The countdown to Miss/Guyana Universe is ticking and two crucial segments have already being completed. Five more Miss Guyana/World delegates spoke to Stabroek News recently and are all confident that they would walk away with the crown.
At least three of the girls, Stabroek News spoke to, have been embroiled in controversy following the interview and swimsuit segments. They do not see it as a setback but in fact according to them it has made their characters stronger.
Stacy Bynoe, Vanessa Tacooram and to a lesser extent, Ulex Atwell have all been subjected to what they might want to describe as “negative” media publicity.
Vanessa Tacooram, a 20-year-old, has a beautiful voice, is very articulate and from all indications she is a definite frontrunner.
But Vanessa has one problem, weight. At 142 pounds, there are many who feel she does not have a beauty queen size. And she knows it, since after the swimsuit segment held at Splashmins last Sunday media reports have dealt with the subject.
Vanessa said, “Well I am 5 ft 7” and with heels I will go to about 6ft...... But I know, maybe I do need to lose some weight and I am working on it. You know, people are different, some people lose weight faster than others, but I am really, really trying hard...”
The young beauty is from Berbice but lives in Georgetown at the moment and is a flight attendant with Universal Airlines and a student at the Thompson University in Pennsylvania, US where she is pursuing studies in Tourism Management.
She has had pageant experience. She was a contestant in sari pageants, won first place in the Miss Lions and Miss Rotary contests and was first runner-up in the Miss Queen of Lights pageant in 2000.
And who is Vanessa? With a twinkle in her eyes and a captivating smile, the beauty contestant gushed, “I am a kind, loving, down to earth, your regular girl. I like the simple things in life and you know I just like going to movies and hanging out and you know doing the real simple things. And I am very, very loving, warm and like devoting my time to charity work for kids and most of my time I volunteer at the Guyana Red Cross when I am not flying........ and now my new found thing is the gym.”
The eldest of three, Vanessa said she had always dreamt about being a contestant in the national pageant and win or lose she would still feel as if she is a winner because she took up the challenge.
“My chances are pretty good, because I know what I want and I know what I want to bring out in the pageant and you know win or lose I will feel good at the end of the day. But I think my chances are pretty good.”
Up next is Stacy Bynoe, and by now her name is known to many persons as the contestant whose platform is the conservation of Leatherback turtles. She had suggested their eggs were tastier than those of chickens.
But this beauty from Berbice has a charming smile. And even though she might have been the subject of criticism over the past few days, she is still confident and said that she has been made a stronger person following the interview segment.
Bynoe, who hails from New Amsterdam, is twenty and stands 5 ft 5 inches.
She is pursuing a diploma in Public Management at UG and has taken a year off to work.
She is the elder of two children and has had experience in pageants before, taking first runner-up in the Miss Summer Teaser pageant last August.
Asked to describe Stacy, the young beauty said, “Well I am a fun loving, grounded person. Just to say a little.”
And what are her chances of winning? “Well I think my chances are very good because I have been able to withstand everything negative that has been coming my way. I started off on new feet, and here I am.”
And Stacy, what went wrong during the interview segment?
“Actually, what I said was not wrong, however I could have added something more to what I said, but you know being in front of the camera and everything....... What I was supposed to say was I am doing conservation of the Leatherback turtle, however... people might say how ‘she conserving and she eating’ because that was the real thing (the part of her answer people had a problem with), but if you are conserving after a while these turtles are going to become overpopulated, then the older ones, because eventually they would die, so the older ones we can use the meat since it is very nutritious. Because people might say what is there to gain from conserving you just saving them over and over, what you are going to do when they become overpopulated because Guyana just have so much space? So maybe I had to be blamed a little for not finishing it off (her answer) and just leaving it like that it was a little vague. But I meant what I said.”
Twenty-year-old Ulex Atwell is a face and a name that is very popular to the Guyanese public and it is expected she will make it to the final five. Her photograph has been splashed across the pages of the newspapers and television screens for the past few years in connection with beauty pageants.
Sitting upright with her head leaning to one side with a wide smile as if she is about to be photographed, Atwell said this was her fourth pageant. She was the first Miss Guyana Talented Teen and was a contestant in the Miss Guyana/World 2001 where she gained a spot in the top five and she was also a contestant in a pageant in St Vincent.
Atwell is the Assistant Manager of Guyana Stationary & Office Supplies and will be heading to the University of Guyana in September to study Medical Technology.
Who is Ulex Atwell? “Ulex Atwell is a go getter and positivity. I believe in living my love to the fullest and I firmly believe we should love all mankind. I know what I want and I am after it and I believe in not settling for second best but going to the best and getting to the top and that’s what I am doing.”
She feels that her experience in pageants would be a plus for her but acknowledged that in every pageant there were different and stronger contestants.
Members of the public were somewhat disappointed with Atwell’s performance during the intelligence segment and the former beauty queen said she herself was disappointed.
“I don’t know, Tuesday night I was too built up. Everyone around me was saying `oh this your big night, this is the interview’ and then when I was there on TV it struck me, it came home `ok this is the interview and I am here.” And I don’t know maybe I was not trying hard enough I was desponded in myself too when I came off I thought I could have done much, much more. Some of the questions that Wendy (Fitzwilliam) asked me like wanting to be an actress and so on... no I don’t want to be an actress, I know about the art and I have a little experience in the art. But I felt as a queen you should be well rounded and it was not good to correct her. You should know a little about everything, that is why I just sat there and answered the question.......”
The former student of St Roses also worked as a television producer at GTV 11 for nine months.
Denise Rodrigues, a twenty-two-year-old beauty from Lethem is the reigning Miss Rupununi and also captured second runner-up in the first ever Miss Guyana Heritage pageant.
She is presently assisting in the running of her family’s ranch and said she enjoys every bit of it.
She stands at 5 ft 6 inches and weighs in at 143 pounds. She has three pounds more than Tacooram.
She decided to be part of the Miss Guyana/Universe pageant because she wanted to “go for the challenge” and the fact that she was encouraged by her family. She is optimistic about her chances of winning and describes herself as a, “very soft-spoken quiet person with a strong mind of her own.”
Her platform is caring for the elderly.
The final delegate we interviewed was Shevon Tho-mas, a 21-year-old beauty who also hails from Lethem but is now at the Cyril Potter College of Education. She weighs in at 100 pounds and stands at 5 ft 3 inches and was the former Miss Rupununi queen.
The young beauty said she chose to be a contestant in the Miss Guyana/Universe pageant because it was always her dream to become an international queen and be an ambassador for her country.
She finds preparing for the pageant a “little difficult” because at the moment she has to also battle with exams.
“I am caring, considerate and emotional,” was how Shevon described herself.
She feels she has a very good chance of winning and her platform is issues faced by indigenous women.
The final contestant is Paula Balgobin. Stabroek News was unable to speak with her. She hails from Bartica and she is a peer educator in HIV/AIDS which is also her platform. She is 24 and stands at 5 ft 5” weighing in at 105 pounds.