Miss Universe 1996 was the first Miss Universe pageant that I ever saw so Canada's representitive that year, Renette Cruz of Vancover, BC, will always have a special place in my heart. Renette was orginally from the Phillipines and really represented the diversity of Canada. When she was annonced in the beginning she even said "Where cultures from around the World unite as one, I'm Renette Cruz, representing Canada!" It was also cool how after Miss El Salvador was annonced, the crowd started cheering for this girl, not as much as Miss Mexico or USA got but it was still good. And could you blame them?!!!

Costume

Renette's costume was the best that I have ever seen a Miss Canadian Universe wear at MU! She wore a native costume with lots of tinsel on it, and a very large, red and white, head dress. It was so creative, not just a moutee! She wore it really well too! Although it wasn't as good as Miss Russia's coustume, this was definatley one of the best coustumes in the pageant, and one of the best costumes that I have ever seen!

Swimsuit

Score: 8.38

I thought that Renette was okay in swimsuit but she has a major disadvantage because wasn't very tall. I think this might have cost her alot of marks in swimsuit! In the preliminary shot of her, she wore a fully covering swimsuit that didn't really look that great(didn't show off her bod enough) but I don't think that she was marked in it so didn't really matter. She probably could have toned up better in swimsuit but still looked very nice!

Renette Cruz, giving a speech at CSMU'97 the night that she wore the Miss Canadian Universe crown for the last time.

Interview

Score: 8.86

Interview was her strongest event. Renette did quite well I'm sure, her score is pretty good, not a 9.99 but still good. I didn't see her interview at CSMU or MU, but in the introduction, little as it is, she did come off as a very nice girl!

Evening Gown

Score: 8.60

For the evening gown competition, Renette wore a white hour-glass shaped gown, with her hair up. I just loved the design of this gown! It was so elegant and beautiful, and white is really Renette's colour! It just glows on her! Her hair also looked really elegant and great the way it was put up! I think that the reason that she only got a 8.60 was that this gown just wasn't decorated enough! It didn't have any sequins or beads on it and just didn't really stand out enough. It was just such an elegant gown and although it was a little too plain, Renette's beauty just made the whole thing alot better!

Overall Score: 8.61
Placed: 32nd

Renette did quite well. Better than other Miss Canadian Universe's at MU in the years past. She didn't get much time to train for MU so she did quite well, and I'm sure that if she had been given more time, and was more polished, she definately would have made the top ten!

I don't know as much about Renette as I know about other Canadian Universes' but what I can say is that Canada is lucky to have had such a exotic and beautiful representive for 1996.