Miss
Martinez in the gardens of the Bellagio Hotel
June
5, 2012
MONDAY IN THE DESERT ROUNDUP
What
a whirlwind of visit Miss USA was for our Miss Florida USA 2012 Karina Brez.
From the celebration of her birthday upon her arrival to competing for the
national championship of pageantry our Ms. Brez has enjoyed every moment. Even
if it meant getting less sleep than desired as our fifty-one delegates were on
the go for two weeks. We caught up with Ms. Brez at the Miss USA Press
Conference at Planet Hollywood after the event and she was in very good
spirits and excited about eating carbs for the first time in ages.
Several
of our Miss Florida USA friends, contestants and sponsors joined us in Las
Vegas this weekend and were very vocal when Florida was onstage. Sunday
included a mid-morning dress rehearsal, video shoot with Miss Florida Teen USA
Sydney Martinez at the Bellagio and then finally the televised Miss USA
Pageant. It is always fun to see our friends experience the spectacle that
happens in Las Vegas as our pageant friends from around the country celebrate
our favorite hobby once a year.
Our
Miss USA 2012 experience concluded with a late press conference with our new
titleholder Olivia Culpo and Miss Universe President Paula Shugart. Several
international and pageant press were in attendance including www.LasVegasSun.com
correspondent and “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” host Robin Leach.
Look for a video of the conference the next few days and enjoy this music
video of Call Me Maybe set up as an inside joke amongst the crew and
contestants but turned into something much bigger…
CALL ME MAYBE MUSIC VIDEO
Thought
our readers would enjoy the full length music video starring the 2012 Miss USA
Contestants, Donald Trump, Andy Cohen, and Guiliana Rancic and a cast of
thousands in this video set to the song "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae
Jepsen. It surprisingly made it into last night’s broadcast in an
abbreviated form and now we have the disco remix of the song.
IN THE AUDIENCE AT MISS USA
Our
friends from the Miss Seminole Tribe Pageant
Miss
Jackson and Ms. Aguiar prior to the show
Florida’s
rooting section
SUNDAY NIGHT BACKSTAGE
Alyssa Campanella, Miss USA 2011 backstage during the LIVE NBC broadcast of the 2012 MISS USA® Competition /
Miss
Mississippi USA 2012, Myverick Rashea Garcia
Miss Rhode Island USA 2012, Olivia Culpo
Ambiance backstage during the LIVE NBC broadcast
Miss
California USA 2012, Natalie Pack
Miss
Nebraska USA 2012, Amy Spilker; and Miss Montana USA 2012, Autumn Marie
Muller; watch the TV backstage
Lu
Sierra talks to Miss New Jersey USA 2012, Michelle Leonardo
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT OUR NEW MISS USA
A new
Miss USA was crowned Sunday night. She’s Olivia
Culpo of Rhode Island. The 20-year-old brown-haired beauty beat out first
runner-up Nana Meriwether of Maryland, second runner-up Audrey Bolte of Ohio,
third runner-up Jade Kelsall of Nevada and fourth runner-up Jasmyn Wilkins of
Georgia, to take the title. She will now compete in the 61st Miss Universe
pageant later in December.
Here are five things to know about the new Miss USA:
She’s Got Beauty and Brains: Culpo, who just finished her sophomore year at Boston University, has been on the Dean’s List every semester, according to her Miss USA bio. She also describes herself as a “nerd” on her Twitter page.
She
Didn’t Always Have That Body: Culpo was “short and chubby”
growing up, according to the description read while she strutted across the
stage in a lilac bikini during the swimsuit round.
She’s a Musician: Culpo spent her summers at band camp after learning to play the cello in second grade. She has her parents to thank for her musical ear; they are also musicians. Culpo has played cello with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Her Idol Is Audrey Hepburn: Culpo, who lists model and actress on her Twitter page, aspires to be like Hollywood icon Audrey Hepburn. “She was beautiful on the outside but also beautiful on the inside,” Culpo told the judges in response to a question. After her win, she sang the chorus of “Funny Face” from her favorite movie of the same name, starring Audrey Hepburn, and said she planned to visit Tiffany & Co. in New York to recreate Hepburn’s iconic opening scene from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”
She’s LGBT Friendly
Unlike former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean, who lost out on the Miss USA 2009 crown after responding that marriage should be between a man and a woman, Culpo embraced the Miss Universe Organization’s recent decision to admit transgender contestants. “I do think that that would be fair, but I can understand that people would be a little apprehensive to take that road because there is a tradition of natural-born women, but today where there are so many surgeries and so many people out there who have a need to change for a happier life, I do accept that because I believe it’s a free country,” Culpo said in response to the first-ever Twitter question in the competition, “Would you feel it would be fair that a transgender woman wins the Miss USA title over a natural-born woman?”
MORE FACTS
-Culpo
was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, the third largest city in Rhode Island and
once named one of the "100 Best Places to Live."
-Culpo
is a cellist. Her parents are professional musicians and she began studying
the cello in second grade.
-She
has participated in Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, RI Philharmonic Chamber
Ensemble, Bay View Orchestra and Rhode Island All-State Orchestra and her love
for music has landed her seats at Carnegie Hall in New York City and at the
Symphony Hall in Boston.
-Culpo
has said she would like to be someone like the "female version" of
Albert Einstein. She reportedly loves to speak Italian.
-Culpo is a Boston University sophomore. She graduated from St. Mary Academy Bay View, an all-girls Catholic high school.
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