attendant narrowly edged out her main contender to be crowned the new Miss Guyana/World at the stroke of midnight on Saturday night at the National Cultural Centre.

Alexis Glasgow, Miss Vonda Gaspar Designs, who hails from New Amsterdam, will be counting her lucky stars to get the judges' nod, as the crown could have very well been on the head of first runner-up, 22-year-old Nevillean Dundas, Miss Crystal Tower Boutique.

Glasgow, who is employed by Universal Airlines, is the first of five children who says she was a little rugged country girl at one time, who moved to the city at age eighteen and then began to go with the flow of things.

Taking nothing away from the new queen, who is undoubtedly beautiful, well-spoken and much smarter than most of the twelve competitors, Dundas could have had a claim on the crown, based on the answers to the final question.

Notwithstanding the fact that none of the five finalists really nailed the final question, Dundas was the one who came the closest, even if her answer was unrealistic.

The three other finalists were eighteen-year-old Suzette Shim, Miss Cel Star Guyana Inc - second-runner-up; 19-year-old Shamaine Davis, Miss Olympia Small Designs - third runner-up; and 18-year-old Chelan Yhap, Miss New Thriving Restau-rant - fourth runner-up.

Saturday night's pageant was the third Miss Guyana/ World pageant to be held by K M Chung Promotions.

As has been happening in recent times more than half of the Cultural Centre's seats remained empty, which some attributed to the plethora of pageants being held in Guyana.

The contestants made their first appearance splendidly dressed in red skimpy dresses complete with a red rose in their hair, whetting the crowd's appetite for what was to follow. Former queen Odessa Phillips, who many Guyanese said had been on the sidelines lately, also made a first appearance with the other beauties, but outshone most of them with her elegant crown perched on her head and her very winsome smile.

A splendidly dressed master and mistress of ceremonies, Mondale Smith and Maliza Walton, made their way to the stage arm in arm much to the amusement of the crowd.

Their first task was to introduce the judges with the chief judge being Justice Claudette Singh, who is also acting Chief Justice, media personality Andrea Teekasingh, Managing Director of Shell Gas Station Bel-Air, Charles Woon-a-tai, a former first-runner-up in the Miss Guyana/Universe, Prudence Lewis-Bhola, Proprietor of Clairan's Boutique, Claire Pires, British and Guyana media personality John Mair known as Bill Cotton, and National Coach for weightlifting, Aubrey Smith.

Because some of the segments, including the evening gown and intelligence segments, had been held prior to pageant night the crowd was treated to much entertainment from local artistes.

One segment of the pageant - `Sit-Down Inter-view with Delegates' - was really not necessary, as it was long and uninspiring, apart from some unintentionally humorous interludes provided by inappropriate answers.

One contestant when asked what beauty without brain meant, replied that this was impossible, because once you were beautiful you must have brain - herself being a case in point.

Another contestant laboured under the misapprehension that an underprivileged person was someone who is denied a certain opportunity.

Perhaps the greatest entertainment from the audience’s point of view was derived from the contestant who suggested that people should employ washing machines and use less water to brush their teeth in order to conserve on H2O.

Kudos must go to the designers of the evening gowns in this pageant because the gowns were a cut above those seen in previous pageants.

While all of them looked gorgeous, a few stood out, such as that worn by Shim which had the audience catching its breath when she opened her arms to reveal its full extent. The gown was a mixture of Chinese and Indian styles. The queen and the other three runners-up had on beautiful dresses too, with Dundas’s being a little more subdued than the others.

The winner wore a single-strap almost skin-hugging gown which did not quite reach to the floor. The grey and white dress which had some blue shimmering effects really made her look a queenly figure.

After some entertainment by Classique Dance Group, Eddie, one time calypso monarch ‘Tempest’, Let’s Dance Company, Candace Field, who had the crowd riveted when she belted out `A Moment Like This’ the girls were serenaded in a different style by Christopher Wilson.

Also entertaining was Ossie Nedd who did `I can be your Hero’.

When the final five were named they were asked one question which was, `If you were President of Guyana for one day and you had to make one important decision, what would it be?’

The queen said she would have removed the racial gap, but did not elaborate further. At a mini-press conference after the pageant she was asked how that could be achieved in one day, but she had nothing more to offer on the subject.

Dundas’s response was that she would pass a bill to conserve protected areas - an answer with obvious limitations given the amount of time and procedures which are necessary to pass a bill. However, she did at least name a decision that she would have made as president, no matter how unrealistic.

Shim said that she would ensure that women were given the opportunity to “stand up” no matter what, since they were very important to society, and Davis stated that she would start to educate people about eco-tourism in Guyana. Yhap’s offering was to start charging taxes to increase the country’s “capital” so as to help underprivileged children.

What was obvious from all the answers was that the girls continued to focus on their platforms when answering the question.

There were some special awards given out; Dundas was voted Miss Congeniality, Shim was Miss Internet and Miss Photogenic while Yhap got Miss Best Hair and the queen was adjudged Miss Best Smile.

After Phillips took her final walk the queen was announced and many voiced their opinion, saying that Dundas should have won.

Other than representing Guyana at Miss World, Glasgow has won $200,000 cash, a trip to London and New York, one night for two at the Le Meridien Pegasus, gold jewellery, a photo shoot, a trip to the Kaieteur Fall, a cellular phone and various hampers; while Dundas won $100,000 cash, a trip to New York, gold jewellery, a cellular phone and hampers. Shim won $75,000 a watch and gold jewellery while Davis and Yhap won handbags, hampers and watches.