Las Vegas Weekly

June 24, 2010 · 2:56 PM

Photos: Miss USA Rima Fakih is back in town to promote Miss Universe

By Robin Leach

Carrot Top and 2010 Miss USA Rima Fakih.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

For the first time since being crowned 2010 Miss USA, 24-year-old Miss Michigan Rima Fakih returned to Las Vegas yesterday and is now on a whirlwind two-day schedule of helping promote the Aug. 23 Miss Universe Pageant at Mandalay Bay.

Rima was up against 51 Miss USA contestants last month at Planet Hollywood for the NBC broadcast, and now she’ll be up against 88 beauties from around the world for the prized Miss Universe crown.

Last night, Rima had dinner with Mandalay Bay President Renee West, who’ll be hosting the Miss Universe contestants for 21 days starting early August. Then Rima stopped in at Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood, where 150 of us were enjoying his Top Chefs Masters dinner with Season 2 winner Marcus Samuelsson (Rick was runner-up).

She continued on to Carrot Top’s show next door at the Luxor, and our contributing photographer Tom Donoghue was there to capture their zany antics. Rima told me: “I laughed so hard, and I thought it was so sweet of him to stop the show and tell everybody in the audience that I was there.”

(It was Carrot Top’s first night back after being felled by food poisoning that sent him to a hospital Monday. Luxor officials presented him with a get well welcome back cake to celebrate his return -- the photo says it all.)

Even later as the midnight hour approached, Rima chatted with me on the balcony of The Foundation Room at Mandalay Bay. She still had a photo and video session to complete before heading off to bed, yet was still bright-eyed, wide awake and laughed and smiled enthusiastically about the Miss Universe Pageant.

She does a mass media video photo shoot today at Mandalay Bay Beach and shoots NBC promos and magazine covers for Miss Universe. I’ll meet with her again when she meets the Fantasy girls led by former Baywatch beauty Angelica Bridges at a dinner Luxor President Felix Rappaport is hosting for her at Tender Steakhouse.

After our brief Flip camera video interview just to recall our previous Miss Michigan-Miss USA interview, Rima talked about how her life has changed in less than two short months. Uprooted overnight from her Michigan home, she has been on an extraordinary, nonstop whirlwind tour.

She’s already moved into a new apartment in New York from Detroit, visited Rwanda for the SameSky organization and next week travels to China. Before she returns here in August, she also will film episodes of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? for Fox.

As Miss Universe and MGM video cameras rolled, Rima told me how her life has changed since winning Miss USA: “I wasn’t prepared for it, I don’t know how anyone could be prepared to hold such a respectful title. Now going to Miss Universe, I don’t look at it as another battle. I kind of see it as a magic carpet ride, and I’m just kind of flowing my way through. When I go to Miss Universe, I’m not going to compete to be a winner. I’ve already arrived as a winner. Win or lose, I’m still Miss USA, and I’m still living that dream.

“I’m going into Miss Universe with the same mentality I had going into the Miss USA Pageant. Deep down, I’m thinking I could pull it off and win it. Now that I’m Miss USA and I’ve already done so much with my title, I feel like I have the whole country behind me.” She added with a mischievous chuckle, “Move over, Miss Venezuela, Miss USA has arrived, and I’m taking over!

“It’s exciting for me. I love the challenge now of Miss Universe. For me, 89 beautiful women just means so much to learn about all these countries. I’m really happy to be back in Las Vegas so soon, and it’s great Miss Universe will be held here, too. I think Las Vegas is a great representative for the United States and for the world. Bringing all the ethnicity and diversity together here is going to make everyone say, ‘Why aren’t we there? We need to be there in Las Vegas.’

“When I came here the first time, I arrived as Rima, a girl from Michigan doing three jobs to pay the expenses to enter the pageant and fly myself here. This time I arrived and felt like the red carpet had been laid out for me. I think when the girls arrive here for Miss Universe, they will see that you feel like a queen before you even become a queen.

“When I was crowned Miss USA, it wasn’t just the crown -- it is so much more. I’ve had a lot of people tell me that I changed the image of how people see what America really is. As an Arab American, I’m bringing a lot of diversity to the table, and it shows that the United States is built on freedom, on opportunity, on health and beauty. A lot of people forget to see that about our country.

“Las Vegas is alive, and Las Vegas brings everyone together. When you step onto The Strip, you can’t help but smile. It’s wonderful that Miss Universe is coming to the United States. I am Miss USA, so you’re coming to my house. I’m also very happy that it is being held in Las Vegas because I think a lot of people around the entire world will get to see what all of America has to offer just from this one little city in the desert.”

The last time the Miss Universe Pageant was held in Las Vegas was in May 1996, and contributing photographers Darrin Bush and Brian Jones of Las Vegas News Bureau dug back into their archives for a collection of photos back then at the Aladdin that is now Planet Hollywood. Miss Universe Alicia Machado of Venezuela, Nevada Gov. Bob Miller, the Las Vegas Hilton cast of Starlight Express, Wayne Newton and 1996 Miss USA Ali Landry are pictured.

If Rima wins Miss Universe, she follows in the footsteps of 19-year-old Stefania Fernandez of Venezuela, who succeeded Dayana Mendoza, also from Venezuela. Miss USA won Miss Universe in 1956, 1995 and 1997, with Venezuela winning in 1979 and 1981. In between the Venezuelan triumphs of 1979 and 1981, the winner was Miss USA, and in between the two USA wins in 1995 and 1997, the winner was Miss Venezuela. The big question everybody is now asking is if Rima could pull off a similar victory.

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.

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

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