Stephanie Del Valle from Puerto Rico was crowned Miss World 2016, with representatives from Dominican Republic and Indonesia winning the runners-up titles. India’s Priyadarshini Chatterjee made it to the top 20.
Miss World 2015 Mireia Lalaguna Royo of Spain crowned the 19-year-old Del Valle, the second Puerto Rican to hold the title after Wilnelia Merced won it in 1975, at the event’s grand finale held at the MGM National Harbor, Maryland, United States on Sunday.
Del Valle, is a student who speaks Spanish, English and French, and hopes to get into the entertainment industry.
Del Valle said it was an “honour and a great responsibility” to represent her Caribbean homeland.
Stephanie pipped the other top four finalists from Kenya, Indonesia, Dominican Republic and Philippines to win the title.
Indian contestant Chatterjee lost out on the title after making it to the top 20 at the pageant. She featured in the top five contestants for the Beauty With a Purpose title, which was eventually won by Miss Indonesia.
The last time an Indian won the Miss World crown was Priyanka Chopra in 2000. Other Indians who won the title in the past include Reita Faria (1966), Aishwarya Rai (1994), Diana Hayden (1997) and Yukta Mookhey (1999).
A Delhi-based girl from Guwahati, Chatterjee was the first candidate from the north east region of India at the Miss World pageant. At 20, Chatterjee is a student of sociology.
Miss World 2015 Mireia Lalaguna of Spain crowns Del Valle.
She was happy to “represent a civilisation as old as time itself, the land of myriad cultures, traditions, languages and religions” at the gala, she had said in her introduction video for the contest.
This was the 66th edition of the gala, which put the contestants through a series of challenges and interviews to determine who will win the coveted title of Miss World 2016 and become the ambassador of the motto ‘Beauty with a purpose’.
The Miss World pageant, created in Britain by Eric Morley in 1951, is the oldest surviving major international beauty contest. It is one of the three most publicised beauty contests in the world, alongside the Miss Universe and Miss Earth contests.
Puerto Rico becomes the 17th country with multiple winners since Miss World began in 1951.
Living up to the national stereotype, the first two title-holders were both Swedish. Since then a further 34 nationalities have been victorious, with Britain (five), India (five), the US (three), Jamaica (three), Iceland (three), Germany (two) and Australia (two) all providing multiple winners.
Canada’s Miss World representative, Chinese-born Anastasia Lin was embroiled in a controversy when pageant officials reportedly warned her against speaking to the press for three weeks about human rights abuses in China. She was given the green light again on Wednesday.
Last year, China blocked Lin from attending the same contest when it was held in the city of Sanya.
