Miss Guyana/Universe, Leanna Damond, says the crowning of 18-year-old Amelia Vega as the most beautiful girl in the universe was “pretty much close to what I had expected,” adding that “the signs were there.”
Damond spoke to Stabroek News yesterday from Miami where she is on a short holiday, courtesy of Stanford Solomon, Managing Director of King Solomon Shipping. She did say there were a few surprises when the final fifteen girls were named.
The pageant, which was held on Tuesday night in Panama City at the Figali Convention Centre, saw Vega becoming the first woman from the Dominican Republic to be crowned Miss Universe.
Miss Venezuela, Mariquel Ruiz was named first-runner-up while Miss South Africa, Cindy Nell, placed third.
Damond said she had expected her to be named in the final five but recalled the Panamanians had really liked the winner leading up to the pageant.
She added that it was surprising that all the remaining delegates did not rush to congratulate her after she was crowned. Damond revealed that most of the contestants wanted Miss Venezuela who she described as a “very warm person.” Asked to describe the kind of person the new Miss Universe was, Damond said, “I would prefer to describe Miss Venezuela... You can draw your distinction from that.”
On her not being named in the final fifteen, Damond said while she was surprised that she was not named it was not her “decision to put myself in the final fifteen.”
She explained that while most of the judges might give a contestant high scores and just a few give that person low scores, “that would really bring the person down.”
Damond said that while she was disappointed she was mostly unmoved when the final name was called as she had matured enough to deal which such things.
According to her the girls had no time to ponder their failure to qualify, when they were not named in the final fifteen as they only had about five minutes to prepare for the next segment of the show.
Now the queen “just wants to come back home” as the physical activities leading up to the big night were very challenging.
“We were in rehearsals for hours and hours and just a few minutes break before getting back to it.”
Many Guyanese were disappointed when Damond was not named because the website, Global Beauties gave her rave reviews leading up to the pageant. The queen is expected back home on Sunday.