Miss Universe 1994

Miss Universe 1994
Miss Universe 1994 Sushmita Sen
Date May 21, 1994[lower-alpha 1]
Presenters Bob Goen
Arthel Neville
Angela Visser
Entertainment Peabo Bryson
Bayanihan Philippine National Folk Dance Company
Venue Plenary Hall, Philippine International Convention Center
Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines
Broadcaster CBS (international)
ABS-CBN (official broadcaster)
Entrants 77
Placements 10
Debuts
Withdrawals
Returns
Winner Sushmita Sen
 India
Congeniality Barbara Kahatjipara
 Namibia
Best National Costume Charlene Gonzales
 Philippines
Photogenic Minorka Mercado
Best in Philippine Terno Gown
 Venezuela[1]

Miss Universe 1994 was the 43rd Miss Universe pageant held on 21 May 1994[lower-alpha 1] at the Plenary Hall of the Philippine International Convention Center in the city of Pasay, Philippines.

Miss Universe 1994 participating nations and results

The winner, Sushmita Sen of India was crowned by Dayanara Torres of Puerto Rico at the end of the event. This marks the first time that India won the pageant wherein 77 contestants competed during this year.

Placements

PICC in Manila
Final results Contestant
Miss Universe 1994
1st runner-up
2nd runner-up
Top 6
Top 10

Semifinalists' scores

Contestant Preliminary Swimsuit Interview Evening Gown
 India — Sushmita Sen 9.253 9.722 9.562 9.792
 Venezuela — Minorka Mercado 9.126 9.752 9.592 9.843
 Greece — Rea Toutounzi 9.256 9.288 9.027 9.618
  Switzerland — Patricia Fässler 8.973 9.197 9.298 9.623
 United States — Lu Parker 9.202 9.510 9.478 9.697
 Italy — Arianna David 9.159 9.325 9.378 9.708
 Sweden — Domenique Forsberg 9.000 9.078 9.423 9.643
 Slovakia — Silvia Lakatošová 8.946 9.447 9.668 9.700
 Philippines — Charlene Gonzales 9.225 9.425 9.587 9.720
 Colombia — Carolina Gómez 9.268 9.638 9.655 9.897
     The contestant succeeded to the Top 6
     Top 3 highest scores on the said competition

List of contestants

Notes

Debuts

Returns

Withdrawals

Host country

Manila was announced as host city for the pageant in October 1993.[7] It was the second time the pageant was held in the Philippines, after it was staged in Manila in 1974.[7] It was staged at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila, at approximately 8:00 in the morning (Philippine local time), to allow CBS in the United States to televise the pageant live in prime time.

Areas of competition

The delegates started arriving in Manila by mid-April and were involved in nearly four weeks of events and competitions. They also visited different locations and attractions throughout the Philippines.

Prior to the final telecast, all contestants competed in swimsuit and evening gown during the preliminary competition. They also participated in interviews with the judges.

During the final competition, the top 10 contestants (based on their preliminary scores) competed in the swimsuit, evening gown and interview. The top six contestants participated in a final round of on-stage interviews, and cut to the final top three before the runners-up were announced and the new Miss Universe named.

