Miss World 1991

By Julio Rodríguez Matute. PAYPAL.ME/RODRIGUEZMATUTE2

EVENTS THAT MARKED THE YEAR.-

In 1991 the “Gulf War” occurs between the US and Iraq due to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait the previous year. The conflict called “Operation Desert Storm” lasted 42 days and ended with a defeated Iraq, with about 200 thousand victims and with the recovery of Kuwait as a nation. This year the three Baltic states are recognized as independent countries by the UN while the remaining Soviet republics also declare themselves independent from the USSR. The Soviet Union disappears while announcing its plan to withdraw military and economic aid to Cuba. Eleven of the fifteen Soviet republics (with the exception of the three Baltic states and Georgia) decide to found the “Commonwealth of Independent States”. The famous KGB (Russian secret police) disappears and also communism in the countries of Eastern Europe. In Yugoslavia the secessionist war begins during which Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia become independent while the war between Georgia and South Ossetia breaks out. In Sierra Leone and Somalia civil wars begin, Somaliland separates from Somalia but is not recognized by the UN while civil wars in Ethiopia and Cambodia end. India abandons its policy of socialism to take neoliberal changes in its economy. Earthquakes affect Costa Rica, Panama, Georgia, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan with thousands of victims. A typhoon devastates Bangladesh, leaving about 140 thousand dead; Hurricane Bob hits North Carolina and New England and, in the Philippines, Mount Pinatubo erupts. Boris Yeltsin is elected President of Russia, the Warsaw Pact is dissolved, Nigeria moves its capital to Abuja, Mercosur is created in Paraguay, drug trafficker Pablo Escobar Gaviria surrenders in Colombia, and a cholera epidemic breaks out in Peru. Global boycott against South Africa is lifted for announcing the end of Apartheid; the country is readmitted to the Olympic Committee. Due to financial problems, the Eastern and Pan Am airlines stop operating, while the basketball player Magic Johnson announces his retirement after having contracted HIV.

Lupita Jones from Mexico is crowned Miss Universe in Las Vegas, Polish Agnieszka Kotlarska obtains the title of Miss International in Japan, the song “Fångad av en stormvind” by Swedish Carola wins the Eurovision Song Contest in Rome, Claudia Brant from Argentina with his song “Where are you now” triumphs in Acapulco, Mexico at the OTI Festival and the film “Dances with Wolves” wins the Academy Award. In the cinema the films “The Silence of the Lambs”, “Terminator II”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Robin Hood”, “JFK”, “Sleeping with the Enemy”, “The Endless Story II” “,” The Adams Family “,” The Return to the Blue Lagoon” and “The Prince of the Tides”. TNT broadcasts began in Latin America and Ricky Martin released his first album as a soloist. On the radio you can hear the songs “Black or White” by Michael Jackson, “Don’t Cry” by Guns N ‘Roses, “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” by George Michael and Elton John, “Everything I Do, I Do It For You” by Bryan Adams, “Losing My Religion” by REM, “When a Man Loves a Woman” and “Love Is A Wonderful Thing” by Michael Bolton, “Can’t Let Go” by Mariah Carey, “Crucified” by Army of Lovers, “Everybody’s Free (to Feel Good)” by Rozalla, “Get Ready For This” by 2Unlimited, “Gonna Make You Sweat” by C&C Music Factory, “La Da Dee” by Crystal Waters, “Joyride” by Roxette, “More Than Words” by Extreme and “Wind of Change” by Scorpions. The Jerry Springer Show and Ren and Stimpy cartoons are premiered on US TV, while the soap opera “Mundo de Fieras” is broadcast in Venezuela. The Venezuelan model, actress and beauty queen Irene Esser, actress Emma Roberts, Portuguese model Sara Sampaio, Colombian soccer player James Rodríguez and Peruvian soccer player Christian Cueva were born this year while Singer Freddie Mercury, British dancer Margot Fonteyn, actor Michael Landon and film and television producer Irwin Allen died.

MISS WORLD IN LIQUIDATION.-

On December 17, 1990, it was published in the British newspapers that the Miss World contest was in liquidation. Owen Oyston, partner of Eric Morley, decided to put the famous contest up for sale as he sought to reduce loans. In early January 1991, Morley and his wife Julia, managed to raise £ 800,000 ($ 1.8 million) to conditionally buy back Miss World (Jersey) and Miss World (UK) from Trans World Communications PLC, the group local radio station that they merged with in 1988 after a five-year freelance career in the unlisted stock market. The Morleys left the board of Trans World, which they joined after the £ 13.6 million merger, but retained a 7.5% stake in the company. The consideration included £ 600,000 at the completion of the sale and two additional equal payments in December 1991 and another in December 1992 of £ 100,000 each. TransWorld put Miss World up for sale after its president, Owen Oyston, and Morley failed to agree on the strategy and after a £ 1.24 million outlay was made into the interim accounts for expected losses for the entire year at Miss World.

Under a contract that would run through mid-1993, Morley retained full control of the management of the business. Oyston said: “We were hoping to give Miss World a facelift, but Eric was determined to run it like he always had. We couldn’t keep losing money forever.” But Morley replied: “As you can see from the international audience figures, there is still enormous potential around the world for our formula.” He added that the £ 1.24 million provision was canceled before European Leisure, the fast-growing nightclub and leisure group, stepped in to sponsor the 1990 contest.

A well-known British newspaper published: “Miss World has been divorced. The company that runs the 40-year-old beauty pageant yesterday ended its unhappy marriage to Piccadilly Radio”. The last two years had not been happy for the Morleys and Miss World. Both the 1989 and 1990 pageants had struggled to secure a spot on British television. But the price paid by the Morleys suggested that the glamor of the pageant was fading. Before the first flirtation in 1988 with radio companies, Miss World was worth 8 million. The latest upheaval in the life of the beauty pageant marked just the latest chapter in a hectic 40-year saga.

As we may recall, the Miss World pageant was conceived by Morley in 1951 when he was advertising manager in Mecca. Mecca was taken over by Grand Metropolitan in 1978 and the following year, Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas offered $ 1 million for the contest. Morley was given two weeks to match the price, and he did, with the help of vacation camp mogul Billy Butlin. In 1983, Miss World went public on the stock market and in 1988 the link to Red Rose radio in Oyston arrived, leading to its unfortunate marriage to Piccadilly.

But Oyston didn’t fare so well after this. The telecommunications group that decided to part ways with Miss World found that local advertising had proven resilient. But the cost of splitting frequencies to launch three new radio stations had slashed profit margins at a time when national advertising spending had fallen below expectations. Oyston had started a cost-cutting program to restore profits and planned to use the £ 800,000 raised from the Miss World sale to reduce loans. Trans World Communications turned a profit of £ 4.56 million into a loss of £ 1.8 million of which £ 1.3 million was related to Miss World.

Months after Oyston’s divorce from Miss World, The Sunday Times reported that “questionable” stock deals involving the Miss World group, of which Oyston was then CEO, were being investigated by the Stock Exchange and the City Acquisition Panel. The investigations led Oyston to resign from Trans World Communications by the end of July 1991, deciding to dedicate himself to the world of football, directing the Blackpool Football Club. Investigations were concluded in October 1991 and Oyston was found not guilty of the charges and the allegations made on November 26, 1989, claiming that Oyston had won the Piccadilly Radio acquisition battle by offering illegal incentives, were also found they lacked foundation. But Oyston, later, was convicted but for other reasons: a sex crime. He was convicted of rape and indecent assault of a 16-year-old girl in 1996. He served three years and six months of a six-year prison sentence. He was released after a judicial review of the board’s refusal to grant parole. On February 25, 2019, Oyston and his daughter Natalie were removed from the Blackpool Football Club board of directors.

BLIND DATE WITH MISS WORLD.-

The “Liverpool Echo” newspaper organized a special fundraiser for the Alder Hey Hospital. To do this, it was decided to do a kind of raffle among the attendees and said that they would make a donation of £ 1 to the aforementioned hospital for each person who attended that event. The award was a “blind” date with the reigning Miss World, the American Gina Tolleson.

CHANGES IN THE COMPETITION VENUE.-

In May 1991, the Morleys had signed an agreement with Worldwide Television in Atlanta to host the final of the forty-first edition of the Miss World pageant in the Dominican Republic. However, the clauses of the contract allowed them the possibility of changing the host city if the circumstances caused them to do so. The agreement was publicly signed with much press coverage and the Morleys hoped to visit the beautiful Caribbean country soon. About two months later, the television station informed the Morleys that for reasons beyond their control, the final of the event had to move to Puerto Rico. The Morleys accepted and a new agreement was signed, with previous events in South Africa, a country that had had the global veto lifted when announcing the end of Apartheid, and with a technical touch in New York where a charity event would be held. The national directors were notified of the change. On this occasion, the license also included Altis Television, a California TV company, which produced a document stating that if the final was held on December 28, the contest would be broadcast through the ABC signal in the US. But, six weeks before the finals, Altis and Worldwide told the Morleys that, for technical reasons, the contest had to move to Atlanta, which incidentally had already been selected as the venue for the 1996 Olympics. The Morleys announced the change of the venue officially on Friday, November 22, even though the negotiation contract with Atlanta had not been signed. The directors had had time to process the visas of their candidates since July since Puerto Rico was a North American territory, so the change of venue would not cause major problems. The contestants were all to arrive in London on Wednesday, November 27, and the directors were to ensure that return flights were to be booked after December 29 out of Atlanta.

NATIONAL CONTESTS.-

By 1991, the Morleys had negotiated the Miss World rights in 98 countries, a record number so far. Greenland would make their debut at the event alongside Ukraine, while South Africa, Antigua & Barbuda and Nicaragua would return after years of absence. However, due to economic problems, local competitions were not held in Barbados, Bermuda, Madagascar and Sri Lanka. In Argentina and Holland there was no national contest for Miss World, but their representatives, Marcela Chazarreta and Linda Egging were appointed. Honduran Arlene Rauscher, former Queen of the National Pine Festival of Siguatepeque, was sent to Miss World by Televicentro after winning the crown of “Señorita Independencia de Honduras 1991”. Miss UGANDA (Connie Busingye) was the first withdrawal from the pageant because her organizers excused themselves from sending her as they could not cover the participation costs. For their part, Gambia and Saint Vincent & the Grenadines renounced the franchise. Among the remaining 93 countries that would participate in Miss World 1991 were the following:

* MISS SPAIN.- The election of Miss Spain was held on Saturday, October 6, 1990 in Santander. The winner was Miss Andalusia Occidental, Esther Arroyo from Cádiz. For her part, the candidate from Gran Canaria, Margarita Medina, was elected Miss National, while Miss Atlántico, Candelaria Moreno Navarro and Miss Catalonia, Elodie Chantal Jordá, were the First and Second Maids of Honor respectively. Esther went to Miss Universe 1991 and Candelaria to Miss World 1991.

Catia Moreno to the extreme right

* MISS COLOMBIA.- Marybell Gutiérrez, representative of Atlántico, was crowned “Miss Colombia” on November 11, 1990 at the Cartagena Convention Center among 18 candidates, for which she obtained the right to represent her country in Miss Universe. The Vice-Queen was Miss Bogotá, Adriana Rodríguez, who, as was tradition, would represent her country in Miss World. She assumed the title of Miss Colombia in 1991 following the resignation of Marybell Gutiérrez. This was the last year the National Beauty Pageant had the Morley pageant franchise. The Princesses were Mónica Escobar (Caldas), María Consuelo Pinedo (Valle) and Claudia Aros (Chocó).

* MISS GERMANY.- The first “Miss United Germany” contest was held in Berlin on Friday, November 23, 1990, with 17-year-old Susanne Petry, Miss Saarland, winning. The finalists were Kathrin Richter and Sandra Geller. Susanne could not compete in Miss Universe 1991 because she was not 18 years old on February 1, and she was replaced in that event by the first runner-up. However, Susanne attended Miss Europe in June 1991 in Senegal, a contest she won, but for undisclosed reasons she was dismissed a month later. Then, Susanne went to Miss World in Atlanta.

