Elias: People like Maggie everywhere

While the fears of Trinidad and Tobago’s delegate at the Miss Universe pageant, Magdalene Walcott not making the 15 finalists dissipates, her mother’s anxieties intensify on the eve of the Miss Universe pageant 2005, which airs at 9 pm tomorrow. Local franchise holder Peter Elias, who is currently in Thailand, said that Magdalene was “hopeful” of her chances of winning the title despite the tense competition atmosphere. “She is giving her all and has done extremely well in her presentation thus far,” said Elias. “People like her. Everywhere we go, though, people are apologising for our not winning the national costume. But I think she deserves to be in the 15.

She will do well.” But as Magdalene prepares for tomorrow night’s show, her mother, Gregoire Walcott told Sunday Newsday her nerves are kicking in. “For the Miss World pageant (in which Magdalene was a delegate) I was pacing the yard while the competition was going on and only peeping now and again. This time I feel I might end up in the road,” said the widowed mother of five. In Magdalene’s only telephone conversation to her mother since she has been in Thailand, the beauty queen gushed about riding elephants and how much she missed her mother’s cooking. “She said it was 4 am Thailand and that she only had one minute to talk. I told her to enjoy the time that she is there and to do her best remembering that she is blessed to have represented Trinidad and Tobago twice.”

Commenting on her daughter’s chances she said: “She has a fair chance of winning. She has the experience and is quite flexible. She knows how to adjust to situations.” Gregoire, a seamstress and street vendor, said that entering beauty pageants was never among Magdalene’s ideals as a teenager. “We would have discussions in the house about it and she used to say not her. But I was glad she entered to help build her self-confidence because she was very quiet. This was something in her she didn’t know she had. Before this, I couldn’t get Maggie to wear a pair of tights (fitted trousers), neither strapless tops. She wasn’t into that.” Gregoire described Magdalene as humble and a “drill master” when it came to education. She said raising five children after her husband died 13 years ago, has been a real sacrifice. “If you want anything, you have to forget yourself. Picking and choosing a job was not an option, whether I had to wash or clean. It was hard work.”