Backstage info, trivia and tidbits about this year's competition

*DRESS REHEARSAL: The dress rehearsal for this year's contest will take place tonight at 7 pm. It will be exactly like the final telecast and will last 2 hours. After the rehearsal, the delegates will be sent to sleep, since they need to be back at the theater by 5 am. The show starts at 8 am sharp (9 pm EST)

*A good majority of the delegates mentioned that they are ready to go home. After almost 5 weeks of activities, galas, presentations and rehearsals, Miss Universe is really a test to see which delegates are ready to take on the title.

*THE FACE OF THE PAGEANT: Beauty is a subjective matter, but it's very clear that Miss Norway, Mariann Birkedal, possesses the face of the pageant. Her beauty is undeniable; she is also charming and outgoing. Expect to see her in the finals.

*FORMER QUEENS: The 1st runner-up for 2007, Natalia Guimaraes of Brazil, arrived on Saturday with her country's delegation, headed by Miss Brazil 1997 Nayla Micherif. Guimaraes was pleased to pose at the hotel's lobby with fans who immediately recognized her. Also in the mix is Silvia Lakatosova, Miss Slovak Republic 1994, who is the national director for her country and traveled to Nha Trang with her husband and beautiful baby.

*LOSING IT: Some extreme fanatics are starting to lose their mind during the eve of the telecast (as it usually happens). Headaches, fast heartbeat, anxiety, stress, paranoia and panic attacks are among the symptoms displayed by those who take the pageant too seriously. CHILL! its JUST a beauty contest. After everything is over, some of these people will need serious counseling.

*CORONATION BALL: A Coronation Ball will be held to honor the new titleholder on June 14th at 5:00 pm. Tickets are being sold at US$150.00 a pop at Unicorp's website (see link for tickets). The event will be held at the Universe Banquet Hall, located in the Diamond Bay Resort premises.

*MORE MEOW: During the National Director's meeting, directors were told that they should not allow their delegates to listen to third-party advisors. This happened after a couple of delegates -during the preliminary show- bypassed their directors' orders and wore gowns chosen by their personal consultants.

*MEOW!!!!!!!!!!! Few days into the finals, and the delegates themselves are starting to show their claws. After a month of "friendship and sharing" the competition is in full mode. Each girl is standing by herself and some contestants' personalities have started to clash.

*NHA TRANG, NHA TRANG: For those who don't know, the coastal city of Nha Trang (capital of Khanh Hoa) has a very peculiar attraction: Motorcycles. You see them all day, specially at night, when they take over the streets of the city center and its surroundings. Make sure you look around before crossing a street!

*The Crown Convention Center is located about 30-40 minutes from the City Center. During the day, it's safe and comfortable to go by bus; at night, taxis are the way to go. Unauthorized people are not allowed near the premises. During the Presentation Show, no one without a ticket was allowed to get into the Convention Center area (which is next to the host hotel).

*DELEGATIONS: A lot of contestants have family, friends and directors with them. They have come all the way from their countries to Vietnam to cheer on their girls. Venezuela's delegation is the biggest, with around 15 to 20 people.

*Although the producers tried to keep it strict, most contestants are changing their evening gowns from the Presentation Show to the final. Something that happens every year, but this time, even though they tried to put a halt to it, it didn't work. The Presentation Show usually gives a chance to contestants and directors to evaluate their performance and polish details.

*CHECK 1-2-3: Starting today and until Sunday, the delegates will be participating in intensive rehearsals for the final telecast. Choreographers need to have everyone learn their routines by monday. All contestants, as usual, are required to learn all combinations: Top 15, Top 10, and even Top 5. Camera angles, their place on stage, and more.

*TRUMP NOT COMING? Trump senior, that is. Word today is that Donald Trump will not be coming to this year's contest, meaning he will not have a say on who makes it to the Top 15 (unlike the past years where he selected a small number of delegates). However, his son Donald Trump Jr. will be part of the judges' panel during the final telecast.

*NOT ENOUGH AO DAIS?: During the contestant parade in Nha Trang, it was really odd to see a handful of contestants (40, half of them) wearing spectacular Ao Dais, waving from beautiful floats, while the remaining 40 contestants were packed in convertibles and smaller floats wearing t-shirts and shorts. What happened here?

As much as spectacular as the parade could have been, singling out a group of contestants for the 'deluxe' part of it, is a lack of respect to the remaining delegates. We hope that the committee considers this 'faux pas'. All contestants deserve equal treatment, and not just 'the favorites'. Maybe there were not enough Ao Dais?

*MISS WORLD IN VIETNAM: Miss World Zi Lin Zhang from China, arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday night with Miss World President Julia Morley, to take part in a charity tour and also to discuss negotiations. Vietnam wants to host the Miss World 2010 beauty contest.

*In addition, Zhang also travelled to Nha Trang where she was photographed on the beach. Her arrival in Vietnam made every newspaper headline; one news outlet even reported that she had arrived to crown the new Miss Universe!

