Miss Universe


Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by the United States-based Miss Universe Organization. This is the largest pageant in the world in terms of live TV coverage, airing yearly in more than 190 countries worldwide to an audience of over 500 million people. Along with Miss World, Miss International, and Miss Earth, Miss Universe is one of the Big Four international beauty pageants - the most coveted beauty titles among all the international pageant competitions.
The Miss Universe Organization and its brand, along with Miss USA and Miss Teen USA, are currently owned by the WME/IMG talent agency. The pageant's advocacy is "humanitarian issues and be a voice to affect positive change in the world."
The current Miss Universe is Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa, who was crowned on December 8, 2019, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

History

The title "Miss Universe" was first used by the International Pageant of Pulchritude in 1926. This contest was held annually until 1935, when the Great Depression and other events preceding World War II led to its demise.
The current Miss Universe pageant was founded in 1952 by Pacific Knitting Mills, a California-based clothing company and manufacturer of Catalina Swimwear. The company was the sponsor of the Miss America pageant until 1951, when the winner, Yolande Betbeze, refused to pose for publicity pictures wearing one of their swimsuits. In 1952, Pacific Knitting Mills organized the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, co-sponsoring them for decades to follow.
The first Miss Universe Pageant was held in Long Beach, California in 1952. It was won by Armi Kuusela from Finland, who gave up her title, though not officially, to get married, shortly before her year was completed. Until 1958, the Miss Universe title, like that of Miss America, was dated by the year following the contest, so at the time Ms. Kuusela's title was Miss Universe 1953. Since its founding by Pacific Mills, the pageant has been organized and conducted by the Miss Universe Organization. Eventually Pacific Mills and its subsidiaries were acquired by the Kayser-Roth Corporation, which was in turn acquired by Gulf and Western Industries.
The pageant was first televised in 1955. CBS began broadcasting the combined Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants in 1960, and as separate contests in 1965. More than 30 years later, Donald Trump bought the pageant in 1996 from ITT Corp. Trump struck a broadcasting arrangement with CBS until 2002. In 1998, Miss Universe, Inc. changed its name to the Miss Universe Organization, and moved its headquarters from Los Angeles to New York City. In late 2002, Trump entered into a joint venture with NBC, which in 2003 outbid the other markets for the TV rights. From 2003 to 2014, the pageant was broadcast in the United States on NBC.
In June 2015, NBC canceled all business relationships with Trump and the Miss Universe Organization in response to controversial statements about illegal immigrants who crossed the border from Mexico. As part of the legal settlement, in September 2015, Trump bought out NBC's 50% stake in the company, making him the company's sole owner. Three days later he sold the whole company to WME/IMG. Following the change of ownership, in October 2015, Fox and Azteca became the official broadcasters of the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants. The current president of the Miss Universe Organization is Paula Shugart, who has held this position since 1997.
During the CBS telecast era, John Charles Daly hosted the Miss Universe Pageant from 1955 to 1966, Bob Barker from 1967 to 1987, Alan Thicke in 1988, John Forsythe in 1989, Dick Clark from 1990 to 1993, Bob Goen from 1994 to 1996, and Jack Wagner in 1998 and 1999. During the NBC telecast era, Billy Bush hosted the Miss Universe Pageant from 2003 to 2005 and 2009, Andy Cohen in 2011 and 2012, and Thomas Roberts in 2013 and 2014. Daisy Fuentes, Nancy O'Dell, Mel B and Natalie Morales are currently the only females to have hosted the event multiple times.
Since its transfer to Fox in 2015, Miss Universe has been hosted annually by Steve Harvey.

Contestant selection

For a country to participate in Miss Universe, a local company or a person should buy the local rights of the competition, through a franchise fee, which involves the rights of image, brand and everything related to the pageant. Often, the owner of this franchise, for contractual breaches or financial reasons, returns the franchise to the Miss Universe Organization, which resells it to a new stakeholder. The reselling of the franchise from one owner to the next is recurrently common in the history of the event. The number of candidates in the contest is inconstant because of the question of the franchisees. In addition, there are problems related to the calendar of the pageant.
Usually a country's candidate selection involves pageants in the nation's local subdivisions, whose winners compete in a national pageant, but there are some countries who opt for an internal selection. For example, from 2000 to 2004, Australian delegates were chosen by a modelling agency. Although such "castings" are generally discouraged by the Miss Universe Organization, Jennifer Hawkins was chosen to represent the country in Miss Universe in 2004. When Australia resumed its national pageant in the following year, Michelle Guy became Miss Universe Australia 2005.
Recent arrivals in the pageant for the 2010s decade include Gabon and Lithuania, Azerbaijan, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Laos and Nepal, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, Bangladesh and Equatorial Guinea, and Uganda and Rwanda. Nepal is the most recent newcomer to place in the semifinals in Miss Universe after making into the Top 10 in 2018, while Botswana remains the most recent first-time entry to ever win Miss Universe on its debut year, and Angola is the most recent country to pose its first ever national win in Miss Universe.
There have also been efforts to revive strong national pageants in Canada, Spain, India and Japan. The organization makes continual efforts to expand the pageant, but the participation of some countries has proven difficult due to cultural barriers to the swimsuit competition, while others such as Mozambique have balked at sending representatives due to the cost. The Miss Universe has historically proven popular in regions like the Americas, Africa and Asia, especially in countries like U.S.A., Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, South Africa, Philippines and Thailand, all of which have appeared in the semifinals multiple times in the last decade.
As of, only three countries have been present at every Miss Universe since its inception in 1952: Canada, France and Germany. Since its inception, Miss Universe strictly prohibits age fabrication, and all contestants are not allowed to be pregnant throughout the entire competition. This posts a problem, however, for several European countries, which allow 17-year-old contestants to compete in their pageants. Since Miss Universe's minimum age is 18, national titleholders often have to be replaced by their runners-up or another candidate. In recent years, virtually all Miss Universe candidates are required to be at least university degree holders or working professionals from their onset of stints in their national pageants.
Beginning in 2012, openly transgender women were allowed to compete, as long as they won their national pageants. Six years after this rule went into effect, Angela Ponce of Spain became the first openly transgender candidate to compete in the contest, in the 2018 edition. In 2019, Swe Zin Htet became the first openly lesbian woman to compete in Miss Universe. Spain's Patricia Yurena Rodríguez is currently the highest-placed LGBT member at Miss Universe, placing second to Venezuela's Gabriela Isler in 2013, but did not come out until years after the competition.

Main pageant

Throughout the history of Miss Universe, the main contest has varied widely in terms of annual scheduling, but has been held over a two-week period in the -ber months of the year since 2017. From the 1970s through the 1990s, the pageant was a month long. This allowed time for rehearsals, appearances, and the preliminary competition, with the winner being crowned by the previous year's titleholder during the final competition.
According to the organizers, the Miss Universe contest is more than a beauty pageant. Women aspiring to become Miss Universe must be intelligent, well-mannered, and cultured. Often a candidate has lost because she did not have a good answer during the question and answer round, a round that has gained significant importance in recent decades. Delegates also participate in swimsuit and evening gown competitions.
Currently, the final placement of the finalists is determined by a ranked vote, where each judge ranks each of the final three/five candidates, with the contestant posting the lowest cumulative