Las Vegas Weekly

May 17, 2010 · 7:52 PM

Photos: Miss Michigan Rima Fakih’s road to Miss USA included sacrifices

By Robin Leach

Miss USA 2010 Rima Fakih, center, poses for photos with Miss Teen USA 2009 Stormi Henley, left, and Miss Universe 2009 Stefania Fernandez, right, after winning the 2010 Miss USA Pageant at Planet Hollywood on May 16, 2010.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

The new Miss USA was so determined to make it to last night’s 2010 Miss USA Pageant at Planet Hollywood that she sold her laptop to finance the Las Vegas trip. Further proof of her ambition came when she revealed during the NBC telecast that she’d sold her car to enter the Miss Michigan Pageant.

Rima Fakih, 24, who was born in Lebanon, raised in New York and attended a Catholic school before moving to Dearborn, edged out Miss Oklahoma Morgan Elizabeth Woolard during the final do-or-die Q&A with the judges.

I talked with Rima onstage moments after her coronation, and she told me: “I knew I’d nailed it when I was standing with Miss Oklahoma, and I looked over at the judges. I saw Donald Trump’s eyes moving exactly the same way he does on The Apprentice when he’s about to tell them, ‘You’re hired.’ I felt at that moment I might have won. I actually wanted to ask him if I was hired.

“It wasn’t until then that I fully knew it. I felt all along I could win, but I stood there with Miss Oklahoma. She is one amazing young lady. It could easily have been either one of us.”

My pageant insiders who follow the industry far more than me are predicting that Rima could win Miss Universe to be held here for the first time at Mandalay Bay in August, as Donald discussed with me. She would then relinquish Miss USA for Miss Universe, and as runner-up, Miss Oklahoma would become the new Miss USA.

It was my second interview in a week with Rima, who is reportedly the first Arab American to win Miss USA. Last week, I’d been asked to record a Flip camera interview with one of the contestants. We’ll never know why I picked her out of 51 contestants, but you get an understanding of her personality from our conversation posted on YouTube and her version on her Facebook page.

Her first comment to me last night after I was invited onstage was “Robin, where’s your Flip camera?!”

She told me that she’d originally sold her car after graduating from the University of Michigan to compete in the Miss Michigan Pageant and that she had to sell her laptop to fund Miss USA. She added: “When my parents discovered I’d sold the computer and they saw I was so determined to get to Las Vegas, they bought me a used Mac, and I was able to bring that with me and continue uploading my tweets and Facebook. The Miss Michigan Organization also really did help me.“

I asked her what the toughest part of the night had been. She told me: “Right now because I haven’t yet accepted that I won it. I know I’m being a little silly, but I can’t believe it. I really need some pizza. I might follow Mr. (Steve) Wynn over to his hotel because I hear he’s got some of the best in Vegas.”

Rima said she had a premonition about winning when she tripped in the evening gown segment and almost went flying. “The thing that flashed through my head that split second was that I’d better not trip if I get to go to Miss Universe! Why that thought I have no idea. I then said to myself if it’s going happen, it better happen here. But fortunately my dress had been sewn smooth, so when I slipped, I was able to catch myself with my right foot on the inside bottom of the dress and steady myself. See, modeling does help after all!”

Rima said the only time she believed that she was going to cry was when all the girls left the stage and she was there with the hosts. “I saw them crying with the emotion of it all as they went offstage. I also began to tear up from watching them.”

Last night, our live blog included updates from inside the theater during the show and the judges’ final difficult questions. Rima flew to New York today to start her yearlong reign and appears on Late Night With David Letterman tomorrow with her own Top 10 in response to David’s Top 10 Miss USA quips last week.

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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