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The Miss Universe pageant 2001 was extremely different with last year. The stage decoration lacked of Cultural touch and more emphasize on the Modern touch. It's good to see the delegates came back with their National Costume. Some National Costume that I like most were Venezuela, Honduras, Mexico, and of course the winner Korea. They announced their country's name briefly for about 2-3 seconds and I think it would be better if they provided more time for each delegate to introduce themselves.

And now, the Top 10 announcement, I always getting excited because this is one of the reasons why I like beauty pageants. I got 5 correct out of 10 (Venezuela, Puerto Rico, USA, India, Spain). Less than last year but still fairly okay. I think the top 10 was kind a bit boring. I did not expect France and Israel to be up there. There were certainly other girls which I considered to be stronger than these 2 ladies such as Colombia, Philippines, and South Africa.

Now the Swimsuit segment. I did not understand why they would cut the competition into 3 different segments and put commercial things in between. I think this was really bad. It would be better if they gave the girls activity during the pageants than showing how they preparing the pageants. Another personal objection was the scoring system. I do not think that Puerto Rico deserved to get the highest mark. Yes she projected her body well but this was not an evening gown competition, great figure and curve are must other than merely projecting yourself properly. I think Greece and Venezuela were both the top contender to win this competition. India was similar with Puerto Rico in which she projected herself well. USA was really 'muscular', well they never did well in this segment. Nigeria and Spain both have a great body but did not have the 'X' factor. Israel, Russia, and France were joke, they did not look good enough in this segment. My favourite in this competition were Venezuela, Greece, and India.

Now the evening gown competition. Spain came with the same dress in preliminary and I think this gown was unique. Not really bad but not good as well. Venezuela ended the "white" gown tradition since 1994 by wearing the same gown that she was wearing in Miss Venezuela pageant, the gown was very beautiful with unique pattern and beautiful colour. Nigeria...well, well....I really think she shouldn't wear that necklace. It was really annoying. Israel gown was really simple but unfortunately she did not carry it well. In contrast, another simple gown was worn by Greece yet she carried it very well and she deserved to get high mark. India's gown always 'complicated', they always put that 'pearl' thing (I don't know what is called) and I think it was more likely to be a national costume instead of evening gown, nice colour though. Actually, I have been thinking a few moment before the top 10 was announced to put Russia in my list simply because her gown was great. I know that it was very simple yet I still like it better than Israel. France gown was a mes, the worst gown in this year top 10. USA gown was not really attractive either. Puerto Rico was very sexy. I just like her gown as much as I like Greece and Venezuela and she carried it very well. I don't have any objection if she grabbed the highest mark this time. My Favourite in this segment were Venezuela, Greece, and Puerto Rico.

The top 5 were really boring yet 4 of them were in my list. The interview was not exciting at all. 35 seconds to answer was not enough to make the delegate comfortable in answering the question. I think most of the delegates did fairly well. Actually I already have prediction that Greece, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico will be in top 3 but what happened? when brooke said the final question will come next I started to think "wait a minute..." then it became reality they did not cut into top 3 and came back into the old days with 4 Runner Ups and 1 Winner. Again the final question was asking "If you could change one thing in your past, what would that be?". Miss India was the only one who gave an experience answer of herslef whereas the other 4 decided not to change anything with their own version. I could not believe that Venezuela was in 3rd Runner Up. At least she should be in 2nd Runner Up. Well, I think the winner was definitely beautiful and despite all the negative comments around the pageant, Denise was indeed a truly beauty queen and I'm just happy cause she was in my top 3 list and now she's becoming the winner.

Congratulations Denise !!!