Miss Mexico, Jimena Navarrete, was crowned Miss Universe in Las Vegas earlier today. She becomes the 3rd Latina in a row, and the 6th in 10 years, to win the title. Her runners-up were Jamaica, Australia, Ukraine and Philippines.
Defying bookmakers odds of 50/1, South Africa's Nicole Flint made the Top 10 before being eliminated. Whilst a Top 10 place is nothing to be scoffed at, I honestly think that she should have made it through to the Top 5. Her facial beauty was definitely worthy of a Top 3 place.After finishing in joint 7th place after the swimsuit round, she dropped to 8th position after evening gown. No surprise there since she chose to wear her purple "Madame Zingara meets Wild West Brothel Madam" dress designed by Malcolm Kluk.
Nicole will return home after a hectic two weeks in Las Vegas to prepare for the Miss World pageant to be held in China in November. Whilst a number of pageant "experts" have said that Nicole's sophisticated and refined beauty is more suited to the Miss World pageant, it remains to be seen whether Julia Morley can fit a Caucasian girl from Africa into her Miss World "let's pretend be diverse to attract more entrants" formula.