How I Save the World

The Final 15 have been chosen. And now it’s only three days before they are revealed at the finals in Mexico City and a new Miss Universe is crowned. The pageant fans have gone crazy in the last week, predicting boom or bust for this or that candidate. Ultimately, there will always be surprises, for example no one could have predicted Miss Paraguay’s appearance in top 5. This stunning girl, Lourdes Arevalos, was so surprised herself when her name was called and she advanced to the finals. No one could have predicted it because Paraguay has no history of performing well at international pageants.

So, you ask, a country’s past performance at Miss Universe could actually determine whether the current candidate can make it or not? Well, let me get away with a “yes and no”.

Judges will always notice the beautiful girls, plain and simple. But if they’re like you and I (and they are), they are more likely to pay attention if they already know a country’s batting record at Miss Universe is already good. Take the Glamazons from places like Venezuela and Brazil. These countries have been known to produce some of the most beautiful women in the world – and people know this. So you and I, and the judges, are going to have notion of the beauty we can expect from their candidates. And 9 out of 10 times the delegates don’t disappoint. Miss India’s and Miss South Africa’s have a reputation for peerless interview style, so again judges and the rest of us are going to be very interested in what they have to say. And so on and so forth – each country’s strength – and weakness – is avidly devoured by fans, judges, national directors, and the general public.

And each year we see how the countries perform: do their batting averages go down or up? Who has the best averages? Who are the countries that are breaking through slowly but surely? And of course, who are the delegates that are complete (and welcome) surprises. We’re sure rooting for all those Miss Paraguay’s out there!