Dayana Mendoza, Miss Venezuela reacts after winning the Miss Universe 2008 beauty pageant in Nha Trang, Vietnam yesterday.

Venezuela's Dayana Mendoza takes the crown in this year's top pageant

Miss Venezuela took the crown while Miss USA took a tumble before up to 1-billion television viewers at the Miss Universe pageant held in Vietnam yesterday.

Venezuela's Dayana Mendoza, 22, beat finalists from Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Russia.

The 178-centimetre beauty, the favourite of pageant bloggers and online bookmakers, clinched the crown after answering a question on the difference between men and women.

Witty repartee

"Men think that the fastest way to go to a point is to go straight," Mendoza said. "Women know that the faster way to go to a point is to go to the curves."

Mendoza, who was once kidnapped in her home country, later issued a call for an end to violence in the world.

"The kidnapping happened a year and a half ago," she said."It's something that happens in my country. You don't even have to have money to be kidnapped ... That's why I wanted to raise my voice and tell the world that violence is not the answer."

Asked how she felt during the pageant and what she would do next, Mendoza said she had said a series of prayers seconds before her victory and quipped that she would now "go home and take off my shoes".