LONDON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Miss Venezuela Ivian Lunasol Sarcos Colmenares, an orphan who says she once wanted to be a nun, was named Miss World Sunday night at a pageant in London.
The striking, raven-haired 21-year-old told the audience she was "unbelievably happy to have won" and that she would like to "help people in need," the Mirror reported.
"I am an orphan. I would also like to help the elderly and troubled teenagers. As many people as I can," she said, adding she spent five years in a nunnery. "I spent my five years in there and my dream was to become a nun."
Colmenares was selected the winner from among 113 contestants. Miss Philippines Gwendoline Ruais finished second and Miss Puerto Rico Amanda Perez was third.
The Guardian reported the 60th anniversary pageant, watched by 1 billion people worldwide, attracted about 50 feminists who found the event sexist.
"You can't pull the wool over young women's eyes," organizer Rebecca Mordan said. "They're living and growing up in a culture that sees pornography as increasingly mainstream. This is the soft end of that, reducing women down to the sum of their parts."
