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 The
2008 Miss Hawaiian Tropic International World Finals marked the 25th Anniversary of the celebrated pageant. The event was once again held in Las Vegas, but this time around, the
organizers had chosen to hold the event “downtown” in the famous Fremont St district. The finalists stayed in the legendary Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino. Golden Nugget also hosted the
the preliminary competition on their pool deck in front of the spectacular shark tank! (The resort pool actually surrounds the shark tank and hotel guests can also reach the pool through a
water slide which actually takes them inside a clear tube running through the shark tank! See photo below).
 The finalists’ week was filled with photo shoots, filming for TV specials
and special appearances. They also managed to squeeze in a couple of huge parties at the ultra cool Hawaiian Tropic Zone Nightclub & Bar at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino! Gallery>>>
The Grand Final took place on the following night and was actually held outside of the Golden Nugget Casino on a specially built stage in the middle of the amazing Fremont St itself!
Fremont St is totally unique in that it is covered by a gigantic multimedia screen stretching the length of the entire street complemented by a massive sound system and all this was incorporated in an innovative way
into the pageant final!
 The Grand Final featured not only the stunning International finalists strutting
their stuff in National Costumes, Evening Wear and of course the main event - Swimwear, but it also included a special appearance by multi Platinum winning
recording artists Everclear. Needless to say, the masive crowd of onlookers pretty much closed down Fremont St completely. The final was hosted by Olympic Gold Medalist Jonny Moseley
and co-hosted by the reigning Miss Hawaiian Tropic® International 2007, Anna Naroznaja of Estonia (pictured right).
We had no less than three finalists among the world’s top models including Raychel Frew - Miss Hawaiian Tropic Australia, Hannah Matthews - Miss Hawaiian Tropic New Zealand and Narelle Polson
who represented Cocos Islands.
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Raychel Frew
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Hannah Matthews
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Narelle Polson
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Hollywood Blockbuster director Michael Bay flanked by Hannah & Raychel
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The judging panel included sporting superstars like former Miami Dolphins Football Player and NFL record holder Louis Oliver, Soap Opera star Ricky Paul Goldin
formally on the Guiding Light , The Young and the Restless and currently on All My Children, Artist Christian Riese Lassen, Amanda Corey and Tomas Severo
the winners of the latest "Beauty and the Geek", Darren Anderson - Professional Soccer Player on the English League and Director Michael Bay
, whose credits include: Armageddon, The Rock, Pear Harbor, Bad Boys I & II, The Island, Transformers and currently working on Transformers2.
Our girls duly impressed the star studded judging panel with Raychel and Hannah both making the TOP 12!
Congratulations to Debbie O' Toole of Liverpool, England, who was crowned the 25th Annual Miss Hawan Tropic® International Queen. Debbie will go on
to represent Hawaiian Tropic® throughout the year, received countless promotional opportunities along with thousands of dollars in cash and prizes. The top four runners-up in consecutive order are:
Martina Ledema from Holland, Sabrina Poutis, France; Sharon Gomez, Puerto Rico and Frida Reuterski of Sweden. See photo below.
Miss Congeniality and Photogenic awards were given to
Clair Cooper, representing Scotland.
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