* MISS FRANCE.- Forty-four candidates took part in Miss France on Sunday December 30, 1990 at the CNIT of La Defense, Paris. The winner was Miss Tahiti, Maréva Georges, who was sent to Miss Universe and Miss World. The finalists were Catherine Clarysse (North Coast), Anne-Marie Poggi (Brittany), Francette Bulin (Guadeloupe) and Céline Cassagnes (Midi-Pyrenees).

* MISS UKRAINE.- The first edition of Miss Ukraine was held on Sunday February 3 at the Recreation Center “Ukraine” in Kiev, with the participation of 24 entrants. The winner was 17-year-old Olga Ovcharenko, from the Ukrainian capital, and she was also chosen as Miss Audience. The finalists were Yulia Shestopalova, Onega Ponomarenko and Nina Anikeeva.

* MISS SUOMI.- It took place on Monday, February 11, and the title went to Tanja Vienonen, who went to Miss Universe. In second place, as “Suomen Neito” and representative of Finland in Miss World was Nina Autio and in third place, Päivi Hytinkoski.

* MISS THAILAND WORLD.- Issariya Apichai won the crown on Thursday, February 21 in Bangkok. The finalists were Chaninthon Chitlada, Alongkorn Kantharak, Nawaporn Sinthiprab, and Chomnuch Nantachai. Issariya went to Miss World using the stage name “Rewadee Malaisee”.

* MISS USA.- It was held on Friday, February 22 at the Century II Convention Center in Wichita, Kansas, with the local candidate, Kelli McCarty, winning the pass to Miss Universe that was held for the first time in Las Vegas. The first runner-up was Miss New Jersey, Charlotte Ray and the second runner-up, Miss California, Diane Schock. The remaining finalists were Lisa Morgan (Illinois), Julie Khoury (Oklahoma) and Pat Arnold (North Carolina). Ray was sent to Miss World, being the last time that the representative of the USA to the pageant of the Morleys left the rows of the Miss USA. This pageant lost the franchise because Julia Morley wanted the Miss Universe organization to name the first runner-up as Miss World USA during the Miss USA broadcast, but they refused. The rights of Miss World then passed, that same year, to Richard Guy and Rex Holt, who until 1990 had the Texas and California franchise for Miss USA and Miss Teen USA and who would organize the first edition of “Miss World America” in 1992. They sued Miss Universe Inc., owners of Miss USA, accusing them of wanting to monopolize the beauty pageant industry when the organization failed to renew their Miss California USA franchise. For its part, the Miss Universe organization countersued them for breach of contract and misuse of the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA brands and, in turn, took away both Texas franchises.

* MISS ESTONIA.- Erika Bauer, 22, from Rakvere, won the title on Saturday 9 March at a TV studio in Tallinn. The finalists were Kristina Hanson and Tiiu Saak. 10 contestants participated.

* FEMINA MISS INDIA.- Held in Bombay on Saturday March 16 and where seven queens were chosen for different international competitions. The winner, for Miss Universe, turned out to be Christabelle Howie while for Miss World it was Ritu Singh. The remaining finalists were Preeti Mankotia (to Miss International), Vispy Lal (to Miss Asia Pacific), Sakala Appachu (to Miss India Worldwide), M.P. Smitha (to Miss Young International) and Mayura Kuthapa (to Teen Princess International).

* MISS NICARAGUA.- Ana Sofía Pereira was crowned on Saturday March 23 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Managua among nine candidates, in the first contest held since 1979. The election of the beautiful Miss Nicaragua was not well received by some of the contestants who complained of preference from Channel 6. Ana Sofía won the right to represent her country in Miss Universe, while Marialily Serrano, from the city of León and who was second, would go to Miss World.

* MISS DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.- The event was held on Saturday, April 6 at the Eurotel in Puerto Plata in the midst of controversies and conflicts and where the Dominican representatives were crowned heading to numerous international beauty pageants. The winner was Melissa Vargas (to Miss Universe) while Rosanna Rodríguez was chosen as Miss Dominican World. The other winners were Elbanira Morales (Miss Dominican Hispanidad), Kenia Ferreira (Miss International), Josefina Matos (Miss Maja) and Laura Longo (Miss Latin America). The finalists were Vivian Calderon, Kira Rivera, Elsie Brea and Raquel Giraldes.

* MISS CZECHOSLOVAKIA.- The Antonín Dvořák Theater in Ostrava was the venue for the contest that chose Michaela Maláčová to represent the country in Miss Universe ’92. The finalists were Andrea Tatarková (to Miss World 1991) and Markéta Silná (to Miss International 1991). The final was on Saturday April 20.

* MISS PERU.- On Saturday, April 20, Eliana Martínez, a beautiful woman from Lima, was crowned Miss Peru 1991, after a close competition between 18 candidates in the closed arena in the city of Arequipa. The event was organized by Panamericana Television under the production of Diego Terry. The finalists were Claudia Figueroa from Cuzco, Carla Barzotti from Lima, Joanna Castro de la Matta from La Libertad and Alithú Robinson from Loreto.

* MISS TURKEY.- The Swisshotel in Istanbul was the place chosen to elect the new representatives of Turkish beauty in 1991 on Tuesday 23 April. The winner was Pınar Özdemir, who went to Miss Universe. Second was Dilek Aslihan Koruyan (to Miss World) and third Defne Samyeli (to Miss Europe). The contest was organized by the company “Magic Box”.

* MISS BELGIUM.- Anke Vandermeersch won the title of Miss Belgium 1991 at the Spa casino on Saturday, April 27. Her two finalists were Anne Kempeneer and Stéphanie Dermaux.

* FEGURÐARDROTTNING ÍSLANDS.- At 1 am on Saturday, May 4, Svava Haraldsdóttir was crowned as Queen of Beauty of Iceland among 18 participants at the Hotel Islandi in Reykjavik, for which she won her pass to Miss World 1991 and Miss Universe 1992. The finalists they were Sigrún Eva Kristinsdóttir, Sólveig Kristjánsdóttir, Telma Birgisdóttir and Sigrún Elsa Smáradóttir.

* MISS VENEZUELA.- This year, the Venezuelan contest changed its date and went from February, the month in which it had been held since 1987, to May, in an event that was very controversial because Osmel Sousa dismissed a large group of girls, almost half of the contest, and replaced them with others because they were neglected with the ideal weight. In addition, due to the change of dates, Sousa decided to remove from Miss Venezuela one of the main favorites, Miss Miranda, Jackeline Rodríguez, and designate her as the country’s representative in Miss Universe. The final was held at the Poliedro de Caracas on Thursday, May 23 with 29 of the 30 expected candidates, since Miss Peninsula Goajira, Gabriela Hidalgo, withdrew a few days before the night of the election (she returned in 1993 representing Miranda) . Representatives from Canaima and the Paraguaná Peninsula participated for the first time. The opening of the contest was in charge of Miss World Venezuela 1990, Sharon Luengo, in a very expensive musical number that remembered the Lido of Paris. The contest was won by Miss Amazonas, Carolina Izsak, who went to Miss Universe 1992. As Miss World Venezuela was crowned Ninibeth Leal, Miss Zulia (who had been Miss Peninsula Goajira before Osmel’s bounce) and as Miss Venezuela International, Miss Monagas , Niurka Acevedo. The finalists were Connie Hernández (Federal District), Alexandra Vírgüez (Paraguaná Peninsula), Jennifer Díaz (Vargas Municipality), Yael Bruzual (Sucre), Candice Blanco (Bolívar), Beatriz Lesseur (Carabobo) and Lisette Mutti (Falcón). Gilberto Correa and Bárbara Palacios hosted the event.

* MIS LIETUVA.- Dalia Leleivaitė, from Utena and 21 years old, was elected Miss Lithuania on Friday, May 31 at the Vilnius Palace of Sports. Violeta Malevska was second and Ingrida Simonavičiūtė was third. 17 candidates participated.

* MISS ARUBA.- Held on Friday, May 31 at the Hotel Americana Aruba. The crown went to Jerusha Rasmijn towards Miss Universe 1992. Miss Aruba World was Sandra Croes, who already at that time was a recognized professional singer on the “Happy Island”, while the finalists were Terry Davis, Saskia Klaphaak and Lisa de Windt.

* MISS SWITZERLAND- Sandra Aegerter won the title on Saturday June 1 at the Kongresshaus in Zurich, representing her country at Miss World 1991 and Miss Universe 1992. The finalists were Francesca Centamore and Gretel Muller. 16 contestants participated.

* MUTYA NG PILIPINAS.- It was held on Friday June 7 in Manila with 20 participants. The winners were Gemith Gemparo (to Miss World), Shawnaleh Arevalo (to Miss Globe) and Vivian Gobaton (Mutya ng Pilipinas-Tourism). The finalists were Armi Rose Santiago and Sheila Yumang.

* MISS POLAND.- The rights of Miss World returned this year to the official Miss Poland contest, an event held on Saturday, June 15 in the Congress Hall of the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw and which was attended by the reigning Miss World , Gina Tolleson. The winner was Karina Wojciechowska who prevailed against 15 other competitors, and for which she traveled to Miss World. The finalists were Katarzyna Stępień, Izabela Filipowska, Renata Tempka and Edyta Jamróz.

* MISS COMMONWEALTH BAHAMAS.- Held on Saturday June 30 at the Le Cabaret Theater on Paradise Island. The winner was Tarnia Paula Newton-Stuart, while the finalists were Richardette Smith and Joyann Major. 8 candidates originally registered but two of them withdrew days before the event.

* MISS LATVIA.- The Benjamin House in Riga was the venue for the contest that crowned Inese Šlesere among 10 participants on Friday, July 19. As finalists were Gunta Zamerovska and Linda Reine.

* MISS PANAMA.- The contest was held on Saturday, July 20 at the Anayansi Theater of the Atlapa Convention Center. Miss Panama for Miss Universe was Ana Cecilia Orillac and Miss Panama for Miss World, Malena Betancourt. At the same event, a candidate was also crowned for Miss Hispanidad, a title that went to Janell Cosca. The finalists were Anoland McDonald and Greta Crusoe. Osmel Sousa and Bárbara Palacios were among the judges, and the event was co-hosted by the Venezuelan Maite Delgado, the Dominican Carlos Alfredo and the Panamanians Luis Farías and Roxana Uribe. 13 entrants competed.

* MISS HUNGARY.- Antónia Bálint, 22, was crowned Miss Hungary 1991 on Tuesday, July 23 at the Budapest Congress Center. The finalists were Tímea Rába and Orsolya Michna.

* MISS SOUTH AFRICA.- Blonde Diana Tilden-Davis won the final of the contest held on Saturday, August 3 at the Sun City Superbowl, in which 12 finalists participated. Second was Amy Kleinhans (then she won the contest the following year) and third was Sasha-Lee Walton. The event was attended by Gina Tolleson, the reigning Miss World, and Julia Morley, who was fascinated with the Sun City complex. Diana had competed in this same event in 1989 where she made the Top 5, but she failed to advance to the Top 3. Her half sister, Janine Botbyl, was handing out the crown that year.

* MISS IRELAND.- It was held on Monday, August 19 at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin. The title went to Amanda Brunker, 17, of Glasnevin, Dublin. 30 applicants competed.

* MISS DORIAN GRAY, STEPS TO FAME.- This event was held as a preliminary to Señorita México on Saturday, September 7 at the Omni Hotel in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo. The title went to the representative of Aguascalientes, María Cristina Urrutia, who obtained her passport to Miss World. The finalists were Mónica Zúñiga (Hidalgo), Jeannine Flores (Federal District), Sofía Barrero (State of Mexico), Lizeth Caicedo (Baja California) and María de los Ángeles López (Veracruz).

* MISS JAMAICA.- Kingston’s National Arena Stadium was once again the venue for the pageant where 20 girls competed and which was involved in controversy over the participation of two former national beauty queens. The crown went to Sandra Foster, who had already been “Miss Jamaica Universe” in 1989 and now would have the opportunity to represent the Caribbean island in Miss World. Miss Jamaica International was supermodel Michell Moodie, who was later stripped of the title for breach of contract with her modeling agency, Pulse Limited, then it passed to Angela Sykes who had been in third place. Years later, Moodie won the Miss Jamaica title and represented her country at Miss World 1997.

