Twenty year old Miss Rhode Island, Olivia Culpo has been crowned as Miss USA 2012. She beat 51 other contestants to America’s most coveted pageant post. The trained cellist says she prescribes to Audrey Hepburn as her role model and recognizes herself to be a nerd. She will represent USA in the Miss Universe pageant that will be held in December of this year.
Olivia Culpo is in her sophomore year at Boston University. In her new role, she says she would love to emulate her role model by reenacting Hepburn’s memorable “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” opening act. This will surely go down naturally since they are both of European descent and share auburn colored hair.
It is widely considered that Culpo’s response during the question-and-answer nailed the winning position for her. For the first time during Miss USA, questions from online participants were put to the contestants. Olivia Culpo was asked to give her views on participation of transgender women in the pageant. She emphatically replied that “it is a free country” and that there are people who seek their own happiness. This response embodied a cultured but down-to-earth approach to the event. During the opening stages, she even blew a kiss to the audience.
Miss USA was made up of three major sections: Swimsuit competition, evening dress and the interview segment. After each competition, some participants were eliminated. After the opening catwalk, only 16 contestants remained before being whittled down to 10 and then the final five. Various musicians including Akon and Cobra Starship provided entertainment and star power to the pageant.
Culpo was not the sole winner of the night. Rebecca Hodge of Iowa earned the Miss Congeniality prize and Alaina Bergsma from Oregon was awarded the most photogenic prize. Alyssa Campanella from California, the outgoing Miss USA crowned 2012 winner, Culpo, as her successor. On receiving the tiara, Olivia Culpo said that she was surprised but honored, and wished she could share her crown with the other competitors.
Photo credit : Isaac Brekken/Getty
