Subject:  This beauty pageant a real honey |
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 Tommy (from TO)
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Date Posted: 15:15:42 06/13/10 Sun
By MIKE STROBEL, Toronto Sun
Miss Universe? Or Jerry Springer?
Man, oh, man, this pageant has turned into a beaut.
And I feared I’d fall asleep on the judges’ panel.
“Well,” says la creme of beauty queens, 2005 global winner Natalie Glebova, “it is entertainment, after all.”
No kidding, Nat.
Miss Universe Canada 2010, which wraps Monday night at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, is making the G20 look like a boy scout jamboree. To wit:
Our front page told you yesterday how contestant Sophie Froment, 20, of Gatineau, Que., starred in a soft-porn ad for the cheaters’ site, Ashley Madison.
We all wish we had the cojones — and the abs — to do that, but, sadly, Miss Universe Canada frowns on such things. Beauty pageants have enough trouble fending off snobs and women in sensible shoes.
Pageant director Denis Davila had a chat with Ms. Foment, sorry (ITL)Froment(ITL), and she exited before the preliminaries last night. As her bio says: “She’s not perfect, but she is a promising woman and always tries her best.”
Perfect timing for the Ashley Madison marketing department, eh? Hmm.
So we’re down to 61 contestants.
One of them is Maria Al-Masani, 25, of Ottawa. She grew up in Yemen.
Muslims are not big on bikinis. So last night Ms. Al-Masani was to wear a wrap in the swimsuit prelims.
“I’d rather be caught dead,” she has opined.
How do you solve a problem like Maria? You cover her up.
Otherwise, Ms. Al-Masani is no shrinking violet.
She runs a PR business, which in March announced her as a “direct descendent of Prophet Mohammed.
“Yemen,” she said, “is a conservative Islamic country better known for the underwear bomber.
“I grew up wearing a niqab, watching Miss Universe on TV. I love breaking stereotypes.”
Next on the hot seat is Tiffany Munro, 26, of Edmonton.
This week, she told high school kids in Oshawa how the pageant discourages any hint of eating disorders — “like some little African child with the ribs going on.”
This brought gasps from entrant Solange Tuyishime, 26, who survived a Rwandan refugee camp.
Solange was comforted by Ashley Callingbull, 21, a Cree beauty whose history includes sexual abuse.
Not to mention, Tiffany, as a child, suffered from dyslexia.
Sixty-two women, 62 stories.
Much ado, and the pageant has barely started.
Which brings me back to Ms. Glebova, 28, the drop-dead Russian turned Torontonian who won the whole enchilada, Miss Universe 2005. She returns as MC.
She sure looks fine in an orange Ted Baker dress and five-inch Aldo heels.
Dressed to kill for the Miss Mayhem pageant?
“I don’t know what’s happening this year,” she tells me. “Maybe it’s good for Miss Universe. Spices things up, and shows people are paying attention. (Pageant owner) Donald Trump will love it.”
Natalie married a Thai tennis pro and lives in Bangkok. She’s no stranger to turmoil, and not just the recent riots, which spared her leafy surburb.
Miss Universe is big-time in Thailand. She’s a star — and gossip fodder, including plastic surgery rumours. (Only if God is a surgeon). Three years ago, she had to deny reports she had mocked the traditional wai greeting.
Wai, oh, wai? The perils of a pageant.
Remember the overzealous civil servants who barred Natalie from Nathan Phillips Square because she was a “stereotype?”
The last laugh is hers. Her house has a very big swimming pool. She’s working on a skin care line and a health and travel show.
“Cheap shots still upset me. I owe my success to this. People don’t understand beauty queens.”
So on to the finale. I sure hope there’s no porn star or stripper or Mafia moll or transvestite on that stage.
I can’t take much more drama.
Mike Strobel’s column runs Wednesday to Friday, and Sunday. mike.strobel@sunmedia.ca or 416-947-2265.
http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/mike_strobel/2010/06/12/14366956.html
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