* MISS WORLD BRAZIL.- It was won by the gaucho Cátia Kupssinskü from the state of Rio Grande Do Sul on Wednesday, September 11 at the Olympia in Sao Paulo with 27 contestants. The finalists were Luciana Melin Gomes (Santa Catarina) and Cristiane Xavier Nunes (Goiás).

* MISS GUYANA.- Tracy D’Abreu, 20, won the Guyanese beauty crown on Saturday, September 14 at the Georgetown National Cultural Center, being crowned by Miss Guyana 1989 who reigned for two years. Nicole Moore, Michelina Broomes and Danellie Bonito were finalists. The contest had many problems. First, the swimsuits that would be used by the beauties were stolen days before the final and later, angry fans attacked the judges after not agreeing with the result. Tracy, a mulatto woman living in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, also left the country days later after receiving threats. She said she believed that the public preferred a black woman (Nicole Moore) to represent them at Miss World and that the protests over her triumph were racist.

* MISS SINGAPORE WORLD.- Jasheen Jayakody won out of 16 candidates on Sunday, September 15. The second runner-up, Lizabeth Lin Ai Li, was then Miss Photogenic at Miss Universe Singapore 1992 and won Miss Chinatown Singapore 1994.

* MISS USSR.- The last Miss USSR election in history was held on Saturday September 21 aboard the ship “Valery Bryusov” in a contest that was not broadcast on local TV. The winner was Ilmira Shamsutdinova, from Saratov, Russia, just 15 years old. Due to her young age, she was unable to go to Miss World and the organizers ultimately did not send a replacement. (Ilmira later participated in Miss International 1993 where she was second runner-up, in Miss Europe 1995 where she finished fifth and in Miss Universe 1996, where she reached the fourth position). The second and third places were occupied by the Ukrainians Nina Anikeeva and Onega Ponomarenko, both finalists in the inaugural Miss Ukraine 1991 contest.

* MISS SLOVENIA.- The first edition of the Slovenian beauty contest after its independence was held on Friday 27 September in the Crystal Hall of the Rogaška Slatina Health Resort in Slatna. The winner was Teja Skarza, a 19-year-old business student from Ljubljana, while the finalists were Maruša Rebernik and Irena Jama.

* MISS YUGOSLAVIA.- Croatian Slavica Tripunovic won the crown on Sunday, October 6 at the Sava Center in Belgrade, with the right to represent her country in Miss World. The finalists were Dragana Miličević and Vesna Petrović.

* MISS CURAÇAO.- The event was held on Saturday, October 12 at the International Trade Center. The winner was Mijanou de Paula, who was sent to Miss Universe 1992. The finalists were Nashaira Desbarida (to Miss World 1991), Sandra Rodríguez and Suzy Garmers.

* MISS WORLD ECUADOR.- This year, the official Miss Ecuador pageant lost the rights of Miss World and a new beauty event was held on Monday, October 21 at the Guayaquil Art Center Theater with 14 girls and organized by Telecentro. It was won by Sueanny Bejarano who attended Miss World. The other three finalists, Glaucia Ramírez, Sofia Gallegos and Lourdes Butiña, were chosen to represent Ecuador in the Miss Maja International, Miss Hispanidad and Miss Latin America.

* MISS WORLD CANADA.- It was held in Vancouver on Thursday, October 24 and was won by Tara Paat. She had competed a year earlier in the 1991 Miss Canada for Miss Universe in October 1990.

* MISS UNITED KINGDOM.- Miss Mansfield, Johanne Lewis was crowned “Miss United Kingdom 1991” on Wednesday 30th October at Warrington’s Parr Hall. Second place went to Miss Birkenhead, Jayne Corness and third to Miss Liverpool, Rachel Buckley.

* MISS MALAYSIA WORLD.- After not taking place in 1990, a Miss Malaysia World was chosen again in 1991. The last national contest for Miss World was held on Monday, November 4 in the great hall of the Hotel Concorde in Kuala Lumpur, with the participation of 13 candidates. The victory went to Samantha Schubert who had just three weeks to prepare before traveling to London for Miss World. The finalists were Tonia Wee, Cik Haznina Juren Haniff and Suji Thomas.

SOUTH AFRICA RETURNS TO THE CONTEST.-

Sexism may not be in its last throes, but apartheid supposedly is. So the Miss South Africa pageant was ready to follow the cricket and Olympic authorities to bring the country back to the world community or, rather, the Miss World community. Julia Morley trotted to the Miss South Africa crown in August and the winner would be the first since 1977 to claim the Miss World title. If she had her way, South Africa would compete in Miss World again in November, provided the African National Congress and others gave their approval. Gone are the days when there was a Miss South Africa for white and another for the rest. But it was difficult to notice the change when looking at the 12 finalists in Sun City. Ten of the finalists were white. The other two were of mixed race, though one was just a shade darker than the whites and the other was so pale that only the race classification on her identity book gave it away. The Miss South Africa organizers said that black contestants were welcome, but they simply did not apply. Only 50 of the 500 entrants were black. Also, spokeswoman Vanessa Chemaly said “the blacks we had didn’t come up to standard. They have got to have brains as well as looks, and the best girls weren’t blacks.” Perhaps it is because the competition was conducted through two newspapers read almost exclusively by the white community, the Johannesburg Sunday Times, owned by Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch, and the Afrikaans-language Rapport. Or perhaps it was that the organizers feared what a black victor might reveal about South Africa on the Miss World stage. When the Miss South Africa finalists showed their intelligence and listed their fears before the judges, they said they were shaken by the state of the ozone layer and the hunger in Ethiopia. But when asked a similar question, a Miss Soweto contestant said that her biggest fear was the Zulus …

SCANDAL MISSES.-

Only three days lasted the happiness of the new Antónia Bálint with her title of “Miss Hungary 1991” as some men’s magazines published photos of her naked after her triumph. (After her it was learned that it was an ex-partner of hers who had sold the graphics to magazines). Antónia had signed a contract when she won because she thought that the photos would never appear in Hungary, and on the other hand, the contract clearly assumed that if there were such photos, they could try to block them together with the organizers so that they would not come out into the open. However, after she became the winner, her crown was claimed from her by her nudity. After weeks of discussions about whether the photos were artistic or erotic, Laszlo Hegedus, one of the organizers of the Multimedia company, decided to suspend the title of the new Hungarian beauty queen, although he allowed her to keep some of the awards. After communicating what happened with the Miss World organization, it was decided that Bálint would not be sent to London and would be replaced by her first runner-up. But not everything was there. Days later, equally or more scandalous photos of the first finalist, Tímea Rába, emerged, for which she was also dismissed. Then, the Hungarian representation in Miss World was in the hands of the second runner-up, the blonde Orsolya Michna. Organizers announced that they were “suspending the crown” to protect the “moral value of the title” of Miss Hungary. The unfair decision caused the stripped beauty queen to sue the organizers for six years after the contract was proven to have been misinterpreted, she was served justice, she recovered the title and the court awarded her compensation of about thirty thousand dollars. On July 23, 1997, Enikő Sütő, president of the contest judges in 1991, again crowned Antónia Bálint at a press conference held at the MÚOSZ headquarters. Years later, in 2013, Bálint published a book called “The Queen is Naked” where she told the anecdotes of this unique case.

On the other hand, Miss Taiwan, Lu Shu-Fang, who had been elected in early October, was dismissed on the 29th of that month when she was caught with a married businessman named Hu in a Chung Hsiao motel room by the police and the man’s wife. Press reports said the wife dropped the charges against Lu after she gave her a check for $ 200,000, however that did not save her from her removal. “I didn’t know he was married,” the young woman defended herself. “We were just talking” said the embarrassed man. Both were found dressed but barefoot in the motel room on October 28. Lu Shu-fang, a 20-year-old college student, “is no longer eligible to represent Taiwan in the Miss World pageant next month,” said Chiang Wen-tze, secretary general of the beauty pageant association. “The Miss ROC cannot be contaminated, not even the slightest bit,” Chiang said. On November 10, the first runner-up, Lin Lan-Chih, got the title of Miss Taiwan and was sent to Miss World.

MISS WORLD HAD BRUCH WITH BRITISH PRESS.-

Miss World Gina Tolleson had only one bad experience with the notoriously sensational British press during her reign, she said, and it was truly more humorous than anything else. Crowned in London, Gina was performing in the south of England one night during a heavy snow storm. After her appearance, instead of staying at the hotel in which she had been booked, she decided to return to London. That night the hotel was set on fire by an arsonist, Miss Tolleson said, and “it turned out he was in the suite next to mine, where I had dressed earlier that night.” The next day, the headlines read “Miss World was turned off in the cold.” Along with the other hotel guests who had to flee, the newspaper versions said that “Miss World had to run away in her skimpy nightgown,” she recalled laughing. “And I wasn’t even there.” But the big joke in Miss World’s office was about the newspaper’s description of her of her “meager” outfit that night. “The whole time I was in England I suffered from winter, being a southern girl I am not used to very, very cold weather, and I hated it,” she said. “I was feeling miserable. So I put on these ugly, ugly plaid men’s flannel pajamas to keep warm.”

CANDIDATES

ISLAS VÍRGENES AMERICANAS — AMERICAN VIRGIN ISLANDS
Cheryl Leiba Milligan

ANTIGUA & BARBUDA — AMERICAN VIRGIN ISLANDS
Cheryl Leiba Milligan

REPLACED:

HUNGRÍA — HUNGARY
Antonia Valeria Balint

DID NOT COMPETE:

FIRST STOP: LONDON.-

The contestants for Miss World 1991 were due to arrive in London, England, on Wednesday, November 27, as they would have a special “Beauty with a Purpose” activity before traveling together to South Africa. Just five days before the arrival day it was announced that the final would no longer be in Puerto Rico but in Atlanta. Of the 93 originally expected candidates, a total of 79 arrived in the British capital. Miss COTE D’IVOIRE (Muriel Edokou) in her second attempt to participate in the contest, did not obtain the visa to be able to compete in Atlanta, so she was out of competition. Other candidates who did not arrive for undisclosed reasons were Miss EGYPT (Lamia Mohamed El-Noshi), Miss ESTONIA (Erika Bauer), Miss HONG KONG (Elizabeth Lai), Miss LITHUANIA (Dalia Leleivaité), Miss NICARAGUA (Marialily Serrano), Miss PAPUA NEW GUINEA (Marcia Muir) and Miss UKRAINE (Olga Ovcharenko). For her part, Miss PERU (Claudia Figueroa Moy) did not travel due to financial problems, since, apparently, the organization did not reach an agreement with Miss World on the issue of paying the franchise; Miss SLOVENIA (Teja Skarza) because the local organizers did not fix their registration papers on time, Miss COOK ISLANDS (Raema Chitty) and Miss LUXEMBOURG (Annette Feydt) because their directors preferred to send them only to Miss Universe to save costs and Miss U.S.S.R. (Ilmira Shamsutdinova) for being a minor.

On Friday, November 29, the 79 beauties attended the customary luncheon offered by the Variety Club of Great Britain at the Royal Lancaster Hotel. The contestants arrived dressed in their traditional costumes and brought with them one of the national gifts that would be auctioned to benefit the Variety Club of Great Britain Children’s Charity and for the Variety Club International rescue program, to provide life-saving surgeries to low-income children from third world countries, making this fundraising event the first “Beauty with a Purpose” activity of this edition. Lunch ended at 2:30 p.m., the candidates changed quickly and immediately left for the airport. Because the party was very large, they had to be divided into two groups. A first group would travel directly from Heathrow with South African Airways (SAA) on a direct flight to Johannesburg. The second would go to Gatwick airport to catch a British Airways flight to Lisbon and from there connect with a SAA flight to Johannesburg.

Miss Ireland

THEY THREATENED HER WITH RAPE AND DEATH IF SHE DID NOT RESIGN THE CROWN.-

Another who did not arrive in London although she reconfirmed her presence and who would be expected later in South Africa was Miss GUYANA (Tracy Ann D’Abreu). The Guyanese beauty was prevented by a court order filed by the first runner-up of her national contest, Nicole Moore along with her companions Shauneille Corbin and Michelle Sobers, who tried to have D’Abreu dethroned because she was not a resident of Guyana but in Canada and that therefore she was not eligible in the country that crowned her, reason why her title had to be annulled. According to them, D’Abreu had lived in Canada for seven years when the Miss World clauses said that the candidates had to have a minimum residence of five years in the represented country, so they tried to have her declared unfit for Miss World. However, the court did not declare her ineligible. On her side, D’Abreu said that it was not in her plans to renounce her crown and that she had returned to her country of birth to reside in it.

