Philippines is 3rd Runner-Up; Angola Wins Miss Universe 2011

25-year-old Miss Angola Leila Lopes won the crown in the recently-concluded Miss Universe 2011 pageant held at the Credicard Hall in Sao Paolo, Brazil on September 12th. Last year's winner, Mexico's Ximena Navarrete, was there to transfer the crown.

Leila Lopes was a fan favorite during the Top 10, topping the fan voting system hosted by nbc.com. She got the highest score of 7.2, immediately followed by Miss Philippines Shamcey Supsup with the score of 6.7.

Miss Universe 2011 1st runner-up went to Miss Ukraine Olesya Stefanko; 2nd runner-up was the homegirl Miss Brazil Priscila Machado; 3rd runner-up was Miss Philippines Shamcey Supsup; 4th runner-up went to Miss China Luo Zilin.

International Filipina star Lea Salonga who was recently honored with the Disney Legend award was part of the telecast judging panel. She was actually the one picked by Miss Angola to give her question during the Question and Answer portion.

Aside from Lea Salonga, the other telecast judges were Hélio Castroneves, Connie Chung, Isabeli Fontana, Vivica A. Fox, Adrienne Maloof-Nassif, Farouk Shami, Italo Zanzi, and Miss Universe 2003 Amelia Vega

Philippine representative Shamcey Supsup picked Hollywood actress Vivica A. Fox for her question. The question was: "Would you change your religious beliefs to marry the person that you love? Why or why not?" To which Shamcey answered with: "If I would have to change my religious beliefs, I would not marry the person that I love. Because the first person that I love is God, who created me. I have my faith and my principles, and this is what makes me who I am. If the person loves me, he’ll love my God, too."

Shamcey Supsup was the only candidate in the Top 5 who didn't use an interpreter, a fact that many of us saw was a plus on winning the title. Sadly, it was not.

Special awards were also given. The Best in National Costume went to Miss Panama Sheldry Saez; Miss Photogenic was Miss Sweden Ronnia Fornstedt; and Miss Congeniality was Miss Montenegro Nikolina Loncar.

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