Miss Universe rigged in Venezuela`s favour: Former Miss Brazil

Former Miss Brazil Adalgisa Colombo has said that this year`s Miss Universe pageant, which was won by Miss Venezuela Stefania Fernandez, was "rigged" in favour of Venezuela that has taken the last two titles.

"It was rigged. The contest was very dumb, very commercial, with the special interests of (pageant co-owner) Donald Trump, who must have interests in Venezuela," Colombo told the O Globo newspaper`s online edition.

Colombo, who was Miss Brazil 1958, said her country`s representative this year, Larissa Costa, was one of the favourites and should have been one of the 10 semifinalists, but she did not even make the final 15.

The former beauty queen said her favourite contestant in this year`s pageant was Miss Dominican Republic Ada Aimee de la Cruz, who made it to the final three.

The Miss Universe contest ended August 23 in Nassau, Bahamas.

Miss Venezuela Stefania Fernandez crowned Miss Universe 2009

Miss Venezuela Stefania Fernandez, has been named winner of the 2009 Miss Universe pageant.

In the meanwhile, Delhi girl Ekta Chowdhry failed to make it to the top 15 finalists of the Miss Universe 2009 contest here, dashing hopes of getting the crown back to India.

The top 15 finalists who vied for the Miss Universe crown were from Albania, Australia, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, France, Iceland, Kosovo, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa, the US and Venezuela.

These finalists were selected from among 80 contestants who appeared in cocktail dresses and then reappeared in swim suits.

The winner was crowned by reigning Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza of Venezuela. While Miss Venezuela was became Miss Universe again, Miss Australia Rachael Finch and Miss Kosovo Gona Dragusha were crowned the first and the second runner-ups respectively.

Congratulations to Stefania Fernandez!