On the other hand, Ronald Alli, owner of the franchise in Guyana and the Theater Company Limited, which organized and produced the contest, tried to launch an interim injunction that prevented them from keeping D’Abreu as Miss Guyana 1991. The plaintiffs filed a petition. court document showing that D’Abreu had been accepted as a Miss World candidate before legal proceedings began. D’Abreu had returned to Canada after a man with a knife threatened to rape and kill her if she did not renounce her crown, when she was dining at a Georgetown restaurant. The trouble in court was prolonged by which D’Abreu could not finally travel to South Africa to participate in “Operation Hunger” that was part of the official activities of Miss World, so she was out of competition, even when in the press releases and even on the printed voting sheet for the judges in South Africa, she was still listed as an official candidate …

SECOND STOP: SOUTH AFRICA.-

The contestants arrived at Jan Smuts Airport in Johannesburg on the morning of November 30. The first group arrived at the scheduled time and had to wait for the second flight, which was delayed for three hours. Once they all arrived, they had a warm welcome from hundreds of children and adults who were waiting for them for the official reception at the airport with drum music, Zulu dances, martial bands, children’s choirs and the musical tribute of the South African singer Penelope Jane Dunlop, better known as PJ Powers or “Thandeka”, with the theme “Welcome to Africa”, so the exhaustion of the trip soon disappeared from the faces of the beauties. The girls were accommodated at the Sun Hotel in Johannesburg where they were also given a wonderful welcome. The first activity was held on Sunday, December 1, when they attended the South African Tennis Open where the US Todd Witsken defeated South African defending champion Wayne Ferreira. On the other hand, South African Airways (SAA) offered a cocktail to entertain beauties from around the world. The girls were identified with cockades with the name of the country and the brand of the South African sponsor.

After that, it all came down to “Beauty with a purpose”. The participants did the charity called “Operation Hunger”, sponsored by millionaire Sol Kerzner, a self-help feeding program for children. Rather than providing free meals for the children to depend on for ongoing support, “Operation Hunger” provided a means for the children to learn to support themselves. They were taught a trade, how to do things or create a business to provide cash to support themselves. This gave them dignity and food in the stomach. Essential equipment was also provided. For example, in the area, 100,000 children died each year from deadly diseases such as typhoid and paratyphoid. They drew water from a nearby river that was extremely polluted. “Operation Hunger” succeeded in sponsoring a program that drilled holes in the bottom of the earth for six bombs. They got fresh water and within a year, the deadly diseases disappeared without a trace.

Ina Perlman, the dedicated director of “Operation Hunger,” wanted to show off some of her locations that were spread across South Africa. The contestants were divided into six groups, five of fourteen candidates, and a last of nine, to visit a different site and meet the children. One of these groups was the one that traveled to the Eastern Transvaal, being an advantage in the sense that they could not only visit the children, but also see many wonderful wild animals in their natural habitat. In addition to sightseeing tours, the contestants recorded their performance in swimsuits in heavenly locations in Plettenberg Bay, Drakensberg, Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town and the eastern part of the Transvaal. Most of the Latin American candidates were given the group that traveled to Cape Town. During their stay in South Africa, the candidates also recorded a musical number with a group of children and the South African singer PJ Powers with her theme called “Sing Children Sing”.

M-Net Television, the independent television company in South Africa, had sent teams with each group and as a result, they were able to make a 45-minute documentary of the entire visit that M-Net offered free to any television company in the world willing to make a donation to charity of no less than $ 2,500. Their filming and professionalism, both for the material in this documentary and for the contribution to the television broadcast of Miss World, was highly admired. In addition to the Operation Hunger activities, the contestants participated in a second charity event on Friday, December 6, this time a charity dinner in Johannesburg, where another batch of national gifts were auctioned by Eric Morley to benefit South African children and where the contestants wore their national costumes again. In the end, a good sum of money was collected and the girls all ended up mounted on the tables as was tradition in this event, before going on stage to sing the official song of the contest “Sing Children Sing” with PJ Powers.

In the same way, a Fashion Show was held with all the participants, called “African Experience Fashion show”, sponsored by the Altech firm, a kind of African extravaganza where what was collected was for the benefit of the International Variety Club. In this event, a panel of judges of seven personalities from South Africa evaluated the 79 girls and also had the opportunity to interview each of them in order to cast their vote, which would be sealed and opened only on the day of the finals in Atlanta. These ratings would join those of the judges in Atlanta to determine who would be the 10 semifinalists. As already explained in previous articles, voting was done with simple selection. Each judge selected with a tick the 10 contestants that they liked the most in the two rounds of competition: Beauty and Interview. The ten girls selected by each judge in each of the two rounds of competition scored two points and those who did not, one point. The South African jury was composed of:

– Krish Mackerdhuj – President of the South African Cricket Association.

– Wilma Van De Bijl – Miss South Africa 1987.

– Dawn Weller-Raistrick – Artistic Director of the Johannesburg PACT Ballet.

– Marina Maponya – Social Worker, Cousin of Mandela and wife of businessman Richard Maponya.

– Bruce Fordyce – South African athlete.

– Andrea Stelzer – Miss South Africa 1985 and Miss Germany 1989.

– Peter Soldatos – Fashion Designer.

JUDGES IN SOUTH AFRICA

One of these judges (it is rumored to have been Marina Maponya) actually voted for nine candidates, because, by mistake, her tenth selected in both rounds was Miss Guyana, who appeared on the voting sheets as a competitor when she never made it to South Africa. The participants remained in the African country until Wednesday, December 11, when they traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, USA, for the final stage of the contest. The supposed charity activity that the candidates would have in New York was canceled.

STATEMENTS BY MISS SOUTH AFRICA CAUSE CONTROVERSY.-

A furor erupted in South Africa over a comment attributed to the country’s hopeful for the 1991 Miss World crown. Miss Nigeria Abenike Oshinowo was offended and said that Miss South Africa, Diana Tilden-Davis, told her that few black women entered the contest in her country because most black women “became pregnant by the age of 15,” Miss Oshinowo told The Sowetan, a newspaper with a predominantly black audience. Of course, such statements accused Miss South Africa of being racist and enraged the black community in the country. It should be noted that the contest rules excluded married women or mothers. Tilden-Davis allegedly made the comment during a reception in London that promoted the Miss World pageant before traveling to South Africa. It should be noted that, until that year, there had never been a black Miss South Africa, although the country’s population is overwhelmingly black. For their part, the organizers of the Miss South Africa pageant denied that Tilden-Davis, a white woman, ever made the fateful comment.

Miss France and Miss Honduras

LAST STOP: ATLANTA.-

The Misses arrived in Atlanta on Wednesday, December 11, and were accommodated at the Hotel Nikko. There, the next day, the Press Conference was held in the hotel’s pool area, but due to the cold weather, no one posed in bathing suits. “You can tell they’re from different parts of the world,” said publicist Susan Wolfe. “Some thought it was cold and others that it was hot.” That night the Welcome Dinner was also held and the contestants wore sashes with the name of the country represented. The following days were dedicated to recording the self-introductions of the candidates in their national costumes and evening dresses at the Swan House in Atlanta and a musical number called “Atlanta, a Place to Be” with a group of candidates at different points of the city such as the Henry Grady river boat, the “Stone Mountain” park, the 50s inspired restaurant “Buckhead Diner”, the “World of Coca Cola” Museum, the fountains of Woodruff Park, the area known as Underground and the Atlanta – Fulton County Stadium, thanks to the support of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. On Sunday, December 15, the Christmas Party for the children of the Grady Hospital was held, on Monday the 16 the girls visited the facilities of the CNN news network and on Friday the 20 they witnessed a basketball game in the now defunct Omni Coliseum (it closed in May 1997) and where the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 122-99. The girls had a barbecue dinner at Roswell’s “Georgia Pig” restaurant days before the final. On the good night of Tuesday, December 24, the “Miss World Family Party” was held where the girls exchanged gifts and the following days were dedicated to rehearsing in a Nikko hotel ballroom, as the Atlanta Convention Center was not ready yet. Days before, on the weekend of December 21 and 22, the preliminary evaluation of the contestants was carried out with the Atlanta panel of judges, who evaluated them in swimsuits and gowns and were also able to interview them personally. On the night of Friday, December 27, when the Morleys and the candidates arrived at the Convention Center for the Dress Rehearsal, they found that the stage was still under construction and that they had not been able to do a single rehearsal in the place where twenty-four hours later it was going to be held the grand finale !!. Eric Morley wanted to die !! Unfortunately, the dress rehearsal could not be done at full and they had to do many improvisations to carry out the program. Nor could they finish on time the “Program Book” of the contest, which had to be edited and printed months later in London.

GETTING TO KNOW THE CONTESTANTS.-

Miss Jamaica was one of the most experienced contestants at the pageant level and had already won an international crown. She was a semifinalist at Miss Universe 1989, where Miss El Salvador also competed, and then she was crowned Miss Intercontinental 1990 in Nigeria. From participating in the 1991 Miss Universe in Las Vegas came Miss Belize, Miss France and Miss Paraguay, where the latter two reached the semifinalists. The Paraguayan had also been first runner-up in the 1991 South American Queen. Miss Germany had won the 1991 Miss Europe crown but she had been dismissed a month later, which allowed her to go to Miss World. Miss Honduras and Miss Spain competed in Miss Hispanidad International 1991 while Miss El Salvador was also in this contest but in its 1988 edition and also in Miss Asia Pacific 1989. Miss Argentina competed in the “Flower’s Queen 1990”, Miss Costa Rica in Miss International 1991 and Miss Venezuela in the Reign of the Carnival of Saint Vincent, where she was unplaced.

For her part, Miss United Kingdom, after winning her local Miss Mansfield pageant, traveled as a special guest to Mansfield, Ohio, where she witnessed the Miss Ohio state pageant and where she acquired the wardrobe that would later wear at Miss United Kingdom and Miss World. For her part, Miss Aruba wanted to prepare for the contest with Venezuelan professionals and she acquired there the gowns that she wore at Miss World. The contestants were between 17 and 25 years old. The youngest were Miss Bulgaria, Miss Denmark and Miss Gibraltar, at 17 and the oldest, Miss United States who was 25. The shortest was Miss Antigua & Barbuda standing only 5 feet 2 inches and the tallest, Miss Belgium, Miss Czechoslovakia and Miss Namibia at 6 feet tall.

