News Report
Miss World
Script
The Miss World title went to first black African contestant ever in its 51-year history at the Miss World finals in Sun City, South Africa on Friday.
Organizers of the pageant said they expected about one billion people to have turned in to watch the beauty queen extravaganza. The event was hosted by American talk show host, Jerry Springer, at a glitzy resort in the heart of South Africa’s bush country.
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The pageant was created in 1951 by a public relations executive for a small leisure and entertainment company. It was initially intended to be only a one-time event, but was continued after the United States began the rival Miss Universe contest in 1952.
In more than half a century, there have been only three Miss World winners from Africa, two of them white South Africa and the third from Egypt.
Miss World has until now been dominated by winner from Europe, the Americas, and India, the majority of them being Caucasian.
The contestants in this pageant are judges in three different categories: beauty, grace, and charm; talent, poise, and personally; and figure and deportment. After the first round of judging, the original group of 92 contestants was pared down to only ten finalists who would go on to compete for the title.
The second-runner up in this ten year’s pageant was Miss Scotland, 18-year-old Juliet-Jane Horne.
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The People’s Republic of China was represented for the first time this year by 18-year-od Bing Li.
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The title of first runner up went to Miss Aruba, 19-year-old Zerelda Lee.
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The competition was fierce as each of the ten finalists took her turn in the spotlight in front of a live audience.
But out of the 92 contestants, it was Miss Nigeria, 18-year-old Agbani Darego, who took home covered title and the $100,000 prize.
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Before being crowed, Darego took the victory walk wearing a lime-green, body hugging dress and waved to a cheering crowd.
The news of her victory sparked rapturous celebrations all over Nigeria’s biggest city, Lagos.
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