Las Vegas Weekly

August 20, 2010 · 2:54 PM

Miss Universe photos: Preliminary competition shows begin

By Robin Leach

The 2010 Miss Universe pageant prelims at Mandalay Bay.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

All 83 of the 2010 Miss Universe Pageant contestants had their opportunity to individually shine at last night’s preliminary competition at Mandalay Bay Event Center, and our contributing photographer Tom Donoghue was there for the first set of pictures for a Vegas DeLuxe gallery.

We’re also posting the official Miss Universe photos from other around the town appearances in the past two days, including the swimsuit fashion parades at the Las Vegas Convention Center as part of MAGIC Fashion Week and their appearance at hotel mogul George Maloof’s Palms Pool & Bungalows.

Contestants from Aruba, Bahamas, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Georgia and Great Britain appeared at the MAGIC fashion convention, the largest annual fashion convention in the world.

Appearing at the Palms were the representatives of Albania, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Great Britain, Greece, Guyana, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Mexico, New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Russia, South Arica, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay and of course Miss USA Rima Fakih of Michigan.

The contestants are continuing with their one-on-one interviews with the prestigious judging panel of VIPs and celebrities today and into the weekend before Monday’s live NBC broadcast from Mandalay Bay. Billionaire and pageant owner Donald Trump announced the panel of judges Thursday morning that includes Luxor headliner Criss Angel, singer Chynna Phillips, supermodel Nikki Taylor, actor-writer-producer William Baldwin and Olympic figure skating gold medalist Evan Lysacek.

This year’s hosts are Natalie Morales of NBC’s Today and Bret Michaels, Poison lead singer and winner of The Donald’s Celebrity Apprentice. John Legend and The Roots and the cast of Viva Elvis at MGM CityCenter’s Aria are scheduled to perform during the competition.

Tickets for the 6 p.m. PT show here (9 p.m. ET) are still available at the Mandalay Bay box office.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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