Standing at 5 feet and 7 inches, Cindy wowed the judges with her impeccable manners, gracefulness and confidence. A tourism student she listed absailing, white water river rafting, jetskiing, bungee jumping, and speed racing as her sports. She has been working on several project of Nelson Mandela and was even invited on former president’s 85th birthday.
Now that she finished as 2nd runner-up at Miss Universe (considered by the way the most prestigious among the major pageants) she shouldn’t find it difficult to penetrate the Miss World’s top twenty right?
Unfortunately, she didn’t make it and we had lots of worries. How could a woman ranked third the most prestigious beauty contest in the world failed to make it to the Miss World semifinals? Now for the past few years we have been keen in defining the differences between Miss World and Miss Universe. Take a look at the following facts.
1. Miss World dropped the swimsuit competition on the finals which means at the final stage of competition the smart one wins. At Miss Universe the three aspects (face, body and brains) still count at the finals.
2. Miss Universe thrives in transparency. At Miss World the scores are not shown to the general public.
3. Miss World is prone to political pressure than Miss Universe
That is why we’ve seen Mpule Kwelagobe snubbed at Miss World 1998 only to win the Miss Universe 1999. Chinenye Ochuba was also snubbed at Miss Universe 2002 but was one of the ten finalists at Miss World 2002 while Miss South Africa Heather Hamilton is Miss Universe 2000 finalist but is nowhere to be found at Miss World at that very same year.
What happened to Cindy Nell though was something that contestants for multiple pageants ought to remember. While Miss Universe 2001 top ten finisher Agbani Darego of Nigeria evolved to her best and went on to win the Miss World 2001 crown, Cindy did the other way around. Sexy and captivating at Miss Universe, she failed to maintain her figure. Unlucky for her because this year Miss World is beginning to realize the importance of being physically sexy albeit the swimsuit segment is still absent at the finals night.
Nevertheless, Cindy did great in her reign as Miss South Africa. Being the 2nd runner-up at Miss Universe is something that she should be proud. Being snubbed at Miss World is a shame but hey she is still beautiful in her own way. It is just that stupid extra pounds.
