... let's bash the hideous gown with which Nicole Flint was expected to win the Miss Universe crown.A careful analysis of the scoring reveals that 5 girls moved up in position, 4 moved down and Miss SA retained the same place from the swimsuit round to evening gown. Contrary to my earlier post, Nicole was equal 8th in swimsuit and not 7th.
What is apparent, however, is that the Top 2 places were all but locked from the start. The other 3 places in the Top 5 were there for the taking, and Miss Ukraine took full advantage of that with her splendid gown, moving from 7th in swimsuit to 4th in gown, and ultimately 4th place overall.
This is all speculation, but had Miss SA been given a half-decent gown for the evening gown competition, she could have made the Top 5. With her good interview skills, I have no doubt that she could have finished in 3rd place after the Q & A round.
As I said, it's all coulda/woulda/shoulda, and it's all over now, but hey, 3rd place would have been so much sweeter than 8th. Oh! At least ol' leprechaun lips from Ireland didn't win the crown. Something else to celebrate.