Donald Trump's hand-picked Miss Universe

The choreographer of the Miss Universe pageant has claimed in an interview that Donald Trump hand picks 6 of the 15 finalists in the pageant.

Trump, the choreographer says, does this because, “some of the most beautiful women, in (Trump’s) opinion, were not in the top 15, and he was kind of upset about that.”

In an interview with Guanabee.com, Michael Schwandt, who had been contacted to mainly discuss the Heidi Montag dance number, said, “At all the shows, he pops in the day before the telecast and we line up all the girls in alphabetical order behind microphones. And they say their name, age and country.

“Then we line them up in alphabetical order in one single file line across the stage. And he basically walks by and has an assistant that takes notes on all the girls. And it’s just kind of common knowledge that he picks six of the top 15 single-handedly.”

Since the interview has been picked up by larger news organizations, Schwandt seems to be trying to change his tune. In an e-mail he said he was joking and tried to disassociate himself from the article.

But CNN reports that Daniel Mauser, publisher of Guanabee, said his site stands by the story, "Whatever you see quoted in the article is verbatim what he said," Mauser said. "So I can understand why he would want to retract those words, but unfortunately that was what was said."

The Miss Universe Organization President Paula M. Shugart released a statement on Wednesday that refuted the notion that the pageant is “rigged.”

But what the statement also revealed implied that the organization, including Donald Trump, do select the remaining six finalists while the panel of judges select the other nine.

"This system has been in place since 2005 and has always been fully disclosed to the contestants, their directors, the judges and the viewing audience," the statement said. "The procedure is overseen by the accounting firm of Ernst & Young and NBC Program Standards and Compliance.”

by Joshua Cinelli
Daily News Staff Writer