Miss Universe 1994, the 43rd Miss Universe pageant, was held at the Philippine International Convention Center, in Manila, Philippines on May 20, 1994. It was Manila's second time to host the pageant, having hosted the Miss Universe 1974 pageant some twenty years earlier.

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 titleholder from India.

Two former Miss Universe titleholders 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.

Host country

Manila was announced as host city for the pageant in October 1993. It was the second time the pageant was held in the Philippines, after it was staged in Manila in 1974. It was staged at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila, at approximately 8:00 in the morning (Philippine local time), to give way the live primetime telecast on CBS in the United States.

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 Araneta Coliseum. 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	- Sushmita Sen
1st runner-up	- Carolina Gómez
2nd runner-up	- Minorka Mercado
Top 6	- Charlene Gonzales - Lu Parker - Silvia Lakatosova
Top 10	- Arianna David - Dominique Forsberg - Patricia Fässler - Rea Toutounzi

Awards

Major awards

• Congeniality: Barbara Kahatjipara
• Photogenic: Minorka Mercado
• National Costume: Charlene Gonzales
  • 1st runner-up: Miss Mexico Fabiola Pérez
  • 2nd runner-up: Miss Russia Inna Zobova

Special awards

• Miss Kodak Smile: Areeya Chumsai
• Philippine Airlines Ambassador winner: Gitte Andersen
• Minolta Photo Contest winner: Gitte Andersen
• Best in Filipino traditional costume: Minorka Mercado

Participants

Contestants

• - Solange Magnano
• - Alexandra Hincapie
• - Michelle van Eimeren
• - Meka Knowles
• - Christelle Roelandts
• - Cecilia O'Connor-d'Arlach
• - Valeria Melo Peris
• - Delia Jon Baptiste
• - Nevena Marinova
• - Susanne Rothfos
• - Audrey Elizabeth Ebanks
• - Constanza Barbieri
• - Carolina Gómez
• - Leilani Brown
• - Yasmin Camacho
• - Jasmin Clifton
• - Maria Vasiliou
• - Gitte Andersen
• - Vielka Valenzuela
• - Mafalda Arboleda
• - Ghada El-Salem
• - Claudia Méndez
• - Eva-Maria Laan
• - Henna Merilainen
• - Valerie Claisse
• - Tanja Wild
• - Michaela Pyke
• - Rea Toutounzi
• - Christina Perez
• - Katya Schoenstedt
• - Jem Haylock
• - Mok Hoi-Yan
• - Szilvia Forian
• - Svala Björk Arnardóttir
• - Sushmita Sen
• - Pamela Flood
• - Ravit Yarkoni
• - Arianna David
• - Angelie Martin

• - Chiaki Kawahito
• - Goong Sun-young
• - Sandy Wagner
• - Liza Koh
• - Paola Camilleri
• - Viveka Babajee
• - Fabiola Pérez
• - Barbara Kahatjipara
• - Irene van der Laar
• - Nicola Brighty
• - Suzan Hart
• - Elizabeth Tomokane
• - Caroline Saetre
• - María Sofia Velásquez
• - Liliana González
• - Karina Calmet
• - Charlene Gonzales
• - Joanna Brykczynska
• - Monica Pereira
• - Brenda Robles
• - Mihaela Ciolacu
• - Inna Zobova
• - Paulyn Sun
• - Silvia Lakatosova
• - Raquel Rodríguez
• - Nushara Pramali
• - Nicola Smith
• - Dominique Forsberg
• - Patricia Fassler
• - Joanne Wu
• - Areeya Chumsai
• - Lorca Gatcliffe
• - Banu Usluer
• - Eulease Walkin
• - Leonora Dibueno
• - Lu Parker
• - Minorka Mercado
• - Yvette D'Almeida-Chakras

