No longer Miss Finland
HELSINKI, September 16 – Upon returning from Sao Paulo, Brazil, after competing in the Miss Universe pageant, Pia Pakarinen announced publicly, on national television, her decision to give up the Miss Finland 2011 title.
Between tears, Pakarinen mentioned that the last months were very hard and that she had virtually no support to prepare herself for the Miss Universe pageant held on September 12th, where she walked out from empty-handed.
She also had problems with organizers, who she says still owe her money. “I want to thank all the people who supported me in one way or the other, but I am no longer able to bear this crown”, said Pakarinen.
“Being Miss Universe is something that would have been amazing as a career, but I missed it. Now, I close this episode in my life, and as I close this door, I am sure a lot of new doors will open for me”.
She mentioned that the national organization does not put the needed importance into their titleholders. “They don’t even work full time, and it’s not possible to do everything by myself. I believe the pageant should change completely, be new, modern, current”.
“I am much more relaxed and can breathe freely” said Pakarinen before getting a huge round of applause.
Upon her abdication, her 1st runner-up Sara Sieppi has been named the new Miss Finland and will represent the country at the Miss World pageant in November. ILTASANOMAT
New Miss Finland: Sara Sieppi will go to Miss World
It is so sad that a country like Finland who has such a remarkable history in international pageants has been down graded to an also-ran organization. Maybe, Pia will shed light on some of the flaws in her countries system. It would great to see the return of strong titleholders from Scandinavia, the Netherlands and other western European countries. Give Miss Suomi/Miss Finland to Anne Marie Pohtemo, we know she would do a great job.
an eye opener for the miss finland organization and for finland as well. yeah its true that she deserve a spot in the miss universo in terms of beuty but it was ruined by being less prepared for not getting support from the national organizers…
She is setting a bad precedent, as many titleholders who are “dissatisfied” with their handlers or organizers could follow suit and just abdicate after getting what they wanted: the glory of winning and competing internationally. And then she waited after MU to tender her resignation. During a beauty titlist’s reign, the highlight or the most exciting part would be the international event, outside of that, she’ll be doing mostly mundane or even boring activities. If her reasons for leaving are lack of support and money, that shows a weakness in her character, meaning she cannot rise above adversities. There are no reports of harassment or her being put into embarrassing situations, she’s just bitter and doesn’t want to fulfill her responsibilities. As always, when a titleholder resigns or is stripped of the crown, there is negative publicity for the organizers especially when the beauty queen tells the media her side of the story, which, more often than not, makes the organizers appear as the villains. This could mean lesser financial support for the national organization and quite possibly an end to the staging of the local pageant.
she’s beautiful. same like Malaysia’s Deborah Henry. but somehow Miss Universe overlooked them both and give spots to Brazil, Panama, Venezuela & Colombia. Miss Universe sucks big time!
yo creo que es una rabieta por parte de ella solo por que no quedo se despide de su titulo imaginense como debe sentirse karin ontiveros y vanessa goncalves y hasta deborah henry por la gran responsabilidad que tenian y njo andan renunciando por que les da la gana
Miss Finland Universe 2011,Pia Pakarinen, was in my Top 16 and Top 10 picks!
She’s one of the most beautiful candidates Miss Universe had. Oftentimes, she looks like Taylor Swift, who is also my idol in the music industry. I feel what she feels right now. I’m about to cry when I learned the news.Thank you Pia and goodluck to your future endeavors:)
here I thought that the lack of help only happened in small latin american countries.
I believe she had to be placed in top 16… she had pretty face and decent presentation. Her weird hairstyle in the preliminaries might have ruin her personality.
She is the most beautiful european in MU not that Ukraine girl. Why she didn’t make it in the top 16 is a big mystery to me. Now she’s not going to Miss World… so sad because she could make a stunning Miss World.
I think that it is sad that she had to do everything by herself without no support from the organizers… like she said reprensenting the country in the MU is a big responsability that needs a lot of people behind… so good for her to give up the title now as for those who said that Venezuela, Panama, Portugal, Brazil etc etc etc should have been there… well she had her chance to convince the judges and make it by her own merit or politics and she didnt so it is what it is.
I feel sorry for her… she is very beautiful
Finland should have been in top 15 and kick out Venezuela, Panama or Brazil. Brazil’s space is such a waste.
Bryan, thank-you. Finally someone to say this! There were too many Latina girls in the Top 16 that shouldn’t have been there. Miss Finland was in my Top 3.
we have to realise that MU is a latina biased pageant. girls like venezuela panama and brazil will always have an advantage over girls like finland…
miss finland was more real than any of those latinas!!
I totally agree with you!Wasted spaces…and see how Panama was pissed for not being in the top 5.no Top 5!no pageant!I bet Panama was saying that!hahahhahaha..Im sooooooooooooooooooooooo happy!
I’m still okay with Venezuela making the cut as long as she doesn’t make the top-5 (which I’m glad she didn’t). The bigger problem would be Portugal. Do people seriously believe that she made the cut thanks to some internet vote??? I find that hard to believe considering that most pageant fans are usually from either Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela (and in smaller scale, Thailand and Vietnam) so I think it’s very fishy how Portugal won the internet vote without any buzz whatsoever.
I respect her decision.. if pia thinks its impossible to work with her organization its better to leave the crown…
perhaps the 1-runner up now being upgraded will mean that, that girl think it is really exciting and perform really good at miss world
thats why it’s important to have the support they need. she cant do it alone… Good luck Pia….HELLO SARA SIEPPI…she reminds me of SHANNA MOAKLER, Miss USA 1995, brunette version! Good luck FINLAND! <3
Ela renunciou porque ser miss não era seu objetivo e sim ganhar o Miss Universo e ir morar em Nova Iorque. A segunda colocada é bem mais bonita e fará bem melhor que ela. Se você entra no jogo, é para ganhar ou perder.
Tão fácil dizer o motivo pelo qual outros fizeram isso ou aquilo, não?
Everyone who liked and watched Pia at MU saw the pretty girl lacking energy all the time, like a sad pretty doll. Now the explanation came.
Maybe Miss Finland is organized by Brazilian organization Gaeta as Miss Portugal.
If you watch Miss Finland 2011 pageant on Youtube you will see how boring, bland and a small event it is.
The 2nd prettiest face at MU after Olesia Stefanko deserved a better luck.
Sounds like something what has been going on in Denmark for many years… Poor girl…
I have a problem with titleholders who give up like this but I do hope it’s a start of a new era for the beautiful Miss Finlands to come.
Realmente ela é belíssima e deveria sim ter ficado entre as finalistas.O problema não é só enfrentado por ela, muitas candidatas passam por esse abandono em suas coordenações.Acho ela maravilhosa!!!
i’m very sad about the situation. nevertheless she gave a good fight!
She deserved to be into the top 10 more than Panama, Brazil and others… She was BEAUTIFUL in Miss Universe!!! is so sad she is out the tittle because will be good to see her again into Miss World!!!