La persona más fría en Atlanta el jueves 19 de diciembre pudo haber sido Vivian Benítez, Miss Paraguay. Ella posó el jueves en los escalones del Swan House con un bikini dorado y plumas, vestimenta que conformaba su traje nacional. Pero incluso con la piel de gallina, dijo Anne Isenhower, publicista del Atlanta History Center, las concursantes eran un grupo impresionante. “Todas son altas, delgadas y hermosas”, dijo. “Parecen ciervos”. Acá la tabla con la información de las concursantes:

	COUNTRY	NAME	AGE	HOMETOWN	OCCUPATION
01	AMERICAN VIRGIN ISLANDS	Cheryl Leiba Milligan	20	St.Croix	Retail Store Manager and Student
02	ANTIGUA & BARBUDA	Joanne Bird	20	St.John’s	Employee of an investment bank
03	ARGENTINA	Marcela Noemí Chazarreta	20	Buenos Aires	Student of Economics
04	ARUBA	Sandra Croes	23	Santa Cruz	Medical assistant
05	AUSTRALIA	Leanne Buckle	21	Brisbane, Queensland	Trade and Model Student
06	AUSTRIA	Andrea Isabella Pfeiffer	18	Styria	Dental assistant
07	BAHAMAS	Tarnia Paula Newton-Stuart	19	New Providence	Officer of Finance
08	BELGIUM	Anke Maria Flor Van Dermeersch	19	Antwerp	Law Student and Professional Model
09	BELIZE	Josephine “Josie” Alexandra Gault	21	Belize City	Banker
10	BOLIVIA	Monica Gamarra Giese	20	Cochabamba	Business Administration Student
11	BRAZIL	Cátia Silene Kupssinskü	20	Sao Leopoldo	Student of Psychology
12	BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS	Marjorie Penn	18	Turtledove	Work in a Real Estate company
13	BULGARIA	Lyubomira Slavcheva	17	Sofia	Student of High School
14	CANADA	Tara Paat	21	Coquitlam, British Columbia	Model and Student
15	CAYMAN ISLANDS	Yvette Peggy Jordison	19	Grand Cayman	Business Student and works in accounting in family business
16	CHILE	Carolina Beatriz Michelson Martínez	23	Santiago	Child Psychologist
17	CHINA-TAIWAN	“Rebecca” Lin Lan-Chih	23	Taipei	Chinese Student
18	COLOMBIA	Adriana Rodriguez Anzola	20	Bogota	Advertising Student and wrote poetry book
19	COSTA RICA	Eugenie Jimenez Pacheco	20	Heredia	Student of Advertising
20	CURAÇAO	Nashaira Desbarida	23	Willemstad	Model and Actress
21	CYPRUS	Anne Margaret Stephanou	18	Nicosia	Student of Hotel Management
22	CZECHOSLOVAKIA	Andrea Tatarkova	20	Kosice, Slovakia	Student of Education
23	DENMARK	Sharon Givskav	17	Copenhagen	She wants to become a Doctor
24	DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	Rosanna Patricia Rodríguez Portalatín	21	Santo Domingo	News Presenter
25	ECUADOR	Sueanny Denise Bejarano López	18	Guayaquil	TV Production Assistant and Graphic Design Student
26	EL SALVADOR	Lucia Beatriz López Rodríguez	22	San Salvador	Nutrition and Dietetics Student
27	FINLAND	Nina Autio	20	Tampere	Biology and Ecology Student
28	FRANCE	Maréva Georges	22	Punaauia, Tahiti	Economics and Model Student
29	GERMANY	Susanne Petry	18	Saarbruken	Fashion Design Student
30	GHANA	Jamilla Haruna Danzuru	23	Accra	Midwife and Nursing graduate
31	GIBRALTAR	Ornella Costa	17	Gibraltar	Spanish and Biology Student
32	GREECE	Miriam Panagos	20	Athens	Professional Model
33	GREENLAND	Bibiane Holm	18	Godthab	Student
34	GUAM	Yvonne Marie Limtiaco Speight	19	Asan	Student
35	GUATEMALA	Marlyn Lorena Magaña Ramírez	20	Guatemala city	Student of Foreign Public
36	HOLLAND	Linda Egging	21	Stramproy	Works in Performing Arts
37	HONDURAS	Arlene Rocío Rauscher Duarte	19	Tegucigalpa	Computer Science Student
38	HUNGARY	Orsolya Anna Michna	19	Budapest	Model and graduate in Drawing and Art
39	ICELAND	Svava Haraldsdóttir	19	Reykjavik	Student
40	INDIA	Ritu Singh	20	New Delhi	Student of Fashion Design, Political Science and Economics
41	IRELAND	Amanda Brunker	18	Glasnevin, Dublin	Model
42	ISRAEL	Liat Ditkovsky	19	Nordia	Soldier
43	ITALY	Sabina Pellati	19	Reggio Emilia	Art Student
44	JAMAICA	Sandra Foster	21	Kingston	Student of Design Graphic
45	JAPAN	Junko Tsuda	21	Tokyo	Secretary
46	KENYA	Nkirote Karimi M’Mbijjiwe	21	Meru	International Business Administration Student
47	KOREA	Tae-hwa Kim	20	Busan	Film Student
48	LATVIA	Inese Slesere	19	Riga	Student. Works in Leather Processing
49	LEBANON	Diana Begdache	20	Beirut	Student of Sociology
50	MACAU	Cristina Guilherme Lam	20	Macau	Works in the Department of Tourism
51	MALAYSIA	Samantha Schubert	22	Kuala Lumpur	Folk Dancer and Model
52	MALTA	Romina Genuis	18	Gzira	Secretary in the Department of Industry
53	MAURITIUS	Marie Deville	18	Central Flacq	Art Student
54	MEXICO	Maria Cristina Urrutia de la Vega	19	Mexico City	Student
55	NAMIBIA	Michelle Dianne McLean	19	Windhoek	Mesotherapy and Reflexology Student
56	NEW ZEALAND	Lisa Maree De Montalk	21	Taupo	Receptionist and Part-time Model
57	NIGERIA	Adenike Asabi Oshinowo	24	Lakes	Graduated in Politics
58	NORWAY	Anne-Britt Rovik	18	Mold	Economics and Accounting Student
59	PANAMA	Malena Estela Betancourt Guillén	19	Panama City	Student and works as a volunteer in children’s hospital
60	PARAGUAY	Vivian Rosanna Benitez Brizuela	21	Asuncion	Student of Law
61	PHILIPPINES	Gemith Gonzalo Gemparo	20	Manila	Student of Mathematics and Computer Science
62	POLAND	Karina Wojciechowska	19	Myslowice	Secretary
63	PORTUGAL	Maria do Carmo Ramalho	20	Lisbon	Student and Photographic Model
64	PUERTO RICO	Johanna Berenice Irizarry Nazario	20	Lajas	Student of Premedical Sciences
65	ROMANIA	Gabriela Dragomirescu	20	Bucharest	Model
66	SINGAPORE	Jasheen Jayakody	18	Singapore	Student of Mass Communications
67	SOUTH AFRICA	Diana Tilden-Davis	22	Johannesburg	Actress and Model
68	SPAIN	María Candelaria “Catia” Moreno Navarro	20	Tenerife	Student of Economics
69	SWAZILAND	Jackie Emelda Bennett	20	Manzini	Secretary
70	SWEDEN	Catrin Olsson	23	Kungsbacka	Singer and graduated in Economics
71	SWITZERLAND	Sandra Aegerter	22	Stein	Secretary and Model
72	THAILAND	Rewadee Malaisee (Issariya Apichai )	21	Bangkok	Student of Public Relations
73	TRINIDAD & TOBAGO	Sastee Bachan	21	Port of Spain	Secretary and Model
74	TURKEY	Dilek Aslihan Koruyan	19	Istanbul	Student of Biology
75	UNITED KINGDOM	Johanne Elizabeth Lewis	21	Mansfield	Model
76	URUGUAY	Andrea Regina Gorrochategui Granja	23	Montevideo	Student of Accounting
77	UNITED STATES	Charlotte Ray	25	Voorhees, NJ	Student of Education, Communications and Children’s TV Programming
78	VENEZUELA	Ninibeth Beatriz Leal Jiménez	20	Maracaibo	Student of Industrial Engineering
79	YUGOSLAVIA	Slavica Tripunovic	20	Vukovar, Croatia	Student of Medicine

MISS CANADA GOES HOME.-

On Monday, December 16, Miss Canada, Tara Paat, announced to her chaperone and members of the organization that she wanted to withdraw from the pageant and return home. Although Julia Morley spoke with her to prevent her from making this decision, the young woman was determined to pack her bags and leave, which she did the next day, Tuesday the 17th, just eleven days from the finals. The official reason for her departure was illness, according to Julia Morley, International Miss World President. She said that Tara “felt bad and decided to go home”. Ms. Morley did not specify what the contestant was suffering from, but she did mention that the Miss World contestants had traveled extensively. On her side, Miss Canada, contacted at her home in Coquitlam on Thursday night, December 19, did not confirm or deny the reason given by Ms. Morley, saying only: “I have no comment due to the contract”. The Miss World contestants were bound by their contracts “not to accept or allow the publication in any visible or audible medium of any information about her or the Miss World Pageant” … But, after the event ended, the queen Canadian beauty dropped her tongue !.

Miss World Canada said she decided to leave the big pageant because she thought being a beauty queen was an unpleasant experience. Tara Paat, 21, from the suburbs of Coquitlam, said she left the Miss World pageant after being disappointed. “My childhood dream was to represent Canada,” she said. “I was surprised by my star. But little did I know what to expect”. Although Paat decided to leave the pageant 12 days before the finals, Jeffrey Barnet, co-owner of Vancouver-based Miss World Canada, said Paat withdrew after she fell ill. But Paat said she was disappointed early on when she was given a national costume worn by previous Miss World contestants and she discovered that it was dirty. She then flew to South Africa, where she and the other contestants were filmed feeding the hungry and visiting the homeless. Paat’s criticism of the Miss World organizers included what she called “manifestations of racism and widespread callousness”. She described some of the specific events of the South African tour in a public statement in January, explaining her decision to leave the event. She said that she had understood that the tour was intended to promote African fashion and also visit aid organizations in the country. Paat said she also attended a party at a white-only club where black contestants were forced to sit in the back of the ballroom. “One night the Miss World contestants attended a gala ball at a beautiful country club. We saw a sign on the door that said, ‘No blacks allowed.’ I was in shock. I said to the bus driver: ‘ I always said I would never set foot in a place that discriminates. ‘Because of the contract there was nothing I could do. I felt really bad for the black contestants, Miss USA, Miss Kenya and so many others. I can’t imagine how they felt”. Inside, in the glamorous ballroom, Paat claimed there were separate seats for the black and white contestants. “I was upset. All the time I said this was wrong. I don’t agree with what this contest represents.”

Jeffrey Barnet, owner and organizer of the Miss World Canada pageant, did not confirm or deny Paat’s comments. Miss Canada, who began appearing in beauty pageants at age 10, also said she resented the way starving children were used as photo opportunities for contestants. “We came to a daycare for the underprivileged one day … The contestants were asked to deliver blankets and food. But only when the camera was rolling. So when you, the audience, see it, you’ll see us making a better world.” “We also visited the homeless,” she said. “They sent us there to distribute food. They just brought enough food and blankets for about 20 children and adults to film it.” “When the food arrived, there was only one big pot of stale smelling beans! It wasn’t enough for the number of homeless people who were eagerly waiting for a cup. But it was enough to be filmed. I will never forget the children who received nothing. “Paat said. “They were all these other kids standing up crying and screaming, pulling me to give them something.” When Tara Paat decided to leave the contest, the Morleys decided to isolate her from the rest of the contestants and sent her home due to illness.

Paat does not believe that the presence of the Miss World contestants has achieved any long-term benefits for the South Africans. “I feel that in the end we perpetuate their difficult situation. I really think it is important that the public know what goes on behind the scenes at the Miss World pageants,” she explained in a telephone interview from her home. Paat said her mother and her boyfriend lost $ 1,500 when the pageant moved unannounced to Atlanta after they bought non-refundable airline tickets to Puerto Rico, the original venue. The whole experience, she said, was quite shocking. “I was really disappointed.” Paat said Miss World Canada co-owners Jeffrey Barnet and his brother Peter, both from Vancouver, “didn’t care about me, they just wanted a representative from Canada.” But Jeffrey Barnet said Miss World organizers paid for Paat’s travel expenses to South Africa, fed her and moved her for nearly 30 days. “If she found so many things disgusting, why didn’t she go home sooner?” He said. “It bothers me that she is looking for publicity, whether positive or negative.”

Miss Venezuela and Miss Chile

THE CONTEST.-

Many people asked surprised why the contest did not have a talent competition, as in Miss America. The candidates would be evaluated by their appearance in a bathing suit and gowns but also in interviews to learn more about them. “We put more emphasis on the girls’ personality than their appearance,” said pageant publicist John Rose. “All of our girls have a lot of brains too”. The contest would be broadcast live to 62 countries and 12 cities in the US. But Atlanta fans had to be there in person to see it. Although Worldwide Broadcasting would televise the show, none of the Atlanta television stations broadcast it. This would be the first time that the contest was held in the United States. Less familiar than its counterparts, Miss America and Miss Universe, Miss World was a beauty pageant that attempted to marry the commercial world of pageants with charity work. Organizers said the previous year’s Miss World had helped raise more than $ 6 million for children’s charities around the world. “In the rest of the world, Miss World is absolutely huge,” Rose said. Gina Marie Tolleson from Spartanburg, South Carolina, logged 300,000 miles as Miss World 1990, traveling around the world to hospitals, orphanages and trade shows. The Miss World pageant arrived in Atlanta just seven weeks early after sponsors decided the political climate at the original site, Puerto Rico, was too uncertain to warrant a live broadcast.

