Miss Universe delegates muddled through the tricky Intelligence Segment of the pageant televised live on GTV Sunday night, although the overall performance was an improvement on last year's episode.

The questions and answers segment involves interviews with the delegates on their respective platforms. The girls were questioned by Prime News and Capitol News anchors, Kathy Hughes and Enrico Woolford.

In the past this segment has been a cause of much mirth among viewers and this tradition was largely continued on Sunday night.

Dubbed "Clash of the Champions" the December 27 final event boasts several reigning and past queens of local pageants including Olive Gopaul and Odessa Phillips, past title holders of the Miss Guyana World.

Gopaul, with her HIV/AIDS platform, handled the segment with ease while Phillips focused on the intriguing platform of solid waste management. Though questions were raised as to their involvement in the competition the two continue to raise the bar and run ahead of the pack.

Among the others holding their own were Verita George, Serjean Elias, Karen Duke and Tricia Chee-foon. Along with Gopaul and Phillips they stood apart in a mostly mediocre night.

George, whose platform is breast cancer awareness, proved sharp and composed. She was impressive when she promptly informed Hughes that her platform had been chosen with her deceased mother in mind since she had succumbed to the illness.

According to George, she wanted other women, particularly young women, to be aware of the dangers of breast cancer. She noted that the disease might be hereditary but that some persons could be affected on account of environmental and lifestyle factors.

She was able to respond without delay when Hughes asked her to describe a mammogram.

Gopaul's calmness, intelligence and confidence will definitely take her a long way. When questioned about her platform, she demonstrated she had done her homework on HIV/AIDS.

Phillips, delved deep into the topic of Solid Waste Management and not even the ever smooth Woolford could keep up with her pace as she recited everything possible she knew about the topic, applying whatever she had learnt from the University of Guyana, where she is currently majoring in Law.

The more amusing parts centred on domestic violence with one delegate saying she would place a skipping rope on her husband's plate instead of feeding him, to put a stop to this problem.

One delegate said she would end illiteracy among children by giving them books. She had not thought of how she would get the children to read.

Though some of the delegates appeared rehearsed and promptly responded, their answers did not make too much sense. Absent were well thought out responses reflective of their topics of interest.

Stabroek News spoke with two local television broadcasters who between them share some forty-odd years in the media. One conceded that the pageants had never attracted young ladies of the highest intellect.

She said that over the past years the same crop of girls contested the competitions, since those with the calibre largely eluded pageants.

She pointed out that in comparison to previous years the segment was better with the girls more relaxed, and the responses though not the most astute were acceptable.

The other broadcaster shar-ed the view that the girls were not on the level with those in the international competition.

Judges on Sunday were attorney Debra Kumar; journalist Andrea Teekasingh; Stabroek News' Current Affairs editor, Patrick Denny and Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President, Jennifer Webster.