Why Venezuela didn’t win Miss Universe 2018

Last Monday the Miss Universe took place in Bangkok, Thailand, where Miss Philippines Catriona Gray was chosen as the next Miss Universe. However, Venezuela should have won the crown for different reasons.

Sthefany Gutiérrez is a Venezuelan actress who, as the Miss Venezuela, had the chance to reach the group of three final candidates during the beauty pageant. Alongside her and Miss Philippines, there was Miss South Africa Tamaryn Green, who, in my opinion, should haven't reached the final three candidates, because there were far better candidates such as Miss Canada, Miss Mexico, among others.

The reason why Sthefany Gutiérrez didn't win the crown was due to Osmel Sousa's departure from the Miss Venezuela beauty pageant.

For some internal problems that the Miss Venezuela staff had with Osmel since many years ago, maybe because of his perfectionism or his personal approach in the competition, he was finally accused of hosting a prostitution network within the organization. Of course, this never happened, and Osmel was forced to resign. This happened not so long ago, and Stefhany couldn't continue with Osmel's support and advice to win the Miss Universe.

In a recent interview, she said that this isn't true: that the woman representing Venezuela is her and Osmel wouldn't have made any significant difference. But, really, if you watch Venezuela's presence during the Miss Universe event, compared with the other candidates, you will find that not only her smile and physique are stunning, but also her attitude and personality when answering questions (although she still needs to learn more English).

Since his youth in Cuba, Osmel was fascinated with the beauty pageants after seeing one Miss Cuba. Later he would spend some of his free time simulating beauty pageants with dolls made out of paper—where he made their own swimsuits, dresses, etc.—. He would also draw women during classes and will finally entertain himself choosing the one that seemed more beautiful. We can say that Osmel really had an interest and a knack for these things early on.

However his parents were not happy about this, and he was sent at approximately 10 years old to Venezuela to receive a hormones treatment to become more "masculine" since his voice wasn't deep as well.

Of course, he continued with his own "Hero Journey", and he finally became the president of the Miss Venezuela organization in 1981. Since then, Venezuela has won 6 out of a total of 7 crowns in its history (1981, 1986, 1996, 2008, 2009 and 2013, without counting 1979).

He has been called a Pygmalion, and, again, a perfectionist. But his ability to speak the truth and transform women into Miss Universe winners is quite impressive. After the last Miss Venezuela last December 13, we can see the difference between the winner, Isabella Rodríguez and her predecessors.

Osmel's absence is starting to feel in a heavy way in the Miss Venezuela beauty pageant. We just hope that his past methods continue being used in the future to bring more crowns to Venezuela, a country in a dark socio-political context that desperately needs at least a bit of joy.