Bolivia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador

Finally the big day arrived, on Saturday, December 28, April Fools’ Day for Latin American countries and the day on which the forty-first Miss World in history would be chosen. The 1991 Miss World pageant was held that night in the Thomas Murphy Ballroom of the Georgia World Congress Center. Tickets ran for $ 10 to $ 200, and the center aisle seats were still available the day before for $ 50. One ticket seller said the $ 200 seats could be discounted later that day. The ticket for the reception and coronation ball at the Hotel Nikko was $ 150 after the contest at around 11:30 pm The doors of the hall opened at 8:15 pm, the contest began at 8:45 pm p.m at the Convention Center and at 9 p.m. on television, in a two-hour event.

The pageant began with a brief introduction and opened with the 79 contestants, glittering in satin and sequins, marching around the stage like debutantes performing a cotillion and singing to the theme “Girls Have Some Fun.” This number was prerecorded before the global broadcast began. Then, the comperes of the gala, Peter Marshall and Gina Tolleson, the reigning Miss World, who was dressed in a red silk ball gown with a huge bow at the height of the shoulders, the first of three she wore that night. After the welcome words, they gave way to the introduction video, in alphabetical order, of the 78 contestants, where each one said their name, age, occupation and city from where they came wearing their national costumes and also with images of their gowns, in the prerecording made the week before at the Swan House in Atlanta. While viewers saw these images, the candidates paraded in their evening dresses at the Convention Center.

Miss Australia

After the first commercial cut and while the contestants put on their swimsuits, Gina Tolleson proceeded to introduce the nine members of the judges. They were:

01- Mike Favre – Physical Coach of the Atlanta Falcons team.

02- Brenda McLain – TV News Presenter.

03- Phil Hayes – Executive Director of Miss North and South Carolina.

04- Marie DeGeorge – International Fashion Designer.

05- Eric Morley – Creator of Miss World and Chairman of the Judges.

06- Jarvis Astaire – President of the Variety Club International.

07- Paul Block – President of Revlon Professional Products.

08- Jane Ambrose – Owner of her PR company in Australia.

09- Edgar Botero – President of the International Conic Construction Company in Colombia.

JUDGES

Notably, Eric Morley would not vote that night and his place would be replaced by a unified judge vote in South Africa. The Colombian Edgar Botero was the one who later acquired the Miss World franchise for Colombia, snatching it from the National Beauty Contest that at that time was managed by the peculiar Doña Tera.

Following the judge’s introductions, the 78 participants paraded individually in swimsuits at the Convention Center while viewers watched the video recorded in South Africa with the girls in bathing suits showing the cumulative score of the seven South African judges plus the nine from Atlanta. The maximum score would then be 64 points and the minimum 32. Here you can see the score table and the place that each contestant got:

		J01	J02	J03	J04	J05	J06	J07	J08	J09	J10	J11	J12	J13	J14	J15	J16	TOTAL
1	VENEZUELA	4	4	2	4	4	4	4	2	4	4	4	4	2	4	4	4	58
2	SOUTH AFRICA	4	2	4	4	4	2	4	2	2	2	4	4	2	4	4	3	51
3	NAMIBIA	4	4	4	4	4	4	2	2	2	2	4	4	2	2	4	3	51
4	JAMAICA	2	2	4	4	3	2	4	2	2	4	4	2	4	4	4	2	49
5	AUSTRALIA	4	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	48
6	TURKEY	4	4	4	4	2	4	4	2	2	2	2	2	3	4	2	2	47
7	FRANCE	4	2	2	4	4	2	4	4	2	4	4	2	2	2	2	2	46
8	INDIA	2	4	2	4	2	4	2	4	2	4	2	2	4	2	2	2	44
9	USA	4	4	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	4	2	2	2	42
10	NEW ZEALAND	2	2	2	2	3	2	4	4	2	2	2	4	2	2	4	2	41
11	BELGIUM	2	4	2	4	2	4	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	41
12	COLOMBIA	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	4	2	4	2	2	4	2	2	40
13	GERMANY	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	4	4	40
14	UNITED KINGDOM	2	4	4	2	4	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	40
15	HOLLAND	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	4	4	2	2	3	2	39
16	ITALY	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	4	2	4	39
17	BRAZIL	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	38
18	CURACAO	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	4	2	2	2	38
19	GREECE	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	4	38
20	MALAYSIA	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	38
21	PHILIPPINES	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	38
22	SPAIN	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	4	2	4	38
23	SWITZERLAND	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	4	2	38
24	CHILE	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	4	3	2	37
25	GIBRALTAR	4	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	37
26	ICELAND	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	3	2	37
27	NIGERIA	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	4	2	2	2	37
28	PARAGUAY	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	36
29	FINLAND	2	2	2	2	3	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	35
30	PANAMA	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	35
31	SINGAPORE	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	35
32	TRINIDAD & TOBAGO	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	3	2	2	2	35
33	URUGUAY	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	35
34	AMERICAN VIRGIN ISLANDS	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	34
35	ARGENTINA	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	34
36	CAYMAN ISLANDS	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	34
37	CYPRUS	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	34
38	IRELAND	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	34
39	KENYA	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	34
40	PORTUGAL	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	34
41	PUERTO RICO	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	34
42	SWEDEN	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	2	34
43	ANTIGUA & BARBUDA	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	33
44	BOLIVIA	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	33
45	BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	33
46	BULGARIA	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	33
47	CANADA	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	33
48	CHINA/TAIWAN	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	33
49	DENMARK	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	33
50	DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	33
51	GREENLAND	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	33
52	JAPAN	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	33
53	LATVIA	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	33
54	NORWAY	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	33
55	POLAND	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	33
56	THAILAND	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	33
57	YUGOSLAVIA	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	33
58	ARUBA	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
59	AUSTRIA	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
60	BAHAMAS	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
61	BELIZE	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
62	COSTA RICA	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
63	CZECHOSLOVAKIA	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
64	ECUADOR	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
65	EL SALVADOR	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
66	GHANA	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
67	GUAM	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
68	GUATEMALA	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
69	HONDURAS	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
70	HUNGARY	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
71	ISRAEL	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
72	KOREA	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
73	LEBANON	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
74	MACAU	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
75	MALTA	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
76	MAURITIUS	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
77	MEXICO	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
78	ROMANIA	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
79	SWAZILAND	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	32
		178	178	178	178	178	178	178	178	178	178	178	178	176	178	178	178	2846

As can be seen, in position 10 there was a tie between Miss New Zealand and Miss Belgium, and in the tiebreaker, the New Zealander was favored. (Curiously, both participated the following year in Miss Universe and the Belgian surpassed the New Zealander when reaching the Top 6 of the contest). It is also worth mentioning that this year representatives from all continents entered the Top 10 on their own merits. It was surprising that, for the second year in a row, the British candidate was left out and also, for the second year in a row, the Venezuelan led the scores. It should also be noted that 57 of the 79 young women were considered in at least one of the judges’ lists, which represented 72.15% approval, surpassing all previous editions.

After the presentation of the candidates in swimsuits, they all posed together on the stage of the World Congress Center in Atlanta and Peter Marshall proceeded to call the semifinalists in random order. They were:

	CONTESTANT	NAME	AGE	HEIGHT	HOMETOWN
01	Miss FRANCE	Maréva Georges	22	5’10”	Punaauia, Tahiti
02	Miss TURKEY	Dilek Aslihan Koruyan	19	5’8”	Istanbul
03	Miss JAMAICA	Sandra Foster	21	5’7”	Kingston
04	Miss USA	Charlotte Ray	25	5’9”	Voorhees, New Jersey
05	Miss AUSTRALIA	Leanne Buckle	21	5’11’	Brisbane, Queensland
06	Miss INDIA	Ritu Singh	20	5’7”	New Delhi
07	Miss VENEZUELA	Ninibeth Beatriz Leal Jiménez	20	5’11”	Maracaibo
08	Miss NAMIBIA	Michelle Dianne McLean	19	6’0”	Windhoek
09	Miss SOUTH AFRICA	Diana Tilden-Davis	22	5’10”	Johannesburg
10	Miss NEW ZEALAND	Lisa Maree De Montalk	21	5’10”	Taupo

TOP 10

After a commercial cut for the semifinalists to put on their evening dresses, Gina Tolleson, wearing her second wardrobe change of the night, this time wearing a black suit with white top and sleeves, embroidered in rhinestones. Gina presented a video summary of the trip that the girls made to different locations in South Africa and details of “Operation Hunger” narrated by Julia Morley, with the welcome song performed by PJ Powers “Welcome to Africa”, the presentation of the South African judges and the closing with the contest theme “Sing Children Sing” also by PJ Powers along with the contestants and a group of South African children. After a new commercial break, the first group of semifinalists were ready on stage, dressed in their evening gowns to be interviewed by Peter Marshall. The questions were mainly based on their studies and careers as well as about their countries.

Before finishing this part of the program, Gina presented a music video with the girls divided into various groups, walking, singing and dancing through different tourist spots in the city of Atlanta and conveniently called “Atlanta, a Place to Be”. The closing of this musical number was prerecorded with little more than a dozen of candidates wearing cocktail dresses. They were the representatives of Venezuela, Australia, Namibia, Bahamas, Germany, Philippines, Israel, Aruba, Greece, United States, Kenya, Chile, El Salvador and Mexico. Peter Marshall then went on to interview the second group of semi-finalists. The only candidate who used an interpreter was Miss Venezuela.

Top 10: New Zealand, South Africa, Namibia, Venezuela, India, Australia, USA, Jamaica, Turkey and France

During the broadcast there was a lot of improvisation, a poor set decorated with few trees with Christmas lights, audio failures, music out of context, errors in the camera shots and lighting problems, which mortified Eric Morley a lot, however, and for not having been able to do any full rehearsals on stage, everything turned out quite acceptable, thanks to the work of director Ken Warwick. After the commercial break, the ten semifinalists in swimsuits paraded, so that the judges in Atlanta and the one who watched the broadcast in South Africa, could render their verdict and reduce the group from ten to five. As in previous years, each judge made a simple selection of the five girls they liked the most during the night, in their interview and in the swimsuit show. Peter Marshall offered personal details of the girls as they paraded, wearing their participation numbers on their wrists. In the end they posed together for the judges and for the audience and viewers. While the judges’ votes were being tabulated, Gina presented a video telling the story of Atlanta, the city “too busy to hate”, where the film based on Margaret Mitchell’s book “Gone with the Wind” was recreated, where Coca Cola was invented in 1886 and the home to CNN, showing the different points of interest of this city in the American southeast, which in 1996 would host the Olympic Games.

