Beauty Pageant Budget Cuts

If beauty pageants are an industry, Venezuela is its capital. The South American country has produced winners of the Miss Universe contest two years running. But Reuters reports, even the world of tiaras and evening gowns has been compromised by the global economic downturn – and Venezuela’s winning streak may be compromised as a result.

The Miss Venezuela Organization, the body responsible for choosing the lovely ladies who compete in these international beauty competitions, has said that they will have to reduce the number of women they groom for the crown from 30 to 20 due to budget cuts.

The organization’s so-called "beauty czar," Osmel Sousa has been charged with the enviable task of separating the stunning from the merely pretty. But Sousa is quick to point out that the belt-tightening will not mean fewer dresses and less cosmetic surgery for the chosen girls. Whew! We wouldn’t want any of the contestants to go without their implants. That would be like making Tom Brady play the Super Bowl without a football.

Photo courtesy ceanandjen, via Flickr.