16/07/2022
10 MOST IGNOMINOUS PAGEANT MOMENTS PEOPLE HAVE FORGOTTEN
1. Mexican beauty queen dethroned after drug arrest
Laura Elena Zúñiga Huizar is a Mexican Model, and a former beauty queen. Zúñiga who was in born 3rd January 1985 was in December 2008 a central figure after she was involved in an international drug trafficking scandal. Laura Zúñiga who hails from Sinaloa, Mexico, was in 2008 crowned the Winner of Miss Hispanic America, but sadly was soon a smuggling gang suspect, after being caught with her boyfriend Ángel Orlando García Urquiza who was believed to be associated with the Juarez Carte and a brother of an imprisoned drug lord.
Laura Zuniga, 23, lost first-place honours for "failure to comply with the regulations of the title she represents," organising company Gloria Promociones said in a statement, after more than 19 contestants from Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States to win the title in October.
The company statement did not specify what pageant rules were broken by Zuniga, who was detained in western Mexico earlier the month along with seven men, some of them suspected drug traffickers. Authorities found a large stash of weapons, ammunition and $53,300 (£32,000) with them inside their luxury cars.
Following Zuniga's detention, there were new calls to investig*te modeling agencies and pageant organizers for dirty dollars, and possibly handing punishment if anything illicit is found. In reaction, several companies who had worked with Zuniga ran for cover, disclaiming any knowledge of her actions. She was also stripped of her titles. http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1868836,00.html
2.A selfie causes big trouble for one pageant Tensions
The hostility between the government of Lebanon and Israel could not be put out of the game. It was seen in the 2015 Miss Universe pageant when a selfie taken by Miss Israel, featuring Miss Lebanon, caused a commotion with the Lebanese government. It was g*thered, from (https://nypost.com/), Miss Lebanon Saly Greige was threatened with disqualification by her home country when Doron Matalon of Israel shared a selfie that showed the two women smiling side-by-side, along with Miss Slovenia and Miss Japan.
Greige admitted that she had tried to distance herself from Miss Israel due to the conflict and discord between the two nations, but Matalon was intent on wanting a photo together. Greige shared on Facebook at the time, "Since the first day of my arrival to participate to Miss Universe, I was very cautious to avoid being in any photo or communication with Miss Israel." The New York Post (https://nypost.com/), also shared that Miss Lebanon's agent believed Matalon was trying to sabotage Greige by taking the photo.
Later on, Matalon shared a news article about the photo on her instagram saying “Too bad you cannot put the hostility out of the game, only for three weeks of an experience of a lifetime that we can meet girls from around the world and also from the neighboring country.”( https://www.instagram.com/p/x_u2Eaj5Uz/?modal=true)
3. Donald Trump picks on Miss Universe 1996
Alicia Machado must have felt good taking home the Miss universe 1996, until the ignominious moment involving him and the then-organization’s owner Donald Trump who reportedly made life a living hell for the beauty queen. The Venezuelan native revealed in an interview with “Inside Edition” in 2016 where she spoke out about the verbal abuses she suffered at the hands of Trump, which consisted of him calling her "Miss Piggy" and "Miss Housekeeping" when she gained weight after her win.
Following the pageant, Machado faced a lot of scrutiny due to her weight gain, even the title was in danger. According to The "Inside Edition", Trump took Machado to a private gym that was packed with media and called her an "eating machine" during an interview with Howard Stern. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyxuCb5r3VQ)
In an interview with The New York Times, Machado shared that she was depressed, after Trump began calling her names. The pageant winner said, “After the episode, I was sick, anorexia and bulimia for five years. Over the past 20 years, I've gone to a lot of psychologists to combat this.”
Despite the neg*tive attention, Machado went on to star in several telenovelas and became "the first Miss Universe to pose for Pl***oy" (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0532410/)
4. Miss Italy admits she'd want to experience life during World War II
While this would obviously be assumed unreasonable! Alice Sabatini after been crowned the Miss Italy in 2015 shocked Italian people by saying “1942” when she was asked by judges which era she would most like to live in?