After the commercial break, Gina presented the parade of the semifinalists in gowns, which would not be evaluated by the judges, but for the enjoyment of the public, describing each of the costumes worn by the beautiful candidates. Following the show, Peter Marshall introduced the Australian band “Indecent Obsession” with their song “Kiss Me” featuring vocalist David Dixon, Michael Szumowski on drums, and Paul O’Donnell and Andrew Coyne on guitars. At that time, the judges issued the final ranking, that is, the vote by position of the last five finalists, since Morley had already given them their names. After commercials, Peter Marshall received the envelope with the results of the five finalists from Eric Morley, while the ten girls waited anxiously behind the scenes. The lucky five were:

Miss South Africa

Miss VENEZUELA, Miss NAMIBIA, Miss SOUTH AFRICA, Miss AUSTRALIA and Miss JAMAICA. After knowing the names of the five finalists, Gina Tolleson proceeded to do her farewell walk wearing the crown and wearing a third dress, this time in white, being interviewed by Peter Marshall for her to give details about her magnificent reign. Meanwhile, Morley tabulated the final judges’ vote. It was on schedule to ask a final question to the five finalists but it was ruled out when they saw that they were over time. Immediately there was a communication with Johannesburg and a representative of the South African judges voiced the vote: Miss Venezuela 10 points, Miss Jamaica 9 points, Miss South Africa 8 points and with 7 points Miss Australia and Miss Namibia. These scores were in addition to those of the eight judges in Atlanta (excluding Eric Morley). Peter then called Julia Morley to the stage for the trophy presentation and Eric Morley to give the result in reverse order, as was customary. And so it was:

SECOND RUNNER-UP, Miss SOUTH AFRICA, Diana Tilden-Davis. (Julian Morley, the Morleys’ eldest son, proceeded to crown her and her tiara fell to the ground.) AND FIRST RUNNER-UP, Miss AUSTRALIA, Leanne Buckle. Both received their trophies from Julia Morley and the tiaras were placed by her son Julian. And the moment of truth arrived. The remaining three girls waited for the verdict holding hands. Then Eric Morley announced what everyone was looking forward to:

And MISS WORLD 1991 was … Miss VENEZUELA !! The Maracaibo girl Ninibeth Beatriz Leal Jiménez, with brown eyes and black hair, 5 feet 11 inches tall, measurements 36-25-37, Industrial Engineering student and 20 years old, whose hobbies were playing volleyball, listening to music and playing the guitar, became the new Miss World and the fourth Venezuelan to win the coveted crown. Let’s remember that before her, Venezuela had conquered the scepter in 1955, 1981 and 1984. The surprised and excited Ninibeth, dressed in a white gown with a wide stowaway, with black arabesques embroidered in rhinestones on the upper part of the dress and with medium=arm gloves in white, received her Miss World sash from Julian Morley and the trophy from Julia Morley. Ninibeth sat on her throne to be crowned by the outgoing queen, American Gina Tolleson as the Morleys’ eldest son substituted the trophy for the royal scepter. Miss Leal had been the only one of the 10 semi-finalists who spoke no English, but her smile was universal as she sat on her red velvet throne on the stage at the Georgia World Congress Center. When Gina congratulated the brand new Miss World, the crown slipped and Miss Australia helped to put it back in her place, on the head of the beautiful Venezuelan girl. Ninibeth then proceeded to take her triumphant walk with the Miss World march created by Phil Tate. At the conclusion of the 2 hour and 2 minute transmission and after the required photographs, all the girls attended the Coronation Ball offered at the Nikko hotel and where the prizes were awarded to the winners as usual. In Venezuela, the pageant was televised live for the first time in history, but due to a glitch with the satellite, the transmission began almost half an hour later with the presentation of Miss Turkey in swimsuit. Next, you will see the table with the final vote of the judges:

	RANKING FINAL
		J01	J02	J03	J04	SAF	J06	J07	J08	J09	TOTAL	PLACEMENT
1	VENEZUELA	8	9	7	10	10	9	10	9	10	82	1st
2	NAMIBIA	7	10	7	7	7	8	7	7	7	67	5th
3	SOUTH AFRICA	9	7	9	8	8	7	9	7	8	72	3rd
4	AUSTRALIA	10	7	10	9	7	10	7	10	9	79	2nd
5	JAMAICA	7	8	8	7	9	7	8	8	7	69	4th
	PLACEMENTS
		J01	J02	J03	J04	SAF	J06	J07	J08	J09	PLACEMENT
1	VENEZUELA	3	2	5	1	1	2	1	2	1	1st
2	NAMIBIA	4	1	4	5	5	3	5	4	4	5th
3	SOUTH AFRICA	2	5	2	3	3	4	2	5	3	3rd
4	AUSTRALIA	1	4	1	2	4	1	4	1	2	2nd
5	JAMAICA	5	3	3	4	2	5	3	3	5	4th

OSMEL SOUSA CELEBRATED IN ATLANTA.-

At the Atlanta Convention Center, an excited Osmel Sousa, President of the Miss Venezuela Organization, accompanied by Sixto Bermúdez, from the Venezuelan Beauty Committee, was cheering his new world beauty queen. After the election, Osmel Sousa declared: “The only ones I was afraid of were the representatives of Australia, because it had a lot of scene, and that of South Africa, because she had good manners. But Ninibeth was the only one with that exotic type that They are always looking for a Miss World. According to her chaperone, she impacted at all the activities they were preparing. The same was said by the son of the owner of the pageant”.

CONTINENTAL QUEENS OF BEAUTY:

At the Coronation Ball, the Continental Beauty Queens of this edition of Miss World were announced. They were:

AFRICA	Miss SOUTH AFRICA	Diana Tilden-Davis
AMERICAS	Miss VENEZUELA	Ninibeth Beatriz Leal Jiménez
ASIA & OCEANIA	Miss AUSTRALIA	Leanne Buckle
CARIBBEAN ISLANDS	Miss JAMAICA	Sandra Foster
EUROPE	Miss TURKEY	Dilek Aslihan Koruyan

AWARDS.-

Venezuelan Ninibeth Leal, Miss World 1991 received a check for £ 10,000 during the Coronation Ball at the Nikko Hotel, plus an employment contract that would guarantee her a minimum of an additional £ 30,000 for personal appearances and publicity during her year of reign. Meanwhile, the first runner-up, Miss Australia, won a prize of £ 2,000 and the second runner-up, Miss South Africa, another for £ 1,000. For being continental queens of the Caribbean and Europe and reaching the Top, Miss Jamaica and Miss Turkey were awarded £ 1,000 each, and the remaining semi-finalists (Namibia, France, USA, India and New Zealand) won £ 500. This year there were no special awards, so there was no Miss Photogenic nor Miss Personality.

MORLEY DISAPPOINTED OF ATLANTA.-

Atlanta received worldwide publicity during the broadcast of the event, but may have some commitments to fulfill before the event is held again. Eric Morley, the founder of the contest, was not ready to crown Atlanta as a venue for the event in the future because he was disappointed with the city’s performance as host. The last three weeks in Atlanta weren’t much fun for Morley. He was appalled at the lack of fanfare the 41-year event had received on American soil. “I was hoping there would be a great welcome,” Morley said before the contest. “Other host cities often celebrate Miss World Day,” Morley said, “but I haven’t even met Mayor Maynard Jackson here.” “We didn’t get the reception that we get in South Africa,” he said. While Morley wasn’t ruling out bringing the pageant back to Atlanta, he hinted that he would like to receive financial incentives from the private sector. With the pageant reaching 700 million people in 62 countries, he said, “that must have some value for tourism in Atlanta.” The show was not broadcast in that city, because none of the local stations wanted to do it, another thing that irritated Morley. Another Atlanta organization asked to host the 1992 contest but Morley didn’t want to go through the same thing again …

THE FIRST DAYS OF THE REIGN OF MISS WORLD 1991.-

Ninibeth began her reign with a press conference the next morning at the Nikko hotel, where she received journalists and photographers dressed in white and with her hair up during her first breakfast as sovereign of world beauty. “I thought I would be among the finalists, but winning is like a dream come true,” she said. “I feel very privileged to be Miss World and I wish you all peace and goodwill around the world.” The brand new Miss World was about to start the year 1992 traveling internationally to raise funds for charity and making the contest’s motto, “Beauty with a Purpose”, a reality. At first it was scheduled that Ninibeth’s return to her country would be on Saturday, January 8, but for technical reasons, the arrival had to be postponed for a few weeks, so she traveled to London where she began to do an intensive English course and comply with her first commitments as Miss World. Her father traveled to meet her in London and spent the New Year’s Eve parties together. In reality, her return was delayed because the rating measurements on Venezuelan television began on Monday, January 27, and Venevision wanted her reception to be included in the audience rating.

HER HOME WELCOME IN ZULIA.-

Finally, the Zulian lady now become Miss World traveled to Venezuela accompanied by Julia Morley on a London-Miami flight and then Miami-Maracaibo on a Zuliana de Aviación plane, being received at La Chinita International Airport in the Zulian capital, the Saturday, February 1, 1992 at 10 am Ninibeth arrived dressed in blue and was honored in a program that was broadcast on “Sabado Sensacional.” She was nervous and happy. Although she was the center of all homage, the beauty would face a unique and unforgettable moment: the return to her land, loaded with the laurels that her beauty, talent and effort gave her. Gilberto Correa interviewed her when she left the plane, while eighty-two cadets from the Rafael Urdaneta of Cabimas Military High School paid her honors. She, with a lump in her throat that almost prevented her from gesturing words, said: “Thanks to my land, my country, Zulia. Thanks for her support, I love you very much …”. A representative of Zuliana de Aviación gave her an A-1 Ticket for life on behalf of the company to travel to any destination that the airline would cover as many times as she wanted.

The Mayor Fernando Chumaceiro gave her the Keys to the City and the Governor of Zulia, Dr. Oswaldo Álvarez Paz, named her Illustrious Daughter and offered her a reception that night. Ninibeth rode in a convertible car with Julia Morley along the Paseo Ciencias to the Chinita’s Church where she fulfilled her promise to give a replica of her crown to the Virgin of Chiquinquirá (which she had promised if she won the contest). In the tribute that continued in the Maracaibo Bullring, Ninibeth appeared dressed in a Goajira blanket, the Children of Zulia sang “Chinita de Maracaibo” and the Venezuelan ex-Miss World Susana Duijm, Pilin León and Astrid Carolina Herrera also were present. On Monday, February 3, she traveled to Caracas, staying at the Eurobuilding Hotel where she would visit the San Juan de Dios Hospital as part of her “Beauty with a Purpose” activities.

NINIBETH SUFFERED FROM CHÁVEZ’S COUP ATTEMPT.-

And precisely, just arrived in Caracas, at dawn on February 4, Ninibeth was grabbed by the coup attempt by Hugo Chávez against President Carlos Andrés Pérez in her room at the Eurobuilding hotel with Julia Morley. As they could, in the midst of that chaos, both managed to leave the country and get to safety. The assault on the presidential palace began at 12 midnight on February 4. At the same time, military under the command of Miguel Rodríguez Torres stormed the presidential residence (La Casona) and other important cities in the country. The clashes were intense in some cases. After the attempt to take over the capital city, Caracas, failed, the insurgents surrendered after the garrisons in the interior of the country were recovered by the forces of the constitutional government. Chávez was arrested and deprived of his liberty by DISIP security forces, although shortly before he was given the opportunity to address the country in an address broadcast to the media, where he assumed responsibility for the uprising and ordered the insurgents who were still fighting in Aragua and Valencia to surrender to prevent further bloodshed, while asking their supporters to lay down their arms.

COUNTRIES VISITED DURING HER REIGN.-

Ninibeth traveled to Turkey, Switzerland, Indonesia, the United States, Spain, Poland, Singapore, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, South Africa, and the entire United Kingdom during her year of reign. She demonstrated her concern for the situation of developing nations and just a month and a half after receiving the crown she participated in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The news of her went around the world and she was reviewed by the most important media in the world. Upon learning of that fact, Pope John Paul II invited her to the Vatican and held an audience with Ninibeth that seemed like a presidential visit, he congratulated her on her work and entrusted her to continue. Later, she traveled to Carol Wojtyla’s country, she was received with great honors, she held dozens of charity events and galas in a stay that lasted two weeks. Being the focus of attention, Ninibeth aroused the interest of different companies and companies to link with the Miss World organization. In South Africa she spoke out on the need to eradicate poverty and illiteracy and even encouraged the continent’s leaders to fight the HIV / AIDS epidemic. Furthermore, Ninibeth managed to learn English and handed over the crown to her in December 1992 in Sun City, South Africa. The whole world observed the gratitude of the Morleys represented in the most tremendous farewell that any queen of that and any contest has had.

BIOGRAPHY OF NINIBETH LEAL.-

Ninibeth Beatriz Leal Jiménez, was born in the Valle Frío neighborhood of Maracaibo, on November 26, 1971 at five in the afternoon, being the third daughter of economist Walfredo Leal and teacher Carmen Jiménez de Leal. She entered the beauty pageants from the hand of Dinorah Morán, from the Dinorah’s Estudios Agency. She was first chosen as the XXIII Queen of the Caribbean Classic in 1988 at the Santa Rita Racecourse, then in 1989 she was Chica Zulia and managed to be the second runner-up of the Chica 2001 contest of that same year. Osmel Sousa met her in 1989 in the Maracaibo Bullring during the election of the Queen of the Chinita Fair, being presented by Dinorah. Osmel loved Ninibeth from the first moment, and he invited her to participate in Miss Venezuela. In the mid of 1990 she entered the 1991 Miss Venezuela as Miss Peninsula Goajira, but the contest was postponed and after Osmel dismissed many applicants for gaining weight, he later assigned the Miss Zulia sash to Ninibeth. On Thursday, May 23, 1991, the beautiful Zuliana was crowned Miss World Venezuela. At that time she was studying Industrial Engineering at the University of Zulia.