Preliminary competition scores

Country	Swimsuit	Interview	Evening Gown	Average
India	9.13	9.49	9.14	9.253
Colombia	8.99	9.41	9.40	9.267
Greece	9.25	9.09	9.43	9.257
Philippines	9.12	9.48	9.08	9.227
USA	9.19	9.20	9.22	9.203
Italy	9.21	9.02	9.25	9.160
Venezuela	9.06	9.17	9.16	9.130
Sweden	8.82	9.12	9.07	9.003
Switzerland	8.87	9.18	8.87	8.973
Slovak Rep.	9.00	8.89	8.95	8.947
Australia	8.32	9.37	9.09	8.927
Russia	9.04	9.13	8.54	8.903
Thailand	8.98	8.85	8.81	8.880
Peru	8.89	9.24	8.43	8.853
Denmark	8.55	9.07	8.90	8.840
Estonia	8.64	8.96	8.89	8.830
Mexico	8.87	9.20	8.42	8.830
Poland	8.83	8.70	8.85	8.793
Brazil	8.51	9.11	8.73	8.783
Guatemala	9.12	8.76	8.42	8.767
Namibia	8.92	8.71	8.57	8.733
Belgium	8.57	9.00	8.58	8.717
Puerto Rico	8.48	9.14	8.51	8.710
Mauritius	8.95	8.68	8.50	8.710
Aruba	8.23	8.92	8.88	8.677
Hungary	8.78	8.78	8.47	8.677
Korea	8.71	8.75	8.55	8.670
Egypt	8.51	8.97	8.53	8.670
Ecuador	8.51	9.06	8.44	8.670
Sri Lanka	8.75	8.70	8.53	8.660
Ireland	8.69	8.75	8.51	8.650
Guam	9.02	8.40	8.50	8.640
Iceland	8.60	8.54	8.75	8.630
Zimbabwe	8.50	8.92	8.43	8.617
Netherlands	8.58	8.81	8.45	8.613
France	8.70	8.38	8.73	8.603
Spain	8.08	9.35	8.32	8.583
Singapore	8.40	8.91	8.41	8.573
Romania	8.63	8.58	8.46	8.557
Paraguay	8.68	8.71	8.22	8.537
Bulgaria	8.14	8.58	8.80	8.507
Uruguay	8.52	8.65	8.35	8.507
Costa Rica	8.15	8.97	8.39	8.503
Norway	8.80	8.15	8.54	8.497
Hong Kong	8.29	8.84	8.36	8.497
El Salvador	8.61	8.70	8.14	8.483
Canada	8.05	9.01	8.32	8.460
Portugal	8.37	8.78	8.22	8.457
Japan	8.53	8.64	8.18	8.450
Luxembourg	8.52	8.24	8.59	8.450
Trinidad and Tobago	8.37	8.82	8.09	8.427
Dominican Republic	8.24	8.70	8.29	8.410
Taiwan R.O.C.	8.17	8.53	8.49	8.397
Turkey	8.32	8.66	8.21	8.397
Finland	8.08	8.65	8.45	8.393
Bahamas	8.08	8.86	8.23	8.390
Malaysia	8.25	8.69	8.22	8.387
Chile	8.28	8.32	8.53	8.377
Panama	7.95	8.79	8.39	8.377
Great Britain	8.19	8.71	8.23	8.377
Bolivia	8.15	8.36	8.55	8.353
Nigeria	8.40	8.20	8.45	8.350
Honduras	8.25	8.51	8.27	8.343
Argentina	7.96	8.62	8.42	8.333
Curaçao	8.14	8.69	8.17	8.333
Jamaica	8.68	8.24	8.07	8.330
New Zealand	8.24	8.71	7.99	8.313
Israel	8.55	8.19	8.19	8.310
Swaziland	7.83	8.57	8.23	8.210
Turks and Caicos	8.11	8.54	7.91	8.187
Cyprus	7.92	8.49	8.07	8.160
Northern Marianas	7.89	8.43	8.05	8.123
Germany	7.98	8.41	7.98	8.123
Cook Islands	7.81	8.30	8.12	8.077
Malta	7.94	8.27	7.92	8.043
British Virgin Islands	7.71	8.09	8.15	7.983
Cayman Islands	7.88	8.15	7.92	7.983

     Winner (Miss Universe 1994)

     First runner-up

     Second runner-up

     Top 6 finalists

     Top 10 semi-finalists

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.
• 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.

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.
• Miss Argentina, Solange Magnano, died on November 30, 2009 while undergoing a plastic surgery in the buttocks that led to pulmonary embolism.

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 Philippine 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.

References

External links

• Miss Universe official website