Irene Esser

Esser, who stands 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in), competed as Miss Sucre, one of 24 finalists in her country's national beauty pageant Miss Venezuela 2011, held on October 15, 2011 in Caracas, where she obtained the Miss Elegance award[3] and became the third Miss Venezuela winner from Sucre, gaining the right to represent her country in Miss Universe 2012.

Esser represented Venezuela at the Miss Universe 2012 pageant on December 19, 2012, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, where she finished as 2nd Runner-Up behind Janine Tugonon (Philippines) and winner Olivia Culpo (USA).[4] She was one of the favorites to win the pageant. However, she faltered during the final question round and finished in third place. She has outdone two prior Miss Venezuela Marelisa Gibson (who failed to place) and Vanessa Gonçalves (who finished in the Top 16).

When asked by judge Diego Boneta "If you could make a new law, what would it be and explain why?", Esser responded:

I think that any leyes (laws) there are in Constitution or in life, are already made. I think that we should have, uh, a straight way to go in our similar, or, eh, in our lives as is this. For example, I'm a surfer, and I think that the best wave that I can take is the wave that I wait for it. So please do our only, eh, law that we can do. Thank you Vegas!

Esser was criticized by media, mocked by Craig Carton, Don Geronimo, Lili Estefan, Perez Hilton, Pablo Ramírez, Raul De Molina, amongst other personalities for her incomprehensible response and a video of her final question and answer became popular on YouTube. Her answer was even compared to Caitlin Upton's infamous response to her final question.