Miss Universe 1994
Sushmita Sen of India was crowned Miss Universe 1994 by outgoing titleholder Miss Universe 1993 Dayanara Torres of Puerto Rico, besting early favorites Carolina Gómez of Colombia and Minorka Mercado of Venezuela who placed first and second runners-up, respectively. Sushmita Sen became the first Miss Universe title holder from India.
Two former Miss Universe title holders from the Philippines introduced the live international telecast, Miss Universe 1969 Gloria Diaz and Miss Universe 1973 Margarita Moran, with a colorful musical number "Mabuhay!, Welcome!" performed by all 77 delegates competing for the title.
The pageant was hosted by Bob Goen of Entertainment Tonight and co-hosted by Arthel Neville of Entertainment News Television, both first-time hosts for the pageant. Miss Universe 1989 Angela Visser in her fourth year as special commentator provided colorful pageant insight. Entertainment was provided by Peabo Bryson and the Bayanihan Philippine National Folk Dance Company.
Ms. Sen went on to pursue a successful career as a film actress in her native country India.
The pageant
Areas of competition
The delegates arrived in the Philippines in mid-April and were involved in nearly four weeks of events and competitions. They also visited different locations and attractions throughout the Philippines.
Prior to the final telecast, all contestants competed in swimsuit and evening gown during the preliminary competition that took place at the Philippine International Convention Center. They also participated in interviews with the judges.
During the final competition, the top 10 contestants (based on their preliminary scores) competed in the swimsuit, evening gown and interview. The top six contestants participated in a final round of on-stage interviews, and cut to the final top three before the runners-up were announced and the new Miss Universe named.
Opening number
During opening presentation, the music theme for Miss Universe 1994 entitled "Mabuhay!" welcomed the delegates with the traditional opening parade including the Philippine folk dance, including the 3 former Miss Universe titleholders, Dayanara Torres, Margarita Moran and Gloria Diaz.
Parade of Nations
The traditional parade of nations with their national costumes, consisted of 6 groups:
- The Islands
- North and Central America
- Europe
- Medditerranean, The Middle East and Africa
- South America
- Asia-Pacific
On screen, the contestants were accompanied by their preliminary scores in swimsuit, evening gown and interview competitions.
The pageant
Areas of competition
The delegates arrived in the Philippines in mid-April and were involved in nearly four weeks of events and competitions. They also visited different locations and attractions throughout the Philippines.
Prior to the final telecast, all contestants competed in swimsuit and evening gown during the preliminary competition that took place at the Philippine International Convention Center. They also participated in interviews with the judges.
During the final competition, the top 10 contestants (based on their preliminary scores) competed in the swimsuit, evening gown and interview. The top six contestants participated in a final round of on-stage interviews, and cut to the final top three before the runners-up were announced and the new Miss Universe named.
Opening number
During opening presentation, the music theme for Miss Universe 1994 entitled "Mabuhay!" welcomed the delegates with the traditional opening parade including the Philippine folk dance, including the 3 former Miss Universe titleholders, Dayanara Torres, Margarita Moran and Gloria Diaz.
Parade of Nations
The traditional parade of nations with their national costumes, consisted of 6 groups:
- The Islands
- North and Central America
- Europe
- Medditerranean, The Middle East and Africa
- South America
- Asia-Pacific
On screen, the contestants were accompanied by their preliminary scores in swimsuit, evening gown and interview competitions.
Results
Semi-finalists and Finalists
| Final results | Contestant |
|---|---|
| Miss Universe 1994 |
|
| 1st runner-up |
|
| 2nd runner-up |
|
| Top 6 |
|
| Top 10 |
|
Awards
Major awards
- Congeniality:
Namibia Barbara Kahatjipara- 1st runner-up: Miss Colombia Carolina Gómez
- 2nd runner-up: Miss India Sushmita Sen
- Photogenic:
Venezuela Minorka Mercado- 1st runner-up: Miss Colombia Carolina Gómez
- 2nd runner-up: Miss Switzerland Patricia Fassler
- National Costume:
Philippines Charlene Gonzales- 1st runner-up: Miss Mexico Fabiola Pérez
- 2nd runner-up: Miss Russia Inna Zobova
Special awards
- Preliminary winner:
Colombia Carolina Gómez - Miss Kodak Smile:
Thailand Areeya Chumsai - Philippine Airlines Ambassador winner:
Denmark Gitte Andersen - Minolta Photo Contest winner: Denmark Gitte Andersen
- Best in Filipino traditional costume: Venezuela Minorka Mercado
Participants
Contestants
|
Preliminary competition scores
|
Records
- Colombia Carolina Gómez, made history when it was the only time in which a country wins the first runner-up three consecutive times since 1992.
