Thursday, July 17, 2008 Seares: Tripping on stage By Pachico A. Seares News Sense
WHEN Miss U.S.A. Crystle Stewart tripped on the stage Monday during Miss Universe finals in Vietnam, she didn't wish or will it just to become a celebrity without winning the title.
She was there to compete, not create a situation that would embarrass her, her state Texas, and her country, the great, recession-spooked United States.
In fact, she had been wondering what in the world she would do if she fell. Now, images of her fall are repeated over and over in the web.
OK, her predecessor Rachel Smith also tumbled at the 2007 Miss Universe finals in Mexico City. They're setting some record of sorts, surely as unintended as their kind of celebrity.
After the event, Crystle said she would take up walking classes. But didn't she and other aspirants already do that, along with exercises on swaying one's hips without looking like a slut?
Conspiracy theorists, who thrive in the U.S., think that a group that hates "evil America" must have managed to control the designer who created Crystle's evening gown. You know, blackmail the designer by threatening to slit his lover's throat if he wouldn't rig the dress to send her down as she pranced?
You don't think so. I don't too.
It happens
It was a disaster but it can happen to anyone, a stage-savvy actor at Oscars or a bumbling president in Oval Office.
Humiliating of course, though one tries to cover it up with some dignity (quickly getting up and walking on as if nothing happened), or understatement ("Mom, I was in a bit of a rush").
Everyone trips now and then, but few do it with millions of people watching.