According to The Italian Insider When pressed for clarification, Sabatini said that she wanted “to see life during the Second World War for myself. And I know that women didn’t form part of the military, so I would just stay at home.” An Italian reputable newspaper called Il Fatto Quotidiano was baffled, and posed the following questions, in response to her statements: “Why did Alice come up with the idea of a woman who stays at home? Why did she not think about the gunfire and the 623 women, who were killed during the Resistance? Did she not know about Irma Bandiera, who was tortured and shot on August 14 1944?” Maybe, it is because Alice Sabatini is a child of the school system, which in the last few years has been more concerned about skimming over studies, than really examining specific events in history. (http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/3234)
Sabatini’s comment having caused number of satirical comments online, she defended herself saying she was caught off guard as the first contestant to be asked the question. Miss Sabatini said she didn't mean to offend but wanted to express admiration for her great grandmother who lived through the war and was still alive.
Pageant judge, Vladimir Luxuria, called for understanding, saying that Sabatin had all the spotlight on her, and panicked. Despite the embarrassing gaffe, Sabatin the 18-year-old went on to win the competition. (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3245896/Miss-Italy-winner-Alice-Sabatini-tells-beauty-pageant-judges-wants-experience-World-War-Two.html)
5. Miss Florida was stripped of her crown for using her glam squad
Just like every other organization, strict rules are applied in pageants too, and culprits are punished. Genesis Davila of Florida was a victim in the Miss USA 2017 pageant. She was reportedly dethroned for using professional hair and makeup stylists when that was prohibited.
Gravitt, executive producer of the Miss Florida USA pageant, said Davila used professional stylists to help with her hair and makeup in her private room, which is a violation of pageant rule, and that she violated curfew too. This was after he had previously told Local 10 News that the company have zero-tolerance policy on rules, further explained that Davila sought for an unfair competitive advantage, and it won’t be accepted their system.
He also said that there were multiple complaints from other contestants, eyes witnesses, as well as "substantial proof" that linked her and her vendors to her room on an evening when they weren't allowed to be there, social media accounts sealed her fate.Davila went on to hired a lawyer, and filed a $15 million lawsuit against the owners of the Miss Florida USA pageant seeking damages for defamation, though she still lost the throne.( https://www.local10.com/entertainment/2016/08/02/dethroned-miss-florida-usa-attorney-announce-15-million-lawsuit/)
6. There was Leona Gage, who lost her Miss USA crown after just 24hours.
This ignominious moment was seen in 1957, when Leona Gage of Maryland was named Miss USA, but was dethroned less than a day. Almost immediately after her crowning, judges discover that Leona had lied about her various details of her background, including her age, she claimed to be 21, when she was really 18, also, she was married and a mother of two children.
(https://www.teenvogue.com/story/10-scandalous-pageant-moments)
7. Miss Teen Louisiana skips out on restaurant tab
Beauty may win you Pageant, but character is what takes you a long way. The Louisiana native Lindsey Evans obviously didn't think things through as she went on to dine at the restaurant with friends.
It was reported via (https://nypost.com/2008/10/19/beauty-and-the-bust/), that the reigning beauty queen skipped out on a bill but left her purse behind, helping cops easily apprehend her for theft and pot possession, police said.
The 18 years old and the reigning Miss Teen Louisiana USA, and three pals sashayed away from Posados Café in Bossier City, La., on Saturday without paying a $46 dinner bill cops said.
The police spokesman Mark Natale said “after the alleged dine and dash, restaurant managers found Evans’ purse, which had her driver’s license and a plastic bag of marijuana”
Consequently, her actions and her drug possession cost her the crown, with Paula Miles, president of RPM (an affiliate with the Miss Universe Organization) stating, "Lindsey Evans has been part of an organization that believes in opportunities when earned and consequences when warranted. Due to recent circumstances, Lindsey has been relieved of her duties as Miss Louisiana Teen USA 2008 effective immediately." Evans lost the crown just 1o days shy of completing her reign, which would have been November 1. (https://www.today.com/style/miss-louisiana-teen-usa-loses-crown-after-pot-bust-wbna27321165)
8. Steve Harvey calls out the wrong winner
While many have forgotten about this embarrassing incidence, here you read it again.
