Paulina Vega Miss Colombia
Paulina Vega of Columbia has been crowned Miss Universe narrowly beat out Nia Sanchez of the USA and 88 other contestants to take the title of Miss Universe. Miss Ukraine Diana Harkusha was finished third, Miss Netherlands Yasmin Verheijen was fourth and Miss Jamaica Kaci Fennell rounded out the top 5.
She had the support of the crowd behind her in the Latin heavy Miami audience. After being crowned, Vega said, “I felt like home. I felt like I was in Columbia with my people. I felt the support every moment of the pageant.”
As mentioned, Sanchez was the first runner up and should Vega be unable to complete her duties as Miss Universe, Sanchez, as the first runner up will take over her duties. It is a rare occurrence but if you remember the early 1980s, Vanessa Williams had to vacate her title of Miss America after nude photos taken before she won her title were published in Playboy magazine.
The 22-year-old Vega is from a family that’s used to the spotlight. She’s the granddaughter of Elvira Castillo who was Miss Atlántico (Columbia) way back in 1953 and her grandfather was legendary Gaston Vega.
If you were following the pageant on Twitter, Miss Jamaica Kaci Fennell was a clear favorite amongst the Internet viewers with #missjamaica being the top trending hashtag long after Paulina Vega was crowned Miss Universe. Fennell broke with pageant tradition by wearing a short spiky hair cut rather than a wearing her hair long. Her personality made her a fan favorite, if not a favorite with the judges, “You don’t have to look a certain way…and I feel I represented that.”
Vega is a newcomer to pageants as the pageants leading up to her being crowned Miss Universe were her first competitions, talk about beginners luck. She takes over for 2014 Miss Universe winner Gabriela Isler who carried the crown representing Venezuela.
All of the Miss Universe contestants competed in the Yamamay Swimsuit Runway Show last week at a special event at the Trump National Doral hotel in Miami. The women splashed in the pool showing off their favorite Yamamay Swimsuits. The night belonged to Miss Columbia Paulina Vega as Pageant owner and real estate mogul Donald Trump said of his newest Miss Universe, “From the minute she walked in the building, people said ‘She’s a star.’”
Paulina Vega Miss Universe 2015
