‘Nuestra Belleza Latina’ Recap: Find Out What Happened In First Gala; Plus Next Week’s New Challenges And Guest Celebrities!

The eighth season of “Nuestra Belleza Latina” came in full throttle. Last night, in the first gala where the selected 12 finalists started competing against each other to win the crown and become the next Latina beauty queen, guest artists such as Wisin, Marco Antonio Solis, Espinoza Paz and David Bisbal brought down the house. The 12 beauties, representing Guatemala , Mexico , Puerto Rico , Venezuela , Colombia , Dominican Republic and Cuba opened the show with an explosive number, full of "Adrenaline" by the reggaeton artist Wisin.

This season’s hosts, Chiquinquirá Delgado, actress, model and Univision personality; Pedro Moreno, telenovela star and former contestant on "Mira Quién Baila!" and Alejandra Espinoza, "Nuestra Belleza Latina" 2007 winner and co-anchor of "Sábado Gigante" welcomed the viewers to the show. Then, Osmel Sousa made his triumphal entry wearing a crown and held in the air by a group of bare-chested men. He sat down with fellow judges Lupita Jones, and the new judge of the season, the multifaceted artist Jencarlos Canela.

Soon after, the "godmothers," which are former Miss Universe Alicia Machado and Denise Quiñones, presented their teams and took the viewers behind the scenes to see how they have begun to train their respective teams. Denise’s team were the ones chosen to face the first challenge of the season followed by Alicia’s group. They were all surprised with unusual shoes that prevented them from walking well, and the finalists thought that was going to be their only challenge. However, they were very surprised when they found out the catwalk had two giant pendulums, which they had to dodge to complete their walk without losing their poise and elegance.

In the end, the judges acknowledged that Aleyda from Puerto Rico had the most difficult task because she was wearing skis. This first gala also had a haute-couture show, and, to David Bisbal’s melodic voice, the girls paraded beautiful gowns from the fashion squad dressing the girls this season. Next Sunday the competition continues, and the girls’ challenge will revolve around scenes, moments or performances of famous film productions. In addition, the drama will begin as the first girl will leave the mansion once the results are revealed.

The show again promises great names, which we’ve seen it delivers. So for next week, we can expect Los Reyes del Perreo, Alexis y Fido, coming live from the Viña del Mar festival where they’ve just performed. Also taking the stage are Juanes, and Mexican regional artist Fidel Rueda.