Miss Universe 2011: Miss Angola's Victory Questioned, Garners Criticism

Miss Angola, Leila Lopes, is the new Miss Universe. Leila became the first Miss Universe from her country in 60 years.

She won the contest not only because of her intelligence, but for her inner beauty; however, the critical statements from a fellow contestant, a judge and some others are still making rounds on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites.

When Leila won, many people, who supported Shamcey Supsup, Miss Philippines, criticized the results of the pageant as they were surprised that Supsup lost the title after almost making it to the finals according to the fan votes.

Miss Philippines, 3rd runner-up, Shamcey Supsup received the maximum attention when Oprah Winfrey and a judge, Lea Salonga, said Supsup deserved to win.

Now, a French magazine, Premier.fr, has reported that Miss France, Laury Thilleman, is not happy with the new Miss Universe 2011.

In an interview with the magazine, she has reportedly made nasty and haughty comments against Miss Angola.

Thilleman made sharp comments saying that “Lopes was a very reserved kind of person and she also lacked personality.”

Earlier, Oprah Winfrey was quoted saying that “If the only basis is the Q and A portion, after having been trimmed down to 5, Ms. Philippines deserved to win. What made her different from the rest is that she had no seconds to rethink of her answer as she had no interpreter to break the ice. The rest had their interpreters and having breaks on seconds to think about their answers. Hands down Ms. Philippines answered straight to the point,” according to the NBC News.

Later, Oprah’s own Web site denied the statement, claiming that there was no truth in it, and Winfrey had never made any comment.

Miss Universe 1969, Gloria Diaz, noted that Miss Universe pageant is not only about beauty and brains, but also about luck, according to a report on Tempo.com.

“It’s 99% luck. Everybody has an opinion why she did not win, whether the answer was good enough or not good enough. To some people it was smart; to some people it was kulang. But really it’s just luck at the end of the day,” she said on radio dzMM.

After these speculations and comments came to the knowledge of Supsup, she is now trying to convince the public to support Leila Lopes, who is crowned Miss Universe 2011.

Supsup said Lopes deserves the crown completely and there is no political plot behind the decision.

“It’s okay, I’m so happy. I didn’t expect to make it to the finals. Backstage, people congratulated me and say I answered the question very well. I’m just happy the people love me and think I was able to make it because of performance not because of any strategy,” Supsup said, as reported on a Web Site.

Lopes is the first Miss Universe from Angola and has made her country proud with this historic victory. Miss Universe, Leila Lopes, has several plans to uplift the spirit of Angola.

Miss Philippines insists that judges' decision must be respected because Miss Angola has performed her best too and deserves to win the title.