- Carolina Gómez of Colombia was the only candidate to hold the record as the highest ever score in preliminary round in the history of Miss Universe, when she scored 9.897 in the evening gown competition.
- India won a title for the first time in their country.
- This was Luxembourg's last appearance in the Miss Universe pageant.
- Slovak Republic joined Miss Universe for the first time and she placed up to impressive top six.
- This was the last time that Little Sisters appeared on Miss Universe, singing the themesong "You are my Star".
National competitions
Withdrawals
- Austria, Belize, Czech Republic, Ghana, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Suriname, and U.S. Virgin Islands, competed in 1993 but not at Miss Universe 1994.
Debuts
- Russia and Zimbabwe attended the Miss Universe pageant for the first time. Russia competed before as "USSR/Soviet Union" and as "Commonwealth of Independent States".
- Slovak Republic (short form Slovakia), attended Miss Universe for the first time, after separating from Czech Republic as Czechoslovakia. Czech Republic did not participate in Miss Universe 1994 to give way for Slovak Republic's debut in the pageant.
Returning states and territories
- Cook Islands, Egypt and Taiwan (Republic of China), competed Miss Universe 1994 after not attending in the past pageants.
Contestant notes
- Miss India Sushmita Sen, earned the distinction of becoming the first ever Indian Miss Universe. In 2000, Lara Dutta would win the title for the second time for India in Cyprus.
- Inna Zobova (Russia), was detained for 15 hours in a windowless room at an airport in Bangkok, Thailand en route to Manila because she did not have a transit visa.
- Miss Malaysia Liza Koh, made a public apology on behalf of her country about the arrest of 1200 Filipina maids in Kuala Lumpur. This led to a warning from the Malaysian Foreign Minister not to make political remarks.
- Miss Australia, Michelle van Eimeren and Miss Belgium, Christelle Roelandts, were among the favourites but did not place in the top 10. Other favorites to place in the top 10 were Miss Venezuela, Miss Colombia, Miss USA and Miss Philippines.
- Miss Australia Michelle van Eimeren, would later wed Filipino singer-songwriter Ogie Alcasid. This eventually led to a marital breakdown when Alcasid started an affair with Asia's Songbird Regine Velasquez. Van Eimeren was among the favorites to win the crown.
- Miss Mauritius Vivica Babajee, was a very controversial figure due to her involvement in the 1994 Metro Manila Film Fest Scandal. She was a presenter for the Best Actress award together with actress Gretchen Barretto, an award which was very much disputed.
- Venna Melinda (Indonesia), who was not allowed to compete in the pageant because of her country's attitudes towards the swimsuit competition, traveled to Manila to watch the pageant as an observer.
Controversies
When Charlene Gonzales (Philippines) won the Best National Costume award, the judges were criticized for favouring the host nation's delegate. Delia Jon Baptiste, who represented the British Virgin Islands, publicly declared that Gonzales won the award because of favouritism and that the other delegates disagreed with the choice.
The country expected to make 10 million pesos ($ 357,000) profit out of the pageant, as well as the accompanying media exposure. The 150 million pesos ($ 5.3 million) spent on hosting the pageant was funded from the private sectors, with sponsors such as Nestle, Kodak and Hertz. Some of the expected sponsorship money did not eventuate, leading the shortfall to be covered by the government.
By mid May, when the contestants were already in the city, organizers confirmed that they were short of money and were unsure whether a profit would be made from the event.
In the midst of power shortages around the time of the pageant, the Philippinne government promised to ensure that the weekend of the pageant would be "blackout-free".
The pageant came under attack from the Nationalist Movement of New Women, a branch of the National Democratic Front, which claimed that it was being used to promote sex tourism. The cost of the event was also criticised by the Philippine Congress, despite it being endorsed by President Fidel Ramos. A social function attended by the delegates held prior to the final broadcast was picketed by the women's group, who opposed the nature of the pageant and the lavish spending.
The day prior to the pageant a small homemade bomb exploded outside the pageant venue where the contestants had earlier been rehearsing, although it caused little damage and there were no injuries.
More than 3000 policemen were involved in protecting the delegates, as well as dozens of policewomen assigned as bodyguards.
During May there was also a probe by the Commission on Human Rights as to whether a police round-up of street children was intended to improve Manila's international image during the pageant events.This was also criticised by Miss Thailand, Areeya Sirisopha Chumsai, even though the same scenario happened in their own country during the Miss Universe 1992.