Notable controversies

  • The country expected to make 10 million PHP ($357,000 USD) profit out of the pageant, as well as the accompanying media exposure.[8] The 150 million pesos ($5.3 million) spent on hosting the pageant was funded from the private sectors, with sponsors such as Nestlé, Kodak and Hertz.[8] Some of the expected sponsorship money did not materialize, leading the shortfall to be covered by the government.[9] By mid May, as the contestants were already in Manila, organizers confirmed that they were short of money and were unsure whether a profit would be made from the event.[10]
  • In the midst of power shortages around the time of the pageant, the Philippine government promised to ensure that the weekend of the pageant's coronation night would be "blackout-free".[11]
  • The pageant came under public attack from the Nationalist Movement of New Women, a branch of the National Democratic Front, which claimed that it was being used to promote sex tourism.[12] The cost of the event was also criticised by the Philippine Congress, despite it being endorsed by President Fidel Ramos.[12] A social function attended by the delegates held prior to the final broadcast was picketed by the women's group, who opposed the nature of the pageant and the lavish spending.[13]
  • During rehearsal on the day prior to the pageant, a small homemade bomb exploded outside the pageant venue where the contestants had earlier been rehearsing, though it caused minimal damage and there were no injuries were taken.[14] As a result, more than 3000 Filipino police officers were involved in protecting the delegates, as well as dozens of policewomen assigned as personal or group bodyguards.[15]
  • During May there was also a probe by the Commission on Human Rights as to whether a police round-up of street children was intended to improve Manila's international image during the pageant events.[16] This was also criticised by Miss Thailand, Areeya Sirisopha Chumsai, even though the same incident occurred in Thailand in the Miss Universe 1992 pageant.[17]
  • Miss Russia Inna Zobova was detained for 15 hours in a windowless room at an airport in Bangkok, Thailand en route to Manila due to a lack of transit visa.[18]
  • Miss Malaysia, Liza Koh, made a public apology on behalf of her country about the arrest of 1200 Filipina domestic helpers in Kuala Lumpur.[19] As a result, the Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi admonished her not to make any further political remarks.[20]
  • Miss Mauritius Viveka Babajee became a controversial figure due to her involvement in the 1994 Metro Manila Film Festival scandal where she was a presenter for the Best Actress award together with actress Gretchen Barretto, an award which was highly disputed among the Philippine media.
  • Miss Indonesia Venna Melinda was not allowed to compete in the pageant because of her country's conservative Islamic prejudice towards the swimsuit competition, though she eventually traveled to Manila to watch the pageant as an observer.[21]
  • Miss Philippines Charlene Gonzales gained criticism for winning the Best National Costume award as the judges were also criticized for allegedly favouring the host nation's delegate. Miss British Virgin Islands, Delia Jon Baptiste publicly declared that Gonzales won the award because of Filipino favouritism and that the other delegates disagreed with the choice. Miss Venezuela Minorka Mercado won the Philippine costume Terno award, followed by Slovakia who was celebrating her birthday, and Miss Mexico by their respective placements.[22]

Notes

  1. 1 2 The event was held at 8:00 am Philippine Standard Time (UTC+08:00); for the Americas, this was May 20 in their local times including the United States.

References

  1. ↑ Came with $500USD cash prize and 10,000PHP worth value of Philippine-made products.
  2. ↑ Came with sash and trophy, $200.00 USD cash prize and 10,000.00PHP worth value of Philippine products)
  3. ↑ When she was off of the stage, Wu was allowed to wear Republic of China sash.
  4. ↑ Came with, sash with trophy, $300.00 USD cash prize and 10,000.00PHP worth value of Philippine products)
  5. ↑ Came with sash and trophy, $500.00 USD cash prize and 10,000.00PHP worth value of Philippine products)
  6. ↑ http://www.pinoyexchange.com/forums/showthread.php? t=325916&page=147
  7. 1 2 "Philippines to host Miss Universe pageant". Reuters. 1993-10-24.
  8. 1 2 "Philippines expects to profit from Miss Universe". Agence France-Press. 1994-03-16.
  9. ↑ Gosh, Nirmal (1994-04-27). "Row in Manila over cost of Miss Universe pageant". Straits Times.
  10. ↑ "Miss Universe organisers short of cash - official". Reuters. 1994-05-17.
  11. ↑ "Manila says no blackouts for Miss Universe pageant". Agence France-Presse. 1994-04-05.
  12. 1 2 "Communist insurgents say Miss Universe promotes sex tourism". Agence France-Press. 1994-04-29.
  13. ↑ "Feminists picket Miss Universe social function". Agence France-Press. 1994-05-01.
  14. ↑ "Miss Universe pageant site bombed". Agence France-Press. 1994-05-20.
  15. ↑ "Manila deploys 3,000 policemen for beauties". Reuters. 1994-04-26.
  16. ↑ "Police roundup of Manila street children under probe". Straits Times. 1994-05-02.
  17. ↑ "Miss Thailand : Don't hide street kids". Straits Times. 1994-05-12.
  18. ↑ "Miss Russia held by Thais on way to Miss Universe". Reuters. 1994-04-28.
  19. ↑ "Hi, I am sorry". Straits Times. 1994-04-28.
  20. ↑ "Miss Malaysia told not to make political remarks". Straits Times. 1994-04-29.
  21. ↑ "Miss Indonesia to watch but not take part". Straits Times. 1994-05-19.
  22. ↑ "Ms Universe pageant slammed for hometown verdict". Reuters. 1994-05-09.
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