She was the crowd's favourite and many thought she should have won but 23-year-old Juanita Collins feels the best girl won and she plans to support her in every way.

"Juanita is a brilliant, brilliant girl. I can't take that away from her," were the words used by Miss Guyana/Universe Mia Rahaman during a recent interview with Stabroek News and she was not exaggerating.

Collins is fluent and has the ability to command the attention of her listeners with the earnest way she speaks.

Casually dressed in a jump suit with a skin fitting top and face devoid of make-up, Collins spoke to this newspaper on Friday about before and after April 13, the night when she wished she could have worn the coveted Miss Guyana/Universe crown. She succeeded in copping the second-runner-up position.

Collins was the crowd's favourite on that night and many persons verbally abused the queen and the judges when she was not crowned queen.

The young woman said her co-workers, who filled out an application for her and sent it in, pushed her into entering the pageant. At first, she thought she could not handle juggling her job and other activities but with the support of her colleagues and family members she endured it all.

Collins did not get time off from her place of employment to train for the pageant but she quickly pointed out that BWIA was understaffed and her supervisor and colleagues were quite supportive and allowed her to leave early for training. She was able to get the final four days before the pageant off to adequately prepare for the big night.

Asked if she thought she could have won the coveted crown Collins said, "Of course, I would not have entered if I didn't have a chance of winning. I would not have entered if I didn't have something to offer Guyana. I mean I am offering myself because I think I have something to offer. So I felt, you know, this is something I can do.

"But you know what was the most important thing for me about [that night was] that I knew there were so many people supporting me and that there were people who really demonstrated their faith in me."

Collins said that one of the most important things in her life has been working with the Rotaract Club for the past five years. She joined the BWIA family around the same period and before that she worked in the Marketing Department of the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation.

The young woman is one of four children and she has a twin sister, but she was quick to add that she looks nothing like her twin.

She lived in Grenada for a while, where she had her primary and part of her secondary schooling and returned to Guyana and entered the Bishops' High School in fourth form.

She recalls how surprised she was on the morning of April 13 when she saw an advertisement in the newspapers by the Rotary Club supporting her.

Collins said she was worried about people having high expectations of her and her letting them down, because it is "unthinkable, so that is what I most worried about on Saturday.

"So at the end of it all when I answered my question and I heard the response of the crowd -- I was gauging the response of the crowd throughout -- I felt okay. I hadn't let anybody down and that was the most important thing for me at that time," Collins said.

Looking back at that night, Collins said she was aware that the outcome would not have satisfied everybody. "Make no mistake about the fact that every girl in that pageant wanted to be queen and I just as much as everybody else. But then there is only one person who could win and if you are mature, you would have realised that somewhere along the line and you would have also understood what the odds are."

On her feelings when she heard her name announced as the second runner-up, Collins said she was somewhat surprised even though she was preparing herself for anything.

However, she admitted that one could never be actually prepared for disappointments. She could not really describe her feelings at that moment since it was a mixture of disappointment and joy, disappointment that she did not win but joy that she did well.

"But when I looked down in the crowd and saw my mom smiling giving me this sign, like, you know, you did okay, and my little sister ... at that point in time tears came to my eyes. I was disappointed. There is no doubt about that, but at the same time not in a sense of not being able to accept the decision because there is no point. And I always believe in that because I don't believe in wasting time," she said.

Asked for her thoughts on Rahaman, Collins fondly recalled one morning when she was really late for work and her taxi was taking some time to arrive and Mia said, "'Juanita, I will drop you.' ... I really appreciated that." Then another night Rahaman offered to drop her home even though it would have taken her out of her way.

"Mia deserved the crown as much anyone else. We all worked very hard. None of us could discredit the other person's effort. We all worked hard and there is no doubt about that," Collins said.

Asked what advice she would give Rahaman in dealing with criticisms levelled at her, Collins said that even if Rahaman did not win the crown she should come back to her country and give something back by working on her platform. Rahaman's platform is the rainforest and Collins feels if she does something in that area when she comes back she would succeed in shutting her critics up.