Miss Universe 2013

The Top 5 finalists at the Miss Universe 2013 pageant were:
Miss Universe 2013, Venezula, Gabriela Isler
First Runner-up: Spain, Patricia Yurena Rodríguez
Second Runner-up: Ecuador, Constanza Báez
Third Runner-up Philippines, Ariella Arida
Fourth Runner-up: Brazil, Jakelyne Oliveira



The Top 10 finalists at the Miss Universe 2013 pageant were:
Dominican Republic, Yaritza Reyes
Great Britain, Amy Willerton
India, TManasi Moghe
Ukraine, Olga Storozhenko
United States,Erin Brady

The Top 16 finalists at the Miss Universe 2013 pageant were:
Chin, Jin Ye
Costa Rica, Fabiana Granados
Indonesia, Whulandary Herman
Nicaragua, Nastassja Bolívar
Puerto Rico, Monic Pérez
Switzerland, Dominique Rinderknecht


Pageant Hosts:

• Thomas Roberts


• Mel B


• Jeannie Mai

Preliminary Judges:

• Irina Agalarova – Russian fashion icon


• Corinne Nicolas – modeling industry veteran


• David Perozzi – Emmy-nominated producer and journalist.


• Dibas Khaniya –International Award 2012 winner in IT, President of Friends Initiative


• Alicia Quarles – New York-based correspondent for E! News


• Gabriel Rivera-Barraza – fashion publicist and philanthropist


• Jose Sariego – Senior Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs for Telemundo Media


• Elena Semikina – Miss Universe Canada 2010

Final Telecast Judges:

• Carol Alt – American model and actress, host of Fox News program


• Italo Fontana – Italian watchmaker, founder of U-Boat Watches


• Philipp Kirkorov – Russian pop singer


• Tara Lipinski – retired American figure skater, Olympic gold medalist


• Chef Nobu Matsuhisa – Japanese celebrity chef and restaurateur


• Farouk Shami – Palestinian-American businessman, founder of professional hair care products company Farouk Systems


• Steven Tyler – lead vocalist of Aerosmith, former American Idol judge


• Anne Vyalitsyna – Russian model, coach for Oxygen reality show -The Face

Contestants will be judged in three separate categories; evening gown swimsuit, and a personality interview. There is no talent competition. (courtesy of www.missuniverse.com)

And the winner is. . . Venezuela! Congratulations to Gabriela Isler who won the coveted title of Miss Universe 2013. Isler beat out eighty-five other contestants from across the globe in Crocus City Hall, Moscow, Russia. This is the third time in just six years that Venezuela has walked away with the Universe crown.

The twenty-five-year-old’s winning answer to Judge Steven Tyler’s onstage question, “What is your biggest fear and how do you overcome it?” was, “For me while one may have a lot of fears but nonetheless this is nothing negative. I believe we should overcome all of our fears and this in turn would make us much stronger and mostly we can become stronger persons.  As soon as we overcome our fears and we are sure of ourselves then we can face any challenge.”  She certainly knew how to prepare for the onstage question.

On the Miss Universe website, you can read up on Miss Venezuela as I did and you will see that one of her fun facts was when she was seven years old, Gabriela had the habit of attending parties she wasn’t invited to, but ended up always making friends with the birthday boy or girl. It’s safe to say Isler made more than one friend tonight. Congratulations again to the beautiful new Miss Universe.

Miss Universe 2013 Onstage Question

Miss Venezuela Universe Question: "What is your biggest fear and how do you plan to overcome it?"

Answer: "We should overcome all our fears and this in turn would make us stronger. As we overcome our fears, we can face any challenge."

Miss Philippines Universe Question: "What can be done about the lack of jobs for young people starting their careers around the world?"

Answer: "I do believe we should invest in education, and that is my primary advocacy, education is a primary source and a ticket for a better future."

Miss Universe Spain Question: "What is the most significant thing we can do to help elect women to political offices around the world?"

Answer: "In order to select a good woman, she must possess good qualities in order to do a good job—discipline, knows how to adapt, so she can fulfill her job."

Miss Brazil Universe Question: "What is your opinion of places that do not allow women to vote or drive cars?"

Answer: "Good evening everybody! In my opinion, we as women achieved our independence through time. Unfortunately, nowadays we still have problems with our independence. But we need to keep our open minds because nowadays we are homemakers, part of a workforce. In our country, our president is a woman. We are capable of everything."

Miss Ecuador Universe Question: "What would happen to the world if we could no longer use the internet?"

Answer: "Tech has disadvantages. We are no longer close with our families. We use the methodology of computers and internet for the positive. It is never too late too start."