Complete question: (since the title of the thread is limited)
What made Catriona Gray different from other former Miss World candidates who later competed at Miss Universe?
Jon A wrote:It's hard to generalize - because cross overs from MW to Miss Universe have had GREAT success (Cat, Yendi, Ada Cruz) or been complete flops ( Ingrid Rivera, Zizi Lee, Gabrielle Walcott).
The former group - exemplified by Cat (although arguably, Yendi and Ada were as deserving of the crown!) - all IMPROVED from MW. They learned specific things. Yendi perhaps had the least change needed, she was already very strong at MW, where she was arguably unlucky. But Cat and Ada made massive improvements - principally in terms of their confidence and stage presence. If the enduring image of Cat between takes at Miss Universe was of her dancing carefree, at MW, it was her nervously looking around, and twisting her cape into knots again and again. It was her weakness, and she deserves immense credit for working on it. Judges at pageants NEED you to be confident, so they can in turn be confident in you! The same with Ada Cruz. The insider story of her finishing only the in semi finals at Miss World (where was till the last week, a joint favorite with Zhang Zi Lin) was that she was a nervous wreck in her preliminary interview and that sank her chances. Is it true? One can't say for sure, but if you re-watch MW 2007, there is a clip of the girls going into their interview and you can see poor Ada was a mess, it looked like she was about to faint. At Miss Universe, she was mature, calm, composed. (And imo deserved the crown!). Finally, Cat did one additional thing that we can't say was evident (or needed) in Yendi and Ada - she worked on her body and stage presentation. At MW, her body was reed thin, with bad proportions, her presence and posture were a fraction of what they were by the time that she strutted down the runway in her lava gown. You guys tell me -- would Cat have won Miss Universe in that body and pink gown and updo? I personally think she would have ended in the top 10 (and even that would likely have been on the strength of her preliminary interview!). All these three things came together in one very important way for Cat - by the time she came to Miss Universe, she was aware of herself, who she was, who she wanted to be and at peace with the attention and criticism that came with it. I therefore honestly do agree with the group that says that if she had not competed at MW, she may not have won Miss Universe. It was just meant to be. There were very important lessons (including how to deal with loss) that came from her time at MW, the difference between Cat and others who did not succeed is that Cat took the time (herself - it wasn't just some team!) to study it all and fix every problem!
The opposite is true for the other girls above - Ingrid, Zizi and Gabrielle. They went in with too much confidence- and they were a pale shadow of the girls they were at MW. Zizi and Gaby were noticeably overweight (in a contest where body is paramount!) their spark was gone, their styling was horrendous, Gaby in particular looked like the mother of half the other girls. And if Cat and Ada acquired composure and confidence from their stint in MW, Ingrid lost it. Was it too much pressure? Overconfidence? I don't know but she was a hot mess, physically and mentally. And it showed.
Finally a shout out to a small group of girls who crossed over who really deserved much more and imo were just really unlucky - Siobhan McClafferty, Miss Ireland, and Michelle Khan Miss T&T.
quelab22 wrote:I agree that Yendi and Ada are both deserving for the title of Miss Universe...
koji wrote:quelab22 wrote:I agree that Yendi and Ada are both deserving for the title of Miss Universe...
Especially to Ada. She should have won.
poker_man wrote:How dare you forget the original Miss World to Miss Universe fairy tale ending!
Michelle McLean has the more impressive crossover win. She was a runner up in Miss World 1991 and won Miss Universe 1992 at only 19 years old. She effortlessly won without taking a break to make calculated strategies. No offense to Catriona and Denise, Michelle won Miss Universe without the help of two Puerto Rican/Pinoy judges at the final as well.
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