*TOP 15 THIS YEAR: After endless rumors that there would be a Top 20 (like in 2006), the organization finally published the prize package; and in an interview with a local Vietnamese newspaper, MUO's Vice President Rachel Frimer revealed that there will be Top 15 semi finalists. Wouldn't it be nice to have a "tie" and have a Top 16? Just food for thought...

*YAY, THEY FIXED MY SASH: Miss Kosovo finally had her sash corrected (to proper English translation) after wearing a 'Kosova' sash for the past two weeks. Jennifer Barrientos of the Philippines had a similar venture, when she was given a sash with the word "Phillippines" on it. The mix-up created headlines in Filipino newspapers, where they devoted entire news reports about the error which was corrected eventually.

It's not the first time there are mix-ups with the sashes -in 2006, Sri Lanka's sash was spelled just 'Srilanka'. In 1999, Miss Belgium's sash had a couple of letters backwards- it spelled 'BELIGUM".

AGE OF TECHNOLOGY: Years ago, the Miss Universe pageant was a real challenge. Very few photos made the newspapers, and fans followed the contest after the telecast was held, recording it and playing every second of it over and over.

Now with communications technology, it's the inverse; this year's contestants have laptops, cell phones, iPhones and blackberries, keeping in touch with family, friends and directors about the happenings of the pageant; some of them even have blogs where they write about their experiences.

Pageant forums dedicated to cover the contest have people endlessly looking up for new information, discussing (and even insulting) their favorites' list, and evaluating the contestants participation based on how they look in a photo.

It's the age of technology that's here to stay, and that has changed how fans enjoy this contest, for good.

*NEWSPAPER MANIA: Local newspapers covering the contest have gone in a frenzy about who gets photos out first. Fans cannot argue that the coverage displayed by Vietnamese news outlets has been positive, fast and nothing less than spectacular.

*AO DAI SURPRISE: The contestants had no idea that the 'Ao Dai Fashion Show' would actually be a competition. The winner was mega-favorite Dayana Mendoza, Miss Venezuela, with India, Kazakhstan, Thailand and Vietnam as runner-ups.

After the event was held, some contestants were visibly concerned; learning the lesson that they have to compete at all times if they really want to be the next Miss Universe.

*NATIONAL COSTUMES: A spectacular event that is held every year took place at the Lions Theatre on June 22nd. The contestants had their portraits taken for the NBC.com website (for the first time in pageant's history, the winner of the Best National Costume Award will be chosen by internet votes) and also paraded in front of a panel of judges which included Riyo Mori, the reigning titleholder.

After the competition and the announcement of the Top 10 costumes, some local newspapers (from the countries of non placers) criticized their delegate's choice of costume, specially Miss Australia's, a very interesting fashionable creation. Australian journalists were under the misconception that the National Costume score counted towards the final event.

*DOUBLE NATIONAL GIFTS: This year, two charity auctions will take place during the contest. The first took place in Ho Chi Minh City, the second one in Hanoi. Delegates were asked to bring two gifts representatives of their countries.

*NO PHOTOGENIC AWARD: According to the Miss Universe Organization, no Photogenic Award will be given this year. Instead, internet voters will have the opportunity to log into NBC.com, and vote for the Best National Costume. Will the Philippines have its second Best Costume Award? Or will Puerto Rico win for the first time? Stay tuned for the voting to open.

*Miss Kosovo, Zana Krasniqi, had visa problems that earned her world headlines. Afterwards, the problem was solved and she was able to arrive in Vietnam.

*Miss Angola, Lesliana Pereira, was prepared in Brazil.

*Miss Bahamas, Sacha Scott, is the daughter of a former beauty queen who also represented the Bahamas at Miss Universe during the 80's.

*Miss Cayman Islands, Rebecca Parchment, is the only delegate this year that also competed in the Miss World pageant.

*Miss Bolivia, Katherine David; and Miss Montenegro, Dasa Zivcovik, competed in the Miss Tourism Queen International contest in China last april; Bolivia was unplaced, while Miss Montenegro was one of the Top 5 finalists.

*Miss Serbia, Zorana Tasovac, also competed in the Miss Tourism Queen International contest and was supposed to compete in Miss Universe, but she was replaced by Bojana Boric.

*Miss Estonia, Julia Kovaljova, replaced the original delegate (Kadri Nogu) who didn't want to travel to Vietnam for the contest.

*The three titleholders of the Miss Universe Organization (Miss Universe, Riyo Mori; Miss USA, Rachel Smith; and Miss TEEN USA, Hilary Cruz) visited Vietnam last November for the signing of the contact between MUO and the organizing commitee.

*Vietnam participated in Miss Universe 2004 and 2005, but failed to compete in 2006 and 2007. This year, they return with full swing.

*It's the first time that the Miss Universe contest is held in Vietnam. The country was also host of a special phase of the Miss Earth 2007 competition.

*The Crown Convention Center is one of three venues in history built specifically to hold the contest: The first one being the Folk Arts Theater in the Philippines (1974), the Figali Convention Center in Panama (2003) and now the Vietnamese venue (2008)

Philippines 1974

Panama 2003

Vietnam 2008