Schenanigans

Last night was another great night for mindless television- The Miss Universe Pageant 2009.

With segments that are a paid tourist advertisement, this year for the Bahamas, musical guests as renown as Heidi Montag (no that is not a typo, she really was a musical guest) and hosts Billy Bush, who looks like he has had some work done recently and kept making comments about loving his wife which makes me wonder if he got a little too close to the Miss America contestants a few months ago, and some (very pretty and ridiculously in shape) woman I didn’t recognize.

The best part is ALWAYS the international costume parade which takes about ten minutes to run through all 80ish contestants and after which some mysterious accounting takes place and there are only 15 left. But I digress. The kiss of death last night seemed to be the interpreters.

Don’t get me wrong, no matter the language NONE of the lovely ladies did a very good job of anwering the judges questions- most artful dodge should be awarded to Miss Puerto Rico.  However, you have to wonder how these questions are being phrased through the translator and if they are losing some of the punch. For instance, that detective judge from Law & Order SVU Tamara Tunie asked if HIV testing should be maditory. The answer (in summery): “It’s very important to be tested.” There is a huge difference between COMPUSORY testing and the importance of being tested and I had to wonder who was at fault for such a cop out answer. The same thing happened to Miss Kosovo on her question.

So here is my question. Who are these translators, how are they chosen, and how do we know they are translating effectively. You can’t convince me anyone else but Miss Kosovo and the translator knew what she was asked and replied. RIGGED. Rigged I tell you!

I think ultimately, I just liked her dress the best. And her hair was already primed for the crown.