Miss Universe pageant embraces controversy, says goodbye to Donald Trump and lands a new broadcast home on Fox
BY DON KAPLAN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, December 18, 2015, 1:44 PM
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RODRIGO VARELA/GETTY IMAGESGone, but not forgotten Donald Trump doesn't own the Miss Universe pageant anymore, but his impact on the compeition continues to be felt. Here 2014 winner Paulina Vega and Trump meet the press after The 63rd Annual Miss Universe Pageant.
It’s supposed to be about beauty and brains, but last summer the Miss Universe Pageant turned into a political battlefield.
The glitzy beauty pageant was drawn into the fallout from GOP front-runner Donald Trump’s bombastic run for the White House. His anti-immigrant rhetoric cost the international beauty pageant and others their longtime relationship with NBC.
“It’s been an interesting, tumultuous year, but I think we’ve emerged in an even better position,” says Paula Shugart. She’s the president of the Miss Universe Organization and producer of the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants.
The fracas ended when Trump sold his stake in the pageants to Hollywood powerhouse WME/IMG, the company formerly known as the William Morris Agency. The change came in September after a 12-year run on NBC.
ADMEDIA / SPLASH NEWS/ADMEDIA / SPLASH NEWSMiss Finland, Rosa-Maria smolders in her costume for the 2015 Miss Universe Pageant.
Miss USA aired on cable’s Reelz channel while Miss Universe has landed at Fox, live on Sunday at 7 p.m. Along with a new network, Miss Universe will boast a new more futuristic set. Also on board: a cast of characters that includes host Steve Harvey and actress Roselyn Sanchez (“Without a Trace”), who will be reporting backstage during the show.
A star-studded panel of judges joins the pageant, including actress Niecy Nash, gossip tool Perez Hilton, former Miss USA and Miss Universe Olivia Culpo and NFL great Emmitt Smith.
This year, with interactive voting included, viewers will have their say too. The additional crowd-sourced opinion is expected to play a major role in influencing the judges’ decision, Shugart says.
Even apart from Trump, Miss Universe is not a stranger to controversy.
Last year, the pageant almost sparked an international incident when contestants from Lebanon and Israel appeared in a selfie together that was posted online.
Lebanon’s government forbids its citizens from having any kind of contact with Israelis because the two nations are technically still at war. In the wake of the news, Miss Lebanon, Saly Greige, claimed that her rival Miss Israel, Doron Matalon, had been chasing her for days before finally ambushing and “photobombing” her in the selfie that sparked outrage in Lebanon and other Arab nations.
ADMEDIA / SPLASH NEWS/ADMEDIA / SPLASH NEWSMiss Mexico Wendy Esparza is radiant in her pageant costume.
ADMEDIA / SPLASH NEWS/ADMEDIA / SPLASH NEWSMiss USA, Olivia Jordan takes wing.
Other dicey moments have included: backlash in 2013 when the pageant was held in Russia despite the country’s anti-gay laws and a messy 1996 scandal that erupted months after the contest when winner Alicia Machado, Miss Venezuela, gained 42 pounds.
In his typically classless fashion, Trump ripped Machado as “an eating machine” and Miss Universe officials threatened to take away her crown if she didn’t drop the weight.
“It’s not a surprise that politics bleeds over into this, because it’s a global event,” says Shugart.
Miss India, Urvashi Manvar Singh Rautela preps for the Miss Universe pageant.
“Sometimes it’s easy to say that it’s just a beauty pageant, but it’s not. Anytime you’ve got an event where there’s 80 or 90 contestants from around the word and they come together, there’s that potential.”
For all his bluster, Shugart says Trump was a good boss and good steward for the pageants.
“I worked for him directly for 14 years and it was a better experience than getting any kind of masters degree,” she says.
Comic Steve Harvey will take the stage in Las Vegas as the host of Miss Universe 2015.
Last summer, as the long-term broadcasting deals with NBC and Spanish-language network Univision were collapsing, Trump, says Shugart, was mostly concerned with the impact it had on the contestants and their families.
“It all happened less than two weeks before Miss USA,” Shugart says. “They had all been working towards this moment and due to forces way beyond them they had to deal with a situation that they had no control over.”
“I talked to him (Trump) quite a bit while it was happening and I will say that he was most concerned about the contestants,” she says. “Obviously he was just starting his political campaign so he was extremely busy at the same time.”
INFPHOTO.COM/INFPHOTO.COMMiss Universe Paulina Vega is crowned in 2014.
Now that Trump is gone, the focus is back on the pageant, she says.
“For me, it’s about the women,” Shugart says. “This is an organization run by women for women. Of course there’s going to be stereotypical assumptions because it’s a pageant, but these contestants are fearless and confident. It’s not easy to get on stage. It’s not easy to develop your ability to articulate and have opinions and I’m very proud of these women.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/universe-pageant-ready-strut-fox-article-1.2470364
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