Riitta Inkeri Väisänen (born 16 July 1954 in Turku) is a Finnish beauty queen, actress and TV host. In 1976, she became

Miss Europe Miss Europe is a beauty pageant for European women from all over Europe. It was established in February 1927 by Fanamet, the European distributor of Paramount, as a one-off event where the winner was to star in a film directed by Friedrich W ...

, the same year she was the first runner-up of the Miss Suomi competition. She is best known as the host of the game show

Kymppitonni Kymppitonni (colloquialism for "kymmenentuhatta" = "ten-thousand") is a Finnish television and radio game show format, created by Spede Pasanen which has been featured on Finnish networks since 1985. The show was hosted by beauty queen Riitta Väis ...

, which ran on

MTV3 MTV3 ( fi, MTV Kolme, sv, MTV Tre) is a Finnish commercial television station. It had the biggest audience share of all Finnish TV channels until Yle TV1 (from Yle) took the lead. The letters MTV stand for Mainos-TV (literally "Advertisement ...

from 1985 till 2005, and subsequently on SuomiTV and

Radio Suomipop Radio Suomipop is a Finnish commercial radio station that is aimed at the 25-44 year old market and which broadcasts both traditionally and via an online presence. It has been in operation since 2001. It is owned by Sanoma Media Finland and operat ...

(as a simultaneous radio broadcast and stream-show). She has also appeared in many movies by

Spede Pasanen Pertti Olavi "Spede" Pasanen (10 April 1930 – 7 September 2001) was a Finnish film director and producer, comedian, and inventor. During his career he directed, wrote, produced or acted in about 50 film, movies and participated in numerou ...

, most notably in the

Uuno Turhapuro Uuno Turhapuro is a Finnish comedy character created by Spede Pasanen and played by Vesa-Matti Loiri. Originally appeared in ''Spede Show'' during 1971–1973, the character gained popularity through the Uuno Turhapuro films. Dramatis personae ...

series, usually in minor supporting roles as well as herself. She ran for the 2004 and 2007

European parliamentary elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until ...

as a candidate for the Center Party, achieving the second highest vote of all female candidates on her second try.

Personal life

She had a relationship with

throughout the 1980s, while he was living in separation from his then-wife Pirjo Pasanen. She is now married to Erik Mäkkylä and has a daughter, Sofia Vilhelmiina Mäkkylä. Mäkkylä is also a model. Väisänen's biography ''Miss Euroopan reunalla'' (2005) was co-authored by her sister Lea Geselle. She is an avid equestrian and owns a stable in

Orimattila Orimattila () is a town in Päijänne Tavastia regions of Finland, region, Finland. The southern part of Lahti is connected to the village of Orimattila, which is located in the region of Pennala. There are also several municipalities in the area, ...

. Between 1997 and 2003, she won 23 race events.

Accolades

* Telvis Award - Best Female TV performer: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 & 1990 *

Kultainen Venla The Finnish Television Academy (Televisioakatemia RY, which comprises MTV3, Yle, Sanoma and SATU ry) organizes the Golden Venla (Kultainen Venla) competition and gala. The Golden Venla Awards recognize the year's best Finnish television programs, ...

- Lifetime achievement, 2015

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaisanen, Riitta Finnish television presenters Finnish actresses Finnish beauty pageant winners 1954 births Living people Finnish women television presenters