankee” were the main musical guests of the event. A euphoric Tito, and an overweight and energy less Daddy Yankee were in charge of satisfying the public needs (not mine I would say). I do think Miss Venezuela is going too far with this all Reggaeton thing, and it gets even worse if they bring a Daddy Yankee who didn’t seem to sleep for a week, even grandma had more energy than him.

AND THEN THERE WERE… MISS UNIVERSE 2008 AND MISS UNIVERSE 2009

To the sound of more typical Venezuelan music, and as I felt I was leaving Puerto Rico and coming back to the country, Dayana Mendoza hosted this memorable portion of the show to receive Venezuela’s 6th Miss Universe, Stefania Fernandez.

Dancers were all over the scenario, from children to the elderly, I happened to like this part of the show a lot. A really beautiful and classy Dayana came out wavering a stunning gold gown which was almost the same color of her skin; spontaneous, elegant and friendly as usual, Dayana presented Stefania who was wearing a typical Venezuelan gown and who almost fell down in the middle of the show.

After the music, this portion of the show was simple and a little too long for my taste, Dayana and Stefania conversed as if they were in the backyard, once again, a little too much, for an instant I thought they were not going to stop but, I must admit they were (YES! BOTH OF THEM) stunning! Finally, Stefania looked Stunning instead of nice, beautiful or an Ugly Betty look alike.

THE EVENING GOWN PARADE

I would say this is not just the Miss Venezuela’s evening gown parade but also the country’s fashion week as the most famous local fashion designers show their gowns. Particularly, there were not many “OUTS” this time, though there weren’t many INCREDIBLE designs either.

But, I could not end this section without mentioning Miss Lara’s outfit. Oh, that freaked me out, she looked so pink, and so Barbie-like that for a moment I thought she was not a human, she was: BARBIE! Completely FLASHY and exaggerated, she even had a flower in her hair to complete the incredibly weird intense freaking pink outfit, the poor girl.

Transparencies were not left behind either, even if they KNOW this is not very trendy (instead it’s already old-fashioned) a couple of girls wore transparent gowns but just a few could carry them beautifully (special congrats to Miss Distrito Capital fro accomplishing this).

But, the BIG BOOM was Miss Amazonas, Jessica Guillen, whose gown showed a brand new trend into the Pageant world.  She wore a green J-Lo style dress, it was just a 10 in my book!

THE TOP 10 & THE INTERVIEWS

A predictable top 10 was announced as Miss Nueva Esparta was the only favorite who did not make it, instead a not expected Miss Amazonas DID make it after having looked unbelievably classy, fashionable and modern with the J-Lo style gown. The final cut included crowd’s favorites Miranda, Aragua, Zulia and Trujillo. Immediately, the moment had arrived, the WEAKEST competition for most of MV’S contestants… The Interview.

First up to bat, Miss Distrito Capital who was asked if it was more difficult to ask for permission or for pardon, well, she answered that it was more difficult to ask for permission because pardoning is a way of asking for permission when you pardon someone that has asked for permission already… Did you understand? Surely not, well, NEITHER DID I! The girl got so nervous she almost cried on Live TV, she even dared to separate the microphone as a sarcastically touched Daniel Sarcos tried to “help her”.

Second up to bat, and what the hell, this baseball vocabulary fits so well, was flashy Miss Merida, who intended to feel so secure that at the end, she said… Nothing!  She even grabbed the microphone to start talking about a complicated baseball game concerning violence in children, and she Struck Out!

Contestants passed and I even felt ashamed, until a really confident Miss Trujillo answered her brainless question, she was asked about who had to pay for the crown, whether Dayana or Stefania, I felt ashamed for the person who created the question, fortunately it was not Elizabeth’s fault and she got to answer confidently to a question that was not going to give her the crown.

Then, the mega favorites’ turns had arrived. First up, Miss Miranda, Marelisa Gibson, who was asked about the social labor that she would like to perform and whose answer was chanelling violence through sports in order to create… THE CROWD WENT MAD and she finished answering weakly, but Hey! She Answered! She didn’t cry, she was confident; she was not rude or arrogant, it was a Plus!

Second up, Zulia’s Adriana Vasini whose question asked if she considered herself superficial or not, it happened that the Snow white like girl was a Medical Student, so she stated that being a doctor, trying to help the community and healing people was less than superficial.

Another good answer in a bunch of nervous girls and brainless questions, I felt so good that there was a top 3 to choose but it was not the end, because last but not least, Amazona’s Top Model, Jessica Guillen, who stated that with the “BLACKBERRIES”, communication has been affected and that it should be “FACE TO FACE”, yup, a bit of Spanglish to end this round. I wonder what would have happened if she had been asked about considering herself superficial? Ah, us Venezuelans and out Blackberries! LOL!  Blackberry time again…

THE TOP 5 & THE CROWNING MOMENT

After having no clearer option than choosing Miranda, Trujillo and Zulia, the expectations were about who was going to complete the final top, and randomly (I suppose since the rest of the contestants answered pathetically), Amazonas and Tachira could make it.

The crowning moment was really predictable, at least for the public, the Blackberry addicted girl from Amazonas was chosen as the 2nd runner up and Tachira as the 1st runner up.

Now, the moment had come, as I had predicted. Miss Trujillo, Elizabeth Mosquera, a spectacular 18 years-old brunette was selected as Miss Venezuela International, and as supposed, Zulia and Miranda were the final two.

Miranda’s Marelisa Gibson (20) is an Architecture Student who performed as a goddess, with her big shiny smile and who was so full of glamour in every instant, on the other hand, there was Zulia’s Adriana Vasini (22), who is currently studying to become a Doctor and whose attitude, sympathy, intelligence and even those winks to the camera had brought her to the final two… The classical words from Delgado…

A really, really excited Boris Izaguirre screaming, and the result: Miss Miranda is the NEW MISS VENEZUELA UNIVERSE 2009, Miss Zulia became the new MISS VENEZUELA WORLD. I had no doubt this doll face girl had everything it was needed to win, elegance, intelligence, glamour and my favorite, a HUGE smile!…

No wonder Miss Venezuela is the event of the year down here and for pageant fans all over the world, for the first in many years I think they made the right choice for all 3 pageants. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEW MISS VENEZUELA UNIVERSE Marelisa Gibson, MISS VENEZUELA WORLD Adriana Vasini, and to Elizabeth Mosquera MISS VENEZUELA INTERNATIONAL.

Reporting from Maracaibo, Venezuela, and hope you all have great upcoming pageants,

JUAN M. SIERRA!

The author of the article is Venezuelan. Photos courtesy of SinFlash.com