A Look Back: Miss Universe 2007
10:26 p.m. || 2008-05-22
In less than a week, Riyo Mori will mark the one year anniversary of her coronation. As she does, we at The Beauty Shop are going to look back at the contest which she won back in May 2007.
THE VIEW FROM AFRICA:
Last year, Africa offered some decent delegates, with Angola's Micaela Reis and Tanzania's Flaviana Matata making a huge splash, as both placed among the ten semi-finalists. Of course, these two delegates, along with South Africa's Megan Coleman were the only ones truly noticed by pageant fans. Personally, my favorite African had been Mauritius' Sandra Faro until the Presentation Show, when Angola wowed us all. Africa in 2007 did what it normally does at Miss Universe: give us a couple of good delegates, but the others are unfortunately behind everyone else.
THE VIEW FROM ASIA & THE PACIFIC:
Obviously, Miss Universe 2007 belonged to Asia, with Japan's Riyo Mori winning, Korea's Honey Lee - everybody's favorite for the crown - placing fourth, and additonal placements by India's Puja Gupta and Thailand's Farong Yuttitham placing. Additionally, various Asian delegates gave us a lot, with many differing personal faves. I liked Singapore's Jessica Tan towards pageant night (of course behind Korea and Japan.), and at some point Kazakhstan's Gauhar Rakhmetalieva and New Zealand's Laural Barrett were also personal faves. However, Kazakhstan bombed with her evening gown, and everyone felt that Australia's Kimberly Bustead definitely failed to perform, especially after 2006's Erin McNaught.
THE VIEW FROM THE CARIBBEAN:
Unfortunately, 2007 was not the Caribbean's year, with no nation from the Caribbean placing, and it isn't hard to see why. While, personally, I liked a lot of Caribbean candidates - especially the US Virgin Islands' Renata Christian - but various people had their different favorites from this region. Puerto Rico's Uma Blasini was a mixed bag - her face, which (my apologies to Miss Blasini) was less than stellar, being highly criticized, while many praised her performances at the preliminary swimsuit and evening gown contests. Others noted Jamaica's Zahra Redwood and her Rastafarian beauty, but overall the Caribbean had nothing to offer.
THE VIEW FROM EUROPE:
Many people loved a lot of the European delegates, but personally I wasn't feeling Europe in 2007. Sure, prior to this Europe has sent some stunners, but last year this region of the world was weak. A lot of people loved Italy's Valentina Massi and Spain's Natalia Zabala Arroyo, but personally I think this was because of noted individual performances, rather than an overall performance. It's no lie that Italy had a hot evening gown performance, and Spain did will in her close-up and was extremely photogenic, neither were Top 15 material - and the Miss Universe Organization agreed. I had been a personal fan of Denmark's Zaklina Sojic and had liked Germany's Angelina Glass (Germany was largely overlooked, but I felt she had a good close-up), and Denmark manged to place. I had also - albeit for a moment - liked Czech Republic's Lucie Hadasova, who placed as well. Of course, everyone was severely disappointed by Greece's Doukissa Nomikou in her preliminary performance, especially because she was probably - except maybe Korea and USA - the most photogenic girl at Miss U'07. Additionally, Slovenia's Tjasa Kokalj placed - and was also a Global Beauties' favorite.
THE VIEW FROM NORTH AMERICA:
Personally, a majority of my favorites came from this continent. While many would say that North America is always successful, with its knockout nations Canada, USA and Mexico, typically the Central American nations are left in the dust. This year was no different, as only USA's Rachel Smith, Mexico's Rosa Maria Ojeda and Nicaragua's Xiomara Blandino placing. Of course, USA and Mexico were the obvious stunners from the New World - and Rachel Smith should've been the eighth American Miss Universe - although Korea was probably better - but Guatemala's Alida Boer was another woman who many agreed should've placed - and was my personal, personal favorite - although I knew that she couldn't challenge USA or Korea. Additionally, I had also personally liked Canada's Inga Skaya, El Salvador's Lissette Rodriguez, Honduras' Wendy Salgado and Panama's Sorangel Matos. All of the aformentioned countries - including those that placed - were among my favorites and I had personally felt that North America - not Asia - was the continent to beat.
THE VIEW FROM SOUTH AMERICA:
There is no doubt - Venzuela's Ly Jonaitis was robbed on May 28, 2007. Her answer to the final question was definitely better than all others, but she didn't even make the top two. Venezuela, however, was done justice by Jonaitis as it managed to regain its legitimacy as THE pageant powerhouse of the world. Brazil's Natalia Guimaraes - who had been my own personal favorite from South America in the beginning, but lost that distinction to Venezuela rather quickly - beat out the two most successful nations in Miss Universe history - USA and Venzeula [both of whom regained composure, after both had lost some luster since 2002 for Venezuela and 2004 for USA] - to become the highest placing American there - and her first runner-up placement showed that the Americas gave Asia a run for its money by fighting to keep the crown on the Western Hemisphere, where it's rested since 2001 - not even a Russian win in 2002 could keep it away. Additionally, Bolivia's Jessica Jordan Burton and Paraguay's Maria Jose Maldonado were robbed of placements while Peru's Jimena Elias and Colombia's Eileen Roca also did well.