'Miss Universe rigged in Venezuela's favour'

Sao Paulo: 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.

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