During the 2015 Miss Universe pageant, host Steve Harvey made the crucial mistake of calling out the wrong winner. He looked back on the moment and called it "painful." On stage, following the announcement of the next Miss Universe, Harvey admitted to reading his card wrong. He named the runner-up, Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez, as the winner instead Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach of the Philippines. After being notified of his error, Harvey appeared next to Miss Colombia to announce the correct winner, which was when the crown was taken off her head and placed on a shocked Wurtzbach.
Harvey later tweeted, "I'd like to apologize wholeheartedly to Miss Colombia & Miss Philippines for my huge mistake. I feel terrible." He also tweeted, "Secondly, I'd like to apologize to the viewers at that I disappointed as well. Again it was an honest mistake."
" However, Harvey was given the hosting gig the very next year and continued to host the show until 2019, returning in 2021 and accidentally referring to Miss Paraguay as Miss Portugal.
(https://www.nickiswift.com/747534/the-cringiest-beauty-pageant-moments-ever/)
9. When Nia Sanchez forgot the capital to her home state.
While this can to happen to at times, but still, it sounds so strange seeing a pageant winner forgets the capital to the state which she represent. It is perhaps one of the ignominious moments, especially as Nia Sanchez was believed to not have come from the State which she is competing in the Miss USA in 2014.
This was seen when she was asked the capital of Nevada, but she could not answer without the host helping her out. He informed her that Carson City was the correct answer, and she awkwardly replied, "Thank you. I was gonna say that, I was like, that one DJ host on MTV, back in the day, his name, that's how I always remembered it...Carson Daly, that guy."
This caused controversies, as Sanchez was believed to have had unsuccessfully competed to become Miss California and "never actually moved to Nevada ...setting up some minimum paper trail" so that it looked like she was from the Sagebrush State
(https://www.tmz.com/2014/06/16/miss-usa-nia-sanchez-nevada-capital-video/).
Though she claimed she had lived in the state almost 18 months before she won the title, much longer than the minimum six months required.“[Las Vegas] is my home,” she told FOX411 Thursday. “I have a house there with a friend.” (https://video.foxnews.com/v/3619307711001 =show-clips)
10. Vanessa Williams was forced to give resign as Miss America in 1984.
Despite becoming the first ever black to win Miss Amercan, Vanessa was forced to give up her crown after Penthouse announced that it would publish n**e photos of her, taken two whole years earlier while working as a photographer’s assistant. Dated July 23, 1984, the then-21-year-old Williams handed over her crown, making her both the first black Miss America and the first to give up the title(http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,926740,00.html).
The photographer who had assured her at the time, she told People, that the photos were merely silhouettes, in which she’d be unidentifiable and that they would never leave the studio, was believed have been paid by Penthouse ,more than it had ever paid for a photo spread before.
The pageant president was horribly shocked at the pictures which appeared in Penthouse’s September 1984 issue with the headline, “Miss America: Oh, God, She’s Nude!” The magazine’s publisher had little compunction about printing them over Williams’ objections
(https://time.com/3961120/miss-america-scandal-vanessa-williams/)
Hugh Hefner emphasized the former rationale in explaining Pl***oy’s restraint, calling the publication of Williams’ n**e photos “immoral” and “improper.” He also said that the decision was taken away from her. (http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,952183-2,00.html)
Although she initially filed a lawsuit against Penthouse and the photographer who’d burned her, she quickly dropped it and forged ahead with her career ambitions, hoping, she said, to make a name for herself without dragging the scandal along in her wake. She presumed karma would pick up where legal action left off.
©Limchi 2022
