Denise Garrido

Denise Garrido (born December 8) is one of the most decorated beauty pageant queens in Canadian history. Garrido was the first Canadian to win two National Grand Slam Pageants, Miss Earth Canada 2008 and Miss World Canada 2010, and she appeared to be the first to win all three National Grand Slam Pageants when she was crowned Miss Universe Canada 2013.^[1] However, it was discovered the following day that there had been a human error when entering the final scores. This error changed the final order of the Top 5. By the judges' score cards, Garrido had placed 3rd runner-up. Only 24 hours after being crowned, Garrido handed over her crown and sash to Riza Santos, the new Miss Universe Canada 2013. The decision was made public the next day (May 27, 2013). The blunder created a whirlwind of international media attention, unlike the organization had seen before.

Early life and career

Denise Garrido earned a 3rd-degree black belt in TaeKwon-Do.^[2] She studied biomedical sciences at Laurentian University and graduated cum laude. Her parents are Portuguese and Brazilian.^[3][4]

Garrido won Miss Earth Canada in 2008. She continued on to the Miss Earth 2008 in Manila, Philippines, where she did not place, but won the Miss Puerto Princesa swimsuit award.^[5]

Garrido won for the second time at a different pageant, Miss World Canada 2010, and she was one of the Top 25 semi-finalists, out of 115 countries, at the Miss World 2010 in Sanya, China. She also placed Top 10 in talent and Top 20 in sport.^[6]

Garrido was crowned Miss Universe Canada 2013 during the 11th edition of the pageant held in Toronto on May 25.^[7] However, on 27 May 2013, two days after the pageant, it was publicly announced that an error had been uncovered. Pageant director Denis Davila stated, "During the validation of the computerized scoring results (which occurs the following day), a typo was discovered in the top five entries, which significantly impacted the final results of the competition."^[8] After the results were corrected, Calgary's Riza Santos was named the winner and Garrido the 3rd runner-up.^[9][10]

From November 2011 through January 2012, Garrido toured throughout India with the children’s charity “Healthy Kids, Happy Kids”. Founded by Satish Sikha, they provided food, clothing and medical treatment to thousands of children in need.^[11][12]

References

Notes

^{note 1} Originally held the title for 24 hours but was replaced by Riza Santos due to a human input error when entering final scores.

External links