Gabrielle Walcott-Miss World 2008 2nd-runner up!

Gabrielle is the 3rd Trinidad and Tobago representative to place in the top 3 of the Miss World pageant, Michelle Khan (3rd in 1995) and Giselle La Ronde (Miss World 1986) being the former 2 Trinbagonian finalists to achieve that distinction. Upon the conclusion of the Miss World 2008 final, Peter Elias (co-franchise holder for the local segments of the Miss Universe and Miss World pageants) announced that the dissolution of Peter Elias and Associates due to lack of financial input from both the Government and public sector. Trinidad and Tobago is not expected to participate in Miss Universe 2009.

Sunday 14th December 2008: T&T National Newspapers




Article Source: Trinidad Express Newspapers
'Gaby' did T&T proud, says Elias
Camille Bethel cbethel@trinidadexpress.com

Sunday, December 14th 2008



Miss Trinidad and Tobago Gabrielle Walcott yesterday emerged second runner-up at the 2008 Miss World Beauty Pageant.

Walcott came in behind Miss India, Parvathay Omanakuttan, the first runner-up, and Miss Russia, Kseniya Sukhinova, who won the Miss World crown in Johannesburg, South Africa, in a glittering African-themed pageant where she outshone 108 other international beauties and pledged to "help people". Walcott made it into the final five, beating out beauties from 109 countries and having to best it out with Miss India, Miss Russia, Miss Angola and Miss South Africa.

In a telephone interview yesterday, queen-maker Peter Elias expressed his joy over the results, which he described as a blessing.

"I just feel such pride to see all the hard work that we all did as a team and to have this as the outcome.

"I feel blessed that we have had this blessing from God. It is important that we recognise that it is a blessing, because not everyone wins," he said.

Elias said Walcott's dress, which was designed by local designer Bobby Ackbarali who is based in Canada, was nominated for the pageant's best dress award which Miss USA won.

"But she did win the best Beauty with a Purpose award for her work with the Just Because Foundation," he said of Walcott.

He said this was a big deal for Trinidad and Tobago because the charity work was showcased on international television during the pageant, which was viewed by millions of people around the world.

This, he said, is what Walcott wanted to do -make her country proud.

"I have spoken with her and right now she is at the coronation ball. All Gaby wanted was to make her country proud and she has," he said.

Noting that this was his last pageant, Elias also said:

"This pageant is the end of the road for me. It was my final pageant but I am hopeful that from this result everyone in this country will feel that they have the potential to be great."

He said all of the hard work that he has done in promoting the beauty pageant locally over the past 15 years was for that purpose.

"We have seen our flag flown high over time, and I wish that my successor would get much more support than I did to continue that because the true benefit of pageants like this is building national pride and promoting the country."

Source: Trinidad Express Newspapers
Gabby looks forward to a 'Trini Christmas'
Kristy Ramnarine kramnarine@trinidadexpress.com

Wednesday, December 17th 2008

'LOOK AT THESE': Miss World Trinidad and Tobago Gabrielle Walcott displays the two awards she received on arrival at Piarco International Airport on Monday night, following her second runner-up placing in the Miss World competition on Saturday at Johannesburg, South Africa. Gabrielle copped the Beauty with a Purpose and Caribbean Queen titles. -Photo: JERMAINE CRUICKSHANK

Miss World Trinidad and Tobago, Gabrielle Walcott, plans on enjoying a "Trini style" Christmas in the upcoming weeks.

Walcott emerged second runner-up in the 2008 Miss World pageant last Saturday, behind Miss India, Parvathay Omanakuttan, the first runner-up, and Miss Russia, Kseniya Sukhinova, who won the Miss World crown.

She also won the Beauty with a Purpose award for her work with the Just Because Foundation at the international event, which took place in Johannesburg, South Africa.

"The Miss World Organisation may require me to tour and do charity work so I'm waiting to hear what's going on," Walcott explained to the Express yesterday.

"I have to be available when they need the help. In the meantime I'm just going to enjoy Christmas."

The local beauty, who returned home on Monday night, was very proud of her accomplishment.

"I'm extremely happy about my performance at the competition," she said.

"I went there and I did exactly what I hoped I could do for my country. I only wished that I could have finished giving my answer to the question I was asked."

Apart from being a finalist in the pageant and meeting many other girls, Walcott said she loved the safari experience in South Africa.

"I was particularly the most relaxed on the safari," she added.

"We stayed in a Pedi village, which is a native African tribe village, and we slept in their huts one night. Waking up on the crack of dawn on safari was amazing. The lions and the elephants made the experience even better."

As for queen maker Peter Elias's announcement that he would be bowing out of the pageant world, Walcott said it was a very sad moment for her.

Elias has been working in the local pageant industry for the last 15 years and has had many successes in the top 15 of both the Miss Universe and Miss World international pageants. He has also seen the crowning of Miss Universe 1998 Wendy Fitzwilliam.

Source: Trinidad Express Newspapers


Real & Uninhibited
By Cedriann J Martin

Saturday, December 20th 2008


Gabby in a Bobby Ackbarali gown.

Gabrielle Walcott's third place finish in the Miss World Pageant last weekend carries an inevitable political resonance. The public, eleventh hour calls by Peter Elias and Associates for Government to make good on its pledge of financial support and the finality of Elias' announcement that this would be his last year at the helm of the county's queen-making machine, make the achievement all the more significant. It's the end of an age. And it ended with a beautiful bang.

