Vietnam ready for Miss Universe
2008-07-11 15:03
Hanoi, Vietnam - Some of the world's most beautiful women, including Miss South Africa Tansey Coetzee, have converged on Vietnam for the Miss Universe pageant, for what organisers say is a prime opportunity for the communist country to show itself off.
It may not be the Olympics, but with television audiences in 170 countries expected to tune in to watch Monday's gala, it is being touted as Vietnam's coming-out party.
"It really puts Vietnam front and centre, on a world stage," said Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organisation. "They can host an event that is huge, that goes to a billion viewers around the world."
Builders have only just finished the palm-fringed venue in the southern beach town of Nha Trang, the Crown Convention Centre at the Diamond Bay Resort - a short drive from Cam Ranh Bay, once a major US naval base.
The 80 contestants have toured Vietnam for weeks, drawing publicity as they have visited major cities and World Heritage-listed tourist sites such as the island-scape of Halong Bay and the ancient port city of Hoi An.
Packed Schedule
Their schedule has been packed with gala dinners, charity visits, photo-ops, lead-up contests and dress rehearsals - and wherever they have gone, the women say, they have drawn enthusiastic crowds.
"I've never experienced anything like it - thousands of people shouting and screaming," enthuses Anya Ayoung-Chee, who despite her name, represents Trinidad and Tobago.
The diminutive beauty with an Asian background, who lists photography and documentaries among her interests, said she was delighted by the public reception they had been given.
"You can tell they are so happy for us to be here. As much as we are happy to be here, they are happy to have us, and we couldn't ask for anything more," she said.
It is a far cry from when a similar US-run contest came to Vietnam when Miss America winners entertained GIs here in the late 1960s, sparking protests at the time from both the anti-war and feminist movements.
Decades later Vietnam, now a fast-growing economy, has won the bid to showcase the event produced by American multi-millionaire Donald Trump.
Pricey tickets
Tickets sell for as much as R14 400 for the final show - a small fortune in this developing southeast Asian nation - when a thinned-out field of 15 women will strut their stuff to bag a gold crown studded with over 1 000 diamonds and other precious stones.
The assortment of beauties compete in three categories - swimsuit, evening gown and an interview - before a panel of celebrity judges, including Trump, host of America's Got Talent.
US talk show host Jerry Springer and British pop star "Scary Spice" Mel B, formerly of female pop group Spice Girls, will host the 57th annual competition, which starts, curiously it would seem at first glance, at 08:00, local time.
The breakfast-time start has been arranged to allow the US audience to watch the event on Sunday night, meaning the contestants - and Vietnam - will be primetime viewing stateside.
Miss Universe and other beauty pageants have often been criticised for degrading women, but Mel B stressed that "the diversity and dedication that the pageant brings inspires and empowers young women across the globe."
Title holder Riyo Mori of Japan will pass on the crown to one of the aspiring beauty queens.
There is much at stake - the winner is awarded cash, a tiara and other prizes. She gets to travel the world for a year, meeting dignitaries and charities, all from the comfort base of a deluxe apartment in New York City.
A virtual army of bodyguards and chaperones has travelled with the women who, under the contest's rules, must be at least 18 years old and single, must never have been married, and must not be pregnant or have children.