During a news conference after the pageant that crowned her Miss Universe, Miss Puerto Rico Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza passed out and was promptly rushed offstage.
People online reports:
“She’s okay. She’s fine,” pageant representative Lark Anton told Reuters. “She got dizzy. It’s very hot up here. Her dress is tight – as you could see it was beaded and heavy. She passed out.” Anton said Mendoza “had plenty to eat today,” when pressed for the beauty queen’s condition before she fainted at the center of the stage at the Shrine Auditorium, where she had become the 55th Miss Universe before an international television audience less than an hour earlier.
If I had to fake smile that much in one sitting, I’d probably pass out myself. And you know that for a second, the runner up was all, “Fuck yeah!”
All joking aside, more likely it was all the pressure of having to be the most beautiful woman in the universe and all the responsibilities that the title brings that probably made her swoon.



























Ellen | July 24, 2006 at 7:14 pm
Fuck that shit! Miss Japan was freakin amazing. Miss Puerto Rico made me want to slit my throat.
david o | July 25, 2006 at 12:10 am
For those of you who think Japan should have won ….. R U kidding? She should have been disqualified for grand-standing. She grabbed the mike and proclaimed how happy she was to be there and how she could feel the energy in the auditorium. Her translator (as if she needed one!) didn’t even get a chance to translate her answer to the question she was asked. Come on! Where are the rules when it comes to these matters? WHERE R the judges? She is soooooo lucky to have been named 1st runner up. She should have been OUTTA there! David O
air-rick | July 25, 2006 at 12:07 pm
To answer David: i do believe Miss Japan answered her question by actually showing it on stage. Her question was like :”how did she learn to speak so many languages?”..she answered in french she spent a year in France then speaking in spanish that she spent 3 months in Spain. and then she added she was overwhelmed by the affections of the public..
david o | July 25, 2006 at 8:56 pm
To air-rick:
Japan still did not let her translator translate. (if they request a translator they are obliged to use him/her, in my opinion) I’m sorry, but I only understand English. If part of her answer was in French, and part in Spain, I don’t comprehend her answer ….. she is supposed to let her translator translate her answer instead of inserting her own What-Ever comment at the tail end. That’s grand-standing. Sure, the imbecile hosts should have controlled the situation better. Maybe next year there will be more informed hosts. Do U understand that the contestants cannot and should not have free reign in saying or stating whatever they like? That would lead to all-out war of words (i mean worlds)! Ha.