From her Petit Valley home last Wednesday, Walcott made a compelling case when asked why, in an age of diving oil prices and social decay, our government should bother with beauty pageants.

"The day after the pageant the front pages of all three newspapers were positive. What a change from the number of people murdered, or the drug busts or the Prime Minister having cancer. The people of Trinidad and Tobago need to be uplifted and I don't think there should be a price tag on that on encouraging people to do better and offering them something other than the negative. Positive things lift spirits and develop a collective sense of wanting to do better. When T&T made it to the World Cup there were flags in every car and people wearing red T-shirts a sense of national pride that does so much for a nation. It's sad," she said "when you overlook investing in the emotional state of a country."

The Miss World franchise prioritises investment in country. And Gabrielle's efforts were distinguished with the Beauty With a Purpose Award that earned her a place among fifteen semi-finalists. She worked with the Just Because Foundation, a charity founded by Noel and Shivonne Joseph in remembrance of their deceased son and support of other families dealing with children's cancer.

"We discovered a need for more specialised paediatric care within Mount Hope. So we went to David O'Brien of the North West Regional Health Authority and got a ward donated," she explained in a September interview. Gabrielle approached companies and non-governmental organisations to donate paint, beds and equipment in order to outfit one of the Caribbean's premier paediatric specialty units. The children's oncology ward opened last week.


Gabby with Miss World 2007 Zi Lin Zhang.

"This is the gift that keeps on giving and giving. The day I drove to Mount Hope I was in tears. I kept thinking 'Oh my God, this is why this is the reason right here that you were given this crown," she said then.

It's the reason, too, that she wasn't overly perturbed when Russia's strike on Georgia in August prompted pageant organisers to shift the location and time of the event from Ukraine in October to South Africa in December.

"I was glad for the extra time," she admitted. "I had the opportunity to do a good Beauty With a Purpose project. If I had just a month there was no way I could pull off what I did. That was my training. It wasn't about being ready for the make-up or dresses. It was about letting your inner beauty shine."

That's a telling detail. Because when Walcott was crowned earlier this year, Elias gave an unprecedented assessment of the People's Choice winner: "The team viewed her as the most complete candidate we've had. I found her winnable. She had all the components that a winner possesses. Beyond beauty there was articulation, an amazing, chocolate-type voice and the child has soul. She's humble and grounded in a powerful way." She was the perfect combo for the Miss World pageant, they agreed then.

Undergraduate training in theatre arts as well as post graduate studies in acting had hammered home the fundamentals of stage presence. That meant that Gabrielle was partly prepared from the onset. Her pre-pageant work centred on exuding warmth.

"Sometimes I'm emotionally guarded and it makes it difficult for people to connect with me, heart to heart. This pageant is about someone who radiates beauty and will share it without inhibition. I can be self conscious at times. The process has been about becoming confident in what I have to offer," she shared a couple months aback.

So when asked to make a case for becoming the next Miss World in the pageant's deciding round, a clearly composed Walcott didn't miss a beat in sharing what she'd made her life's work all year.

"Nelson Mandela once said that a good mind and a good heart is a formidable combination," she flowed. "That is the combination I wish to share with you as the next Miss World, hopefully." But as she began to link the words of another great man-her father-with the Miss World philosophy, the South African host inexplicably blurted: "Thank you so much. That's all we have time for right now."

(Forgive the nitpicking: but this is 25 seconds into Gabrielle's response when Miss India had been allowed 45 uninterrupted seconds for her answer.) Gabrielle gave a playful part-shrug, part wave and smiled on her way off camera. She admits that it was a tad disappointing that she was able to give only "the introduction to" her answer. But she was confident that every member of the panel interviewed each girl beforehand and that she'd left her mark.

The final result was a bit of a let-down as well.

"Of course I was disappointed," she allowed. "But then a sense of calm prevailed and I felt very content with what I had done. It's no small feat to have done the best at an international pageant since Wendy. I think I did my country proud and I would not have changed anything. If I'm not the one they're looking for, I take solace in knowing that I gave it my all and that my reign produced something lasting."

All told, Walcott got more final night airtime that any of the other delegates. She considers the best dress award for the Bobby Ackbarali design she wore, a fitting tribute to one of our stalwart pageant gurus and designers.

The immediate future is up in the air. Gabrielle isn't certain about the degree of commitment her reign as one of the World Princesses requires. She also looks forward to any professional doors the experience may have unlocked. She is yet to decide on whether she'll be pursuing a Masters or jumping into the world of work. But what she does know is that her life is irrevocably changed.

"You sacrifice a sense of privacy and any sense of making decisions without taking responsibility for them. Now everything I do will be second guessed or watched. I have to think things over several times before I do anything. You lose a sense of freedom but this experience gives more possibilities than ever before. It raises the bar on the possibilities I have set for myself. That, for me, is living life to the fullest," she said.

fashion week

Phenom wrote:

triniusacutie wrote:

Gabby is so beautiful. I have a feeling we will be seeing her at Miss Universe soon.

i odnt think so she is 5'7'' they like em 5'9'' and up over there and i wouldnt want all her talents to be wasted working for trump. she is too good for that.