Misunderstood? After this week’s Miss Universe pageant, many are saying Miss Venezuela's misspeaking may have prevented her from achieving the galaxy's highest beauty pageant honor.
When Sofia Esser Quintero was asked a question to see how she thinks on her feet, the representative from Venezuela was told by pageant officials she could answer the question in her native Spanish.
However, she tried to answer this question in English:
“If you could change one law, what would it be and why?”
Quintero responded with this somewhat unintelligible answer:
“I think that any leys (laws) there are in Constitution or in life, are already made. I think that we should have, uh, a straight way to go in our similar, or, eh, in our lives as is this. For example, I'm a surfer, and I think that the best wave that I can take is the wave that I wait for it. So please do our only, eh, law that we can do. Thank you, Vegas!”
In Venezuela, Quintero’s loss made headlines, and the South American’s response to the question was a target of ridicule across the Internet. One newspaper noted “an unintelligible answer in the round of questions lost her the crown.”
The Miss Universe pageant does not release scores publicly, so it’s not possible to determine just how badly the answer affected Quintero's overall performance. She came in third.
The English issue was a matter of contention for others, as well. Miss Philippines, Janine Tugonon, addressed it during her spot in the pageant's question-and-answer portion. It was asked of her whether knowing English should be a prerequisite of being Miss Universe.
"For me, being Miss Universe is not just about knowing how to speak a specific language,” she replied. "It's being able to influence and inspire other people. So whatever language you have, as long as your heart is to serve and you have a strong mind to — to show to people, then you can be Miss Universe."
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