Miss USA 2010

24-year old Lebanese American Rima Fakih wins Miss USA 2010

Rima Fakih, a 24-year-old Lebanese-American, won the 2010 title in Las Vegas on Sunday after strutting confidently in an Orange and Gold bikini, wearing a strapless white gown that resembled a wedding dress and saying health insurance should cover birth control pills.
Fakih, from Dearborn, Michigan, nearly stumbled in her evening gown, but she said she believed she had the title after glancing at pageant owner Donald Trump as she awaited the results with the first runner-up, Miss Oklahoma USA Morgan Elizabeth Woolard.
"That's the same look that he gives them when he says, 'you're hired'," she said, referring to Trump's catchphrase from his reality show The Apprentice.
"She's a great girl," said Trump, who owns the pageant with the NBC television network in a joint venture.
In a moment that was replayed during the broadcast, Fakih nearly fell while finishing her walk in her gown because of the length of its train. But she made it without a spill and went on to win.
"I did it here, I better not do it at Miss Universe," she said.
"Modelling does help, after all."
When asked how she felt about winning the crown, Fakih said, "Ask me after I've had a pizza."
The pageant, held at Vegas' Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino on Sunday night, was hosted by Australian celebrity chef Curtis Stone and NBC correspondent Natalie Morales.
Fakih, a Lebanese immigrant, moved to the United States as a baby and was raised in New York, where she attended a Catholic school. Her family moved to Michigan in 2003.
She told pageant organisers her family celebrated both Muslim and Christian faiths.
Fakih replaces Miss USA 2009 Kristen Dalton and won a spot representing the United States later this year in the 2010 Miss Universe pageant.
She also gets a one-year lease in a New York apartment with living expenses, an undisclosed salary and various health, professional and beauty services.