GlobalBeauties.com Miss World 2008 Blog

Our beautiful Miss World, Ksenia Sukhinova, returned to Moscow on December 17th and was greeted by family, friends and the local media.

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JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG - DECEMBER 14: Miss World Kseniya Sukhinova from Russia attends a press conference at the Conference Centre in Sandton on December 14, 2008 Johannesburg, South Africa (Photo by Michelly Rall/WireImage)

Click here to see Exclusive Photos from Saturday’s Miss World Telecast!

Ksenia Sukhinova’s crowning moment as Miss World 2008, thanks to YouTube

As usual, the Continental Queens of Beauty of Miss World 2008 were announced during the Coronation Ball held right after the telecast.

EUROPE: Russia (Ksenia is now the 2nd russian woman to win Miss World, being the 1st Julia Kourochkina in 1992)

ASIA PACIFIC: India (First continental award for India since Priyanka Chopra won in 2000)

CARIBBEAN: Trinidad & Tobago, for the 2nd year in a row

AFRICA: Angola (for the 3rd year in a row)

AMERICAS: Venezuela (the last time Venezuela won this award was in 1999, with Martina Thorogood)

Photos by Michelly Rall, Wireimage

Ksenia, 21, lives with her parents in the Tyumen region, which is situated in the north west of Siberia. She is currently studying for a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineer of Administration, her ambition is also to become a Supermodel.

Her personal motto is: `Respect people around you, and people will respect you`.

No question, no doubt, Ksenia was the major favorite and she walked away with the crown. She is one of the most beautiful women I’ve seen in all my years covering beauty contests. Tall, poised, regal and beautiful, she did everything as expected.

In the end, the emotion is rolling as Julia Morley is about to announce the winner; she loves to surprise us. But this year, no. She saw Ksenia, the judges saw Ksenia, and they knew she was the best.

God, they are going to get a LOT of new sponsors with that spectacular woman as their spokesperson.

I am also glad to see India back on track, after so many years in the background. Parvathy displayed all the true qualities of a well rounded beauty queen. Congratulations as well to Miss Trinidad & Tobago, as well as my friend Peter Elias. I know that putting up the pageant in Trinidad & Tobago has not been a ride in the park for his organization.

But when one of his girls does extremelly well abroad (and any contestant sent by my national director friends as well) it gives the satisfaction of a job well done.

I am also happy for Miss Brazil, excellent work! Venezuela maintains itself as an unbeatable powerhouse, and Spain did very well this year.

Julia Kourochkina, Miss World 1992 from Russia

United States looked spectacular. So did Czech Republic and Belgium. Sadly there was only room for 15. But hey, being chosen beauty queen in your country is nothing to ignore.  All the contestants should feel proud and grateful of living this opportunity, an experience of a lifetime.

Congratulations to Angola! Three consecutive years in the top five, a real achievement!  Stiviandra Oliveira, Micaela Reis and now Brigith dos Santos, exquisite representations of the African beauty.

Also, I want to congratulate our Leaderboard judges. For the 3rd consecutive years, they hit it right with the winner: Tatana in 2006, Zilin in 2007, and now Ksenia in 2008.

Congratulations are also in order to the Miss World Organisation who put up a MAGNIFICENT show, a great stage, the most amazing group of contestants ever and so many things that don’t come to my head right now.

See you all in Johannesburg in 2009!

This Year.  And so it’s come and gone.  I had such grandiose notions of writing the ultimate witty sassy essay THIS YEAR.  I was going to make that very insightful comment about who should win and why THIS YEAR.  I sat down last night, a glass of South Africa’s Amarula cream liqueur in hand, ready to commit just the right words to paper about how to avoid judges allowing racial stereotyping affect them during scoring while taking in racial diversity when casting those same scores and I failed miserably at said task, THIS YEAR.

And so we’ve come and gone.  It hasn’t happened yet.  But in a few hours, it will.  THIS YEAR.  THIS YEAR that we know in pageantry will have come and gone.  We will collectively sigh and gasp at the decision and then walk away, overjoyed, annoyed or indifferent.  Personally, I would like to see it go to a black woman.  Agbani was the last black woman to wear the crown.  Tansey is the best choice and so is Athina from Antigua & Barbuda, but there are so many really beautiful dark black women in the pageant – sometimes I wonder, is Agbani as dark as is allowed to win?  Wendy Fitzwilliam was dark skinned, but I don’t remember anyone darker and that was another pageant.  Uganda, Swaziland & Zimbabwe are all beautiful black women this year.  That would be a nice change.  Angola would be terrific too.  Note to self: explore this issue in the future.  But I’m barking at the moon here, folks, who am I kidding.  Russia or Mexico most likely will walk away with that crown in a few hours (alternately Ukraine or Spain) and people will get back to their regular lives.  We will discuss how she is the most perfect Miss World EVER and then we all disappear for the next few weeks through the holidays and show up around February for a new one. 

Unless….

