The FIRST
• First time ever participant
For the first time ever, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and South Sudan - all of which are African countries - send their delegates to Miss World.
• First time debut of Multimedia Award
A new component at Miss World contest, the Multimedia Award makes its first time ever debut.The award allows the contestants to create a personal diary of their journey throughout the competition via social media likes Facebook and Twitter.
• First time no beachwear parade
Since the debut of Beach Beauty in 2003, each delegate, particularly the finalists of the event, is required to strut in beachwear in a bikini parade watched by the judges and sometimes, the spectators. But in 2012, there is no longer a beachwear parade. Instead the contestants participate in a private beachwear filming at Xiangshawan dunes where only the Miss World crew have the access to the location.
• First time placement
South Sudan, with its delegate Atong Demach, makes the cut as finalist at Miss World and also wins the Continental Queen of Africa title for the first time ever.
• First time African Top Model winner
In addition, South Sudan also makes a history as the first ever African delegate to win the Top Model title. Previously no African country has ever won the title although Angola has almost made it twice when they became First Runner Up of Top Model in 2004 and 2008.
• First time Asian Talent winner
China, with its delegate, Wenxia Yu, becomes the first ever Asian delegate to win Talent title. Lena Ma, another woman with Chinese ancestry, has actually won the same title in 2009, but that time she was a representative of Canada, a country located in Americas continent
• First time double victory
India, with its delegate Vanya Mishra, becomes the first ever country to win two challenge events at a single edition of Miss World pageant. She wins both Multimedia and Beauty with a Purpose title.
• First time Talent winner to become Miss World winner
We have had 2 Beach Beauty and 2 Top Model winners eventually become the overall winner of Miss World, but this is the first time a delegate who wins Talent winner eventually crowned as Miss World.
The MOST
• Most participants ever
With 116 contestants, Miss World 2012 once again breaks its personal record of participants as well as the world record of international beauty pageants with the most number of contestants.
• Most challenge events ever
With the addition of Multimedia Award, Miss World 2012 features 6 different challenge events, the most since the concept debut in 2003.
• Most spotlighted dancers at Dance of The World ever
This year Dance of The World features 19 dancers including 11 individual traditional dancers and 8 additional "belly-dancers" which is a record number for this fiesta of culture and tradition.
• Most appearances at Dance of The World ever
With 3 times appearance at Dance of The World each, Mexico and Latvia become the two nations who have performed their national dance the most at Miss World stage.
• Most nominees for a single challenge event
The Top Model challenge events initially features 56 nominees before cut down to 46 and then to 10. This is the most number of nominees ever to be shortlisted for a single challenge event.
• Most challenge event victories
With its double victory for Multimedia and Beauty with a Purpose challenge events, India is now tied with Mexico and Canada as the countries with the most challenge event victories.All of them have won 3 challenge event titles each.
• Most number of challenge event winners to become finalists
With 4 (China, Wales, South Sudan, and India) out of this year 5 challenge event winners make the final cut as Top 7 finalists, Miss World 2012 breaks the record of challenge event winners becoming finalists. The previous record was held by Miss World 2009 where 3 challenge event winners (Gibraltar, Mexico, and Canada) made Top 7 that time.
Have any other trivia regarding Miss World 2012? Please feel free to share with us, and stay tuned for our final piece of articles from Miss World 2012 where we will share to you our journey to Ordos!
