HISTORY MAKING BEAUTY GAFFES

Beauty pageants are engineered in a fashion to tease the human brains, it comes with so much glory, drama and at other times sheer disappointment. Standard pageants like the Miss World and Miss Universe pageants are patterned to showcase various aspects of the entrant’s personality: ranging from physical feature,
congeniality, talent, charisma, intelligence and poise. At the main show delegates are expected to appear in their national costume, swimwear (the guys love this part) and lastly in their evening gown. The selection process is determined by the judges, often times the finals starts with the selection of the top 15 and with further elimination that  leads to the eventual winner. Often times the pageant goes on without a hitch where the crowned queen reigns and carries out duties attached to her position before the emergence of a new queen but at other times event of things goes rather awful. Here is a list of those types of events

NO STRINGS ATTACHED

In January 2015 Chanelle Riggan representing Beverly Hills was one of the hopefuls who competed for the coveted crown of Miss California. Disaster struck when the blonde bombshell rocked the stage to strut in her swimwear. In the middle of her sassy motion the strings that held fast her brassier got loose, exposing her boobs on national television. Riggan managed to pull through with a smile on her face holding her bosoms. Riggan later placed fourth runner up at the pageant. Finally her poise paid off.

FAILURE TO LAUNCH

Agbani Darego had all damsels running to the MBGN organization when she won the Miss World title and placed in the top ten at the Miss Universe pageant in 2001. She made history as the first black African in sub-Saharan region to win the title (first won by Egypt). The Miss World organization decided to show recognition by hosting the 2002 edition in Nigeria. All never ended well, the show was moved to the London on basis of religious crisis. The pageant was to be hosted in Abuja but was perceived by some conservative religious group as being unchaste. Now that is a total miss.

WIN SOME, LOSE SOME

Oxana Fedorava is the first Russian to win the Miss Universe pageant (2002), Fedorava resigned on grounds to finish her law degree albeit pregnancy rumors that trailed her. She was dethroned four months later into her reign as queen.

Lucia Petterle is a Brazilian medical student who contested in beauty pageants for the fun of it. She later went on to win the miss world pageant in 1971. Lucia did not finish her reign as queen, and later went on to complete her medical degree in endocrinology. Now that’s one smart doctor.

Bianca Onoh rose to fame in the late eighties when she won the Most Beautiful Girl In Nigeria in 1988 and became the first African to win the fiercely contested Miss Intercontinental crown in 1989. It was later discovered that she was having an affair with late Odumegwu Ojukwu who was over thirty years her age. Pressure from media attention later made Bianca to abdicate her throne as Most Beautiful Girl In Nigeria and Miss intercontinental. Regina Askia who was first runner-up swiftly replaced Bianca as queen. Bianca’s decision never sat well with the Silverbird group, a source stated, but at least she ended up with the man of her dreams.

THAT SUPER-HOT MOM

Welsh Helen Morgan won the miss world title in 1974 and placed first runner-up at the miss universe pageant. The terms of both pageants body clearly stated that any prospective participant must not be a mother. In the case of Helen who cleverly got the crown but was not smart enough to keep it, fell into the cold hands of doom when it was discovered that she had earlier given birth. She reigned for only four days on her throne. Later that same year the crowned miss universe Amparo Munoz relinquished her crown, naturally the first runner-up was to replace her but in this case, Helen was already outed as a mom. I wonder how she manages to beat all the other girls; she must really be smoking hot.

I’M EVERY WOMAN, IT’S ALL IN ME.

Canadian Jenna Talackova became an object of media attention when she won a legal battle to contest at the Miss Universe Canada. Jenna a transsexual woman was naturally born a man. The miss universe organization only deems naturally born woman eligible to take part in the pageant, but the very determined Jenna broke every norm thus making the pageant body amend their rules for eligibility. She subsequently went on to win the Miss Universe Canada and represented Canada at the miss universe pageant where she comfortably placed in the top 12 but failed to enter the top 5. Now that’s so much for equality.

I’M NO SLEEPING BEAUTY

Linor Abargil (Israel) was crowned miss world in 1998, but this came along with some deep scars. Several weeks to the competition, Linor was raped by her travel agent Uri Schlomo Nur at knifepoint in Milan, Italy. The incident was reported to Milan authority but was dismissed on lack of evidence. Uri was subsequently released until the Israeli authority requested for his extradition. He was later convicted on DNA evidence collected from his car. Uri was sentenced to 16 years in prison for rape. Linor later became an advocate to fight against sexual violence, putting her law degree to good practical use.

TALE OF TWO QUEENS

Everyone makes mistakes, but Steve Harvey gave it a new definition. No one saw it coming, not even Harvey. Miss Colombia was wrongly crowned miss universe over Miss Philippines (actual winner). Cards were mixed up and it led to Harvey calling out Miss Colombia as winner. Miss Colombia basked in her moment of about two minutes, one she thought she had earned, only for Harvey to come up moments later to correct his mistake. Everyone was in shock while Miss Colombia thought it was a joke until the crown was removed from her head. Miss Philippines got the last laugh of the night. That is one mistake that would definitely break the Guinness book of records.

I AM BLACK, I AM STRONG

Agbani might have shone on the Miss Universe stage, but Edna Park broke it in the most unpleasant ways. Edna Park represented Nigeria at the 1964 Miss Universe and was the first Nigerian to do so.  An ambitious kind; when asked what she wanted out of the competition, she promptly responded, “to win the crown.” Hell was let loose when she failed to place in the top fifteen. Edna practically disrupted the smooth running pageant and refused to leave the stage. She collapsed and was later sedated by medical personnel. Edna might have not won, but she is fondly remembered with mixed feelings in the history of the Miss Universe pageant. Little wonder what became of Edna Park after her planned hysteria.

Edited version published in THISDAY newspaper  on January 10, 2016
Author: Ikenna Bede