- Miss Universe Catriona Gray and Miss USA Cheslie Kryst spoke to Insider about the chaos that happens behind the scenes of the major pageants.
- The pair revealed that they didn't have mirrors to get ready after making the top 10 in the pageant, and that they only had minutes to practice with props before the swimsuit competitions.
- The Miss Universe organization also shared footage of Gray getting ready for the pageant final with just a compact and light from an iPhone.
- Gray can be seen applying red lipstick as someone powders her nose and another person fixes her hair.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
From their hair to their heels, pageant queens have mastered how to look picture-perfect when they appear onstage.
But Miss Universe Catriona Gray and Miss USA Cheslie Kryst told Insider that the reality behind the scenes of their competitions was anything but.
The pair revealed that they both got ready for the biggest moment of their pageant careers without a mirror, and only had minutes to practice walking with props like capes and sarongs before the swimsuit round.
Footage that the Miss Universe organization shared with Insider also perfectly illustrates the chaos that pageant queens deal with before walking onstage.
The clip shows Gray getting ready for the final at Miss Universe 2018, trying to apply red lipstick with just an iPhone light and a compact mirror.
"I didn't have a mirror and I was wearing a nude lip for swim and wanted to change to a red lip for finals," she told Insider.
"I was literally in the backstage wings of the stage and I'm just crouched down with my little compact mirror and my lipstick and I was like, 'Does anybody have a light?'"
Gray can be seem calmly applying her makeup in the video as one woman powders and blots her face while another touches up her hair and yells for a bobby pin.
She remains calm even as the powder brush dances across her nose and near her lips.
"Someone is fixing my hair, someone is powdering my face, and I'm trying to do a good application of red lipstick," she recalled.
Kryst told Insider that the top 10 finalists at Miss USA got ready without a mirror as well.
"Once you make top 15 at Miss USA, the backstage attendants take your stuff from the dressing room where all 51 contestants are and they move it into the finals room where the top 15 is," she said. "That room does not have a mirror in it."
"And we have no mirror the entire time when you switch from top 10 to top five," she added.
Kryst admitted that having to get ready without a mirror during the finals "freaked me out."
"I was trying to check my hair and they were like, 'Your hair's good,' and I was like, 'But where's the mirror? I wanna check my hair!'" she recalled. "No, not possible!"
The swimsuit rounds during Miss USA and Miss Universe also often involve a prop, like a sarong or capes, which Kryst and Gray said the contestants all received right before they had to go onstage.
"We had these capes for Miss Universe and there were only two available during rehearsal," Gray recalled. "So I had never practiced in one. On stage was my first time wearing one and I was praying I wouldn't trip!"
Kryst only had a few minutes to test out the sarong that she had to wear during her swimsuit round in the Miss USA 2018 pageant.
"Backstage is the first time we get the sarongs," she said. "So I'm practicing backstage to take the sarong off because you want to knot it or tie it in a way that you can just pull it off. I get onstage, can't pull the sarong off!"
"But it was fine," she added. "It worked out well!"
Despite the lack of mirrors and last-minute practice sessions, both Gray and Kryst took home their respective crowns.
"What we do on the night is the definition of grace under pressure all the way," Gray said.
On Sunday, Kryst will compete in Miss Universe 2019. The winner will be crowned by Gray. Whether a mirror will be available this time around remains unknown.
- Read more:
- Meet the 90 contestants competing to be Miss Universe 2019
- Miss USA Cheslie Kryst helped free a man sentenced to life in prison for a drug offense and says marijuana should be legal
- Behind-the-scenes photos show how Miss Universe 2019 contestants get ready for the world-famous pageant
- What 13 Miss Universe contestants look like without makeup
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