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Miss Universe 2009 choreographer Michael Schwandt, in an exclusive interview with Guanabee about his experiences with the pageant, said that it is an open secret amongst pageant staff that Donald Trump picks 6 of the 15 finalists before the show. According to Schwandt, it goes something like this:
Miss Universe Choreographer Who Said Donald Trump Picks Finalists Now Doing Damage Control
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02 Sep 2009 | 22:59
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Miss Universe 2009 choreographer Michael Schwandt, in an exclusive interview with Guanabee about his experiences with the pageant, said that it is an open secret amongst pageant staff that Donald Trump picks 6 of the 15 finalists before the show. According to Schwandt, it goes something like this:
At all the shows, he pops in the day before the telecast and we line up all the girls in alphabetical order behind microphones. And they say their name, age and country. Then we line them up in alphabetical order in one single file line across the stage. And he basically walks by and has an assistant that takes notes on all the girls. And it’s just kind of common knowledge that he picks six of the top fifteen single-handedly. So, the other nine of the top fifteen are judged in a preliminary show the week before and picked by those judges, but he picks six of the top fifteen. Guanabee: So, he’s orchestrating at least a portion of the results? Michael Schwandt: Right. And, his reason for doing so, as he told me and he’s told the girls before, is that he left it all up to preliminary judging in the past and some of the most beautiful women, in his opinion, were not in the top fifteen and he was kind of upset about that. And he decided that he would pick a certain number and let the judges pick a certain number. Guanabee: Wow. Michael Schwandt: Yeah – it’s kind of a surreal experience, actually. We all just kind of try to sit there and, you know — we get the phone call that he’s thirty minutes away and then we get the phone call that he’s fifteen minutes away and everyone’s trying to make it go smoothly. It’s a lot of work to get these girls that don’t speak English in alphabetical order. It’s kind of the last thing anybody wants to do but we have to do it.Since the story was published, it's been picked up by some very mainstream news outlets like FoxNews and The Huffington Post, which may be why Schwandt has contacted us to do damage control. In an email to our publisher, he wrote:
[Lining up the contestants for Donald Trump] isn’t even done at all the shows b/c he doesn’t even attend all of the shows. We do line up all the contestants so they can introduce themselves onstage just as they would in the preliminary show, but this is done so that Trump can collectively meet the girls, wish them luck before the big day, etc. I have no idea what further purpose this has other than a good-will gesture to the contestants in his competition. I am not a credible source for information on the selection process for final contestants. As I said I was speaking in jest about him picking any contestants at all. Mr. Trump has never spoken directly to me or any member of my team other than to say “hello”. I would never go on the record saying he has told me anything or that he’s orchestrating the results. The statement above is not accurate it was a story told to me, I have no idea if it’s true or not, but he certainly didn’t say it to me..While Mr. Schwandt has every reason to fear for his career based on this interview, the fact remains that he willingly gave an interview to our editor who transcribed Schwandt's answers himself. Schwandt also sent us his personal photographs from the show to appear in the story. After the story was published, our editor told us that Mr. Schwandt wanted us to do some "serious editing" because he was under the mistaken impression that Donald Trump's selective process was an "open secret" and the Miss Universe people, NBC Universal and Donald Trump's lawyers felt otherwise. We put in calls to Donald Trump's representation, the Miss Universe Organization's representation and NBC Universal's representation. The only ones who got back to us were NBC Universal, a partner in the Miss Universe pageant, who told us we should direct our questions to the Miss Universe Organization. Meanwhile the Miss Universe Organization told Fox News entertainment site 411 that it’s broadcast before the show that Donald Trump does have a part in picking 6 of the 15 finalists, and this policy, which has been in place since 2005, is “fully disclosed to all those associated with the pageant and the procedure is overseen by the accounting firm of Ernst & Young and NBC Program Standards and Compliance."
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Comments
oops..
ReplyBig oops! But hey, ya'll are moving on up... if Fox News picked you up, damn. They don't even like brown people. (jk)
ReplyFoxNews is mainstream?
ReplyCNN too!
Replysaw it on CNN also....woo hoo! it's like emerging from a backyard shed after 18 years...sort of.
ReplyUnfortch.
ReplyJust saw the story on CNN.... yeah!
Replythis dude reinforces my theory that hot gay dudes are all fucking liars. he is gay, right?
ReplyOh my word.
ReplyI have known plenty of mediocre looking gay dudes that were really good fucking liars too.......
ReplyTo be a gay in America, you have to have spent at least part of your life lying about who you were ("I love girls! Vagina is the best! Yum Yum!"), so in effect, to be gay is to become a pretty practiced liar... Unfortunately.
ReplySomehow I doubt this guy is lying. I think he said something he thought was 'well known' and breeched some sort of unspoken rule. whatever. We all kind of knew the Trump-a-saurus Rex pulled most of the strings in that pageant.
ReplyThis article is misleading. Trump gets to pick his choices, but WITH consultation with the Miss Universe Organization. This is not an issue, since this has been the practice for four years now. In my interview with MUO President Paula Shugart, she stated that Trump's picks did not even make the top 5! (Rafa Delfin - http://www.criticalbeauty.com/Paula_Shugart_2009_September.html)
ReplyVery disappointed at this revalation.Look at Trumps taste in women, I saw somewhere his women in his personal life being described as drag queens, well that explains some of the finalists and why stunners like the Ms Jamiaca contestant and some others being overlooked.
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