Miss World 1990

Gina Marie Tolleson
UNITED STATES

Gina Tolleson won the 40th annual Miss World contest in its return to London after being held the previous year in Hong Kong. In preceding years, British TV companies declined to show the contest live, claiming a decrease in its viewing audience. While a worldwide audience of 500 million viewed the contest live, it was taped for a later telecast on British TV. With a low budget production, some people doubted the contest would survive for long (the pageant would recover credibility in 1992). Among the semi-finalists was Miss Turkey, Julide Ates, also a semi-finalist in Miss Universe that year. The big surprise was the inclusion of Miss Aruba among the 10, a contestant who did not rank among the top 50 in Miss Universe 1990. The crowd favorite, 20 year-old stewardess from Ireland, finished in 2nd. Gina Tolleson, a native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, who earlier in that year had placed second in Miss USA, would eventually become a relatively successful TV presenter and Miss World commentator (for 1993). She married TV personality Alan Thicke