Her first international commitment was to represent Venezuela in the International Reign of the Carnival of Saint Vincent, which was held on June 28, 1991 on the aforementioned Caribbean island. There, Ninibeth was ignored, and the title went to Miss Trinidad-Tobago, Beverly Toney. Later, on November 22, she traveled to London, and from there to Johannesburg and Atlanta to compete for the title of Miss World, where she won the fourth crown for Venezuela on the night of December 28, 1991, wearing a gown designed by Piera Ferrari. She was received in style in Maracaibo on February 1, 1992, and she had to leave the country in an emergency after the attempted coup by Hugo Chávez. She did not return to her country until days before the final of Miss Venezuela 1992, in September, where she crowned the new Miss World Venezuela at the Poliedro de Caracas. During her reign, she succeeded in favoring an Iraqi boy who had a disfigured face for surgery in London. On December 12, 1992, she relinquished her Miss World crown in Sun City, South Africa. At the end of her reign, she wanted to study Film Directing and Advertising in Los Angeles and she also had a juicy offer to work as a model in Paris.

During the reign she met Australian model Travers Beynon in Miami, with whom she fell in love and who became her boyfriend. The queen had to face a small lawsuit filed by who was her manager Dinorah Morán. Mrs. Morán Pérez, believed herself to be the owner of Ninibeth, and, already being Miss World, Dinorah sued her because she wanted part of the awards. Venevision, upon learning of such an extravagant legal scandal, took action on the matter and countersued Dinorah, who in the end lost the lawsuit and was left bankrupt. Ninibeth made a short career as a model and shone in an acting role in Venezuelan cinema in César Bolívar’s movie “Rosa de Francia.” In 1996 she was a judge of Miss World in India and at the first edition of Mister World in Turkey. Then, in 1997, Ninibeth married 25-year-old Australian millionaire Travers Beynon, known as “The Candyman,” in her native Venezuela, and they both moved to Arundel Hills, Australia in December of that year. She became an Australian citizen and had two children, Valentino Luke (born August 28, 1998) and Lucciana Beatriz (who came into the world on July 8, 2001). Her daughter debuted at 17 as a model in 2019 with designer Amy Taylor and her son plays soccer at the Southport Sharks Football Club on the Costa Dorada. Ninibeth divorced her husband in 2008. Travers Beynon won full custody of her two children in 2011 after a lengthy court battle that lasted 2 years. Travers remarried in 2011 to a young woman named Taesha. Now, Ninibeth calls herself Nina Beynon and after her divorce she worked in real estate sales in southwest Brisbane for a major real estate group called Coronis until 2018. In 2011 she was a backstage presenter for Miss World and in 2018 she was a judge of the edition held in Sanya, China. She is away from Social Networks and she currently resides in London, England, with her daughter.

BITTEN BY A HIPPO.-

On Wednesday, December 17, 2003, South African Diana Tilden-Davis was attacked by a hippopotamus while rowing in the remote northern reaches of the Okavango Delta in Botswana, where she and her husband, Chris Kruger, ran a safari company. Kruger said in a statement that Diana was operating a mekorro (canoe) in one of the narrow channels of the Okavango Delta, Botswana. “Diana turned a corner and surprised a hippo who was in the canal. The hippo attacked the canoe and Diana was bitten on the lower leg just above the ankle.” She was flown to Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg. “Doctors managed to position the pimple correctly and are currently fighting the infection caused by the bite,” Kruger said. “There is a severe drought in Botswana right now and all the grazing animals, including the hippopotamus, are quite stressed due to the lack of grass.” “This factor, along with the fact that the waters are normally low at this time of year, which gives the hippo less opportunity to get away from human activity into deeper waters, could be one of the reasons why this hippo was so aggressive”. Kruger said: “Diana is fine. She is very positive and enthusiastic and I think seeing her daughter yesterday for the first time since the attack made her very happy. We all hope for the best.” After Miss World, Diana continued her career in film. Her work included roles in the horror film “Howling IV” and the action-adventure film “Captive Rage.” Diana comes from a long line of beauty queens starting with her grandmother Thelma Fairlie, winner of a national Marlene Dietrich likeness contest organized by the now-defunct Sunday Express. Her older sister Janine also won the Miss South Africa pageant, and her sister Leanne was a finalist.

FROM THE OTHER CONTESTANTS.-

Miss Namibia, Michelle McLean won Miss Universe in Bangkok the following year and where Miss Belgium reached the Top 6 and Miss New Zealand the Top 10. The girls from the Cayman Islands, Iceland and Switzerland also participated. Miss Ghana competed in Miss Universe 1993 and Miss International 1994 but in the latter representing Nigeria. The British competed in Miss International 1992 and Miss Europe that year representing England and where Miss Switzerland and Miss Hungary also participated. In Miss Europe but in 1993 Miss Malta took part. The Finnish won Miss Scandinavia, the German Miss Intercontinental and the Polish Miss Planet 1992. Miss Uruguay tried her luck in the World Banana Reign in 1993, Miss Ecuador was a semifinalist for Miss Latin America 1992 and Miss Latvia was 1st. runner-up for Mrs. World 1999.

After relinquish her crown as Miss Universe, Michelle McLean served as Mistress of Ceremonies and TV Presenter for numerous national and international events in some 26 countries. In 2009 she was the co-host of the Miss World contest held in South Africa and in 2018 she was part of the Miss Universe Selection Committee in Thailand. She has campaigned tirelessly for many charities and topping the list is “The Michelle McLean Children Trust” in Namibia, formed in 1992, and Michelle McLean Elementary School, also in Namibia, which has about 890 students. Michelle was instrumental in bringing the Miss Universe pageant to her country in 1995. In 1998, Michelle was recognized by Donald Trump and received “The Lifetime Achievement Award” for her philanthropic work. In 1998 Michelle married Neil Bierbaum, they had a son together, Luke Bierbaum in 1999 and then divorced in 2006. Michelle is currently married to Gary Bailey, a former Manchester United goalkeeper, whom she married on March 9, 2013 Michelle lived in South Africa for many years but moved to the US in 2014. She was the image of Lux Lotion. She is a businesswoman and also a modeling and life coach. Michelle participated in various commercial projects, especially in the real estate market as the director of one of the most important real estate agencies in the country and also launched a range of fine jewelry. Michelle is a director of BrandsRock, a specialized marketing company. She is a member of the World Economic Forum and a consultant on Trade and Tourism in Southern Africa. She currently lives in Miami, Florida, USA.

Anke Van Dermeersch, Miss Belgium, has been a senator since 2003 and was also elected Member of the Flemish Parliament in 2014. She has been a member of the Antwerp city council since 2007. In the 2019 Flemish elections, she was re-elected second in the Vlaams Belang list of Antwerp as Flemish Member of Parliament with 21,966 preferential votes. She was also re-elected as a state senator. However, she had to hand over her position as group president to Guy D’haeseleer. Miss Australia, Leanne Buckle, started a modeling academy in Queensland, is a photographer, mother of three and still does modeling. Miss France, Maréva Georges, made a career in the world of modeling, she married Paul Marciano, owner of the GUESS brand and they have two children. Today she promotes tourism in Tahiti in the United States. She is also the host of an American television program about sports on board and is an active member of the judges of the Miss Tahiti committee. She is also a woman committed to various charitable actions. In French Polynesia in particular, one of her actions consisted of distributing clothes from the latest Guess brand collection to children from poor families. She also serves meals to the homeless in Polynesia. Miss Jamaica, Sandra Foster, is married to businessman Ricky Mahfood, is a devout Christian and mother of five, who lives her life out of the limelight. Miss India, Rita Singh, is now Mrs. Vaidya, she became a singer and lives in Nepal, where she is a speaker for the group “Glocal Teen Hero”, a social program dedicated to Nepalese teenagers. Miss Turkey, Aslihan Koruyan, is today Mrs. Sabanci, a businesswoman, economist and international chef. Miss USA, Charlotte Ray, is married to Louis Biancone. She is an athlete mother, she is president of “H ~ Ohm Yoga”, belongs to the International Association of Women and continues with charity projects. She lives in Waccabuc, New York.

Miss Paraguay, Vivian Benítez, graduated from History of Art and Journalism in the USA. In 1992 she married the diplomat José Antonio Dos Santos and had two children. The couple divorced in 2011. Vivian worked as a television presenter on channels 5 and 13 in Paraguay. Later, she joined the Paravision staff of comperes where she presented the morning show “Buenos dias Paraguay” and then “El mañanero”. She is currently a businesswoman and lives in Asunción. Miss Colombia, Adriana Rodríguez, forged a career as a presenter and correspondent for various publications. Since 2005 she specialized as a real estate agent in the United States and was well known for her website and her YouTube channel (Apartamentos Florida TV) until about five years ago. She apparently continues to live in Miami. Miss Nigeria, Adenike Oshinowo, developed a line of cosmetics for the Nigerian market. In 2010 she bought the Miss Nigeria franchise, an event for which she worked for only two years. In 2014 she premiered her own talk show on Nigerian TV called “Late Night with Nike Oshinowo”. Miss Ireland, Amanda Brunker, one of the most famous Miss Ireland in history, was a TV actress. She subsequently hosted her own television show called “The Dinner Party”. In 2008 she published her first novel entitled “Champagne Kisses” and the second of hers in 2009 “Champagne Babes”. In 2011 she performed singing at the Oxegen Festival. She is currently a columnist for the “Sunday World Tabloid” newspaper. Miss Philippines, Gemparo Gemith, was a famous model for the Ford Agency in Paris and New York and later became a commercial jet pilot. Miss Chile, Carolina Michelson, dedicated herself to cosmetology and Miss Guatemala, Marlyn Magaña, is a life coach. Miss Aruba, Sandra Croes, is now Mrs. Suárez, continues to live on her island, is still recognized as a singer of Latin rhythms and occasionally appears on Aruban TV.

The Spanish Candelaria “Catia” Moreno Navarro, died in a car accident on the Valencia-Madrid highway near Albacete in early February 1993, when she was just 21 years old. Samantha Schubert from Malaysia made a career as a model and actress, lived in England for many years, married Oliver Knott in 2002 and had three children, Jodie, Harry and Thomas. She returned to Malaysia as a dancer, but an injury kept her from dancing. She moved to Los Angeles to continue her acting career. In 2015 she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer from which she sadly passed away on April 25, 2016.

MALAYSIA (R.I.P.)

PROGRAM BOOK

PRESS ARTICLES

PICTORIAL GALLERY

Gina Tolleson, Miss Carolina del Sur USA 1990, 1° Finalista Miss USA 1990 y Miss Mundo 1990 — Gina Tolleson, Miss South Carolina USA 1990, 1st runner-up Miss USA 1990 and Miss World 1990

Miss Argentina — Gina Tolleson, Miss South Carolina USA 1990, 1st runner-up Miss USA 1990 and Miss World 1990

Ninibeth Leal y Sharon Luengo — Ninibeth Leal and Sharon Luengo

Ninibeth Leal al ganar Chica Zulia 1989 — Ninibeth Leal and Sharon Luengo

Colombia, El Salvador y Bolivia — Miss Bolivia

Australia y Sudáfrica — Australia and South Africa

Namibia, Venezuela, Australia, Bahamas, Sudáfrica y USA — Australia and South Africa

Ninibeth Leal, Miss Mundo 1991 — Ninibeth Leal, Miss World 1991

Thanks to Donald West, Daryl Schabinger, Neil Craig, Mónica Gamarra, Sally-Ann Fawcett, Ebinson Ramos, Mario Jérez, Edman Raúl Imagen, Herluis Rafael, Michael Knittel, Mills Aldorino, Humberto Acevedo, Marcela Chazarreta, Lucho Ortega, Sebastian Aguilera, Alexander González, Anjo Aparicio, Michael Dos Santos, Lluis Gandia, Oleg Pitikin, Tony Hidalgo, Stefan Hoven Lieuw Choy, Carlos Karangolos, Roberto Macedo, Gus Cotte, Paraiso de Reinas, MV La Nueva Era and Glamour Argentino.

MISS WORLD HISTORY / HISTORIA DE MISS MUNDO

Miss World 1991

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Miss World 1991

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