Unless something freaky happens.  Julia goes off script and pulls Angola out of the hat.  What about Iceland?  What if that true fairy princess story keeps going and Philippines wins?  Perhaps they’ve finally noticed what a beautiful woman Paraguay is.  The United States is the next Miss World.  Just imagine.  We’d be talking, shouting, screaming, arguing, exclamating, pronouncing and declaring.  All the way to NEXT YEAR.  A boy could hope.

Miss Chines Taipei (Taiwain) for Miss World!

Patrick Tripoldi (US Judge for the GB Leaderboard)

Publisher of Global Beauties

With so many radical changes, so many expectations, so many favourites, and rumours, this competition has all the ingredients to be one of the top enjoyments for us fans this year.

Starting with the incredibly huge disappointments of some of the pre-arrival favourites such as Miss Ecuador, whose production team made amazing wonders with Photoshop that sadly, didn’t reflect the true beauty of thier delegate, adding to that a not-so-flattering hair colour, made a recipe for an imminent disaster.

Then the ups and downs of Miss Ukraine, who still keeps her favouritism strong(ish) among bidding houses and some of her fans remain glued to the hope of her revival, but we have seen a girl without a drive and almost self defeated.

On the contrary, Miss Russia, was the biggest surprise of the event. She came to steal everyone’s attention and is now the big favourite for the crown and could easily take it all and become our new Miss World… but would the MWO want Russia to represent them when it was this country’s conflict with Georgia that initially put the event at risk in the Ukraine when they then had to move the host country to South Africa, which graciously hosted it?

Russia

The honour of Russia’s top favouritism is now shared with a girl who may not be the prettiest of the bunch, but seems certain the one who wants this crown the most, Miss Mexico. She has not only qualified in most preliminary fast track events, but she has also managed to gain the confidence of many fans and experts who at the beginning didn’t quite get her (including myself, a mexicano), and she wants to be the first Mexican Miss World, I can sense that.

I think that right behind these two front-runners are Miss India, who is actually an incredibly pleasant surprise, Miss South Africa who seems to have learnt the lessons of Miss Universe quite well, and the new rising star of the competition, Miss Croatia.

It seems that initial members of the dream team of beauty like Miss Spain and Miss Brazil (along with Ukraine) are keeping their best weapons for the finals, and I do hope and expect to see them up there.

CzechRep

Finally, I want to mention two stunners - Miss Czech Republic, who has captivated the attention of many experts with her serene and almost hypnotizing looks, along with the fierce beautiful Miss Angola.

Misses Puerto Rico, Malaysia and the Philippines deserve honourable mentions of great performance and great beauty.

Now it is a matter of waiting and see what’s in store for us all this Saturday!!

Cheers!!!!

David Iza (Leaderboard Judge representing Mexico)

Another year has gone by, and another Miss World pageant is about to end. It has been such an incredible ride since the contest started last November 16th. This is my 9th year covering the Miss World contest -I started in 2000 when it was held at the Millenium Dome in London- and each time is more exciting.

There are so many beautiful women this year it’s incredible. People ask me to come up with my final top 10 list… It’s really really difficult.

I want to dedicate my post not to those contestants who have placed in every fast track, or those who are the most favored by the bookies; I want to dedicate it to all the 109 contestants taking part in the event.

I am sure that most of them never thought they would visit Africa. Such a magnificent country as South Africa, taking part in Safaris, galas, tours and meeting so many new friends from all over the planet.  The experience in itself is very rewarding, but it is my advice to make the most out of it.

Sometimes it’s really hard to enjoy these experiences. They are, after all, competitions. But you win a lot, specially if you know how to make the most of it. Some contestants are really affected by the pressure, and it gets worse if they have psychotic trainers who have to win at all costs to satisfy their egos (believe me I have seen those!)

The world of the internet has really revolutioned the way we see beauty pageants. Nowadays, we get first hand information about everything; contestants post their personal photos online and of course,  the “colorful” beauty pageant forums with the endless fighting, name-calling and arguing about who is right and who is not; fans insulting each other because they refuse to like Miss Nauru or because they don’t think Miss Sandwich Islands will reach the finals.

I am already looking forward to the telecast. The performances by Alesha Dixon and McFly, the jamaican outfits, the African dancers, but mostly to see the endless parade of beautiful women with loooong legs. And I wonder… because sometimes you think you know who will win, but in the end you are surprised.

Who will join Zi Lin, Tatana, Unnur, Maju, Rosanna, Azra, Agbani, Priyanka, Yukta, etc. etc. in the Miss World Hall of Fame? I have tried to visualize a winner, it’s hard.  I will sit and relax on December 13th and watch this contest on TV like it was the first time in my life that I see these girls.  I think everybody else should do that.

And then, that moment of the year, where we all get worked up with anxiety and expectation:  The famous sentence that has been read consecutively for the past 57 years: “And now, I will announce the results in reverse order….”

Good luck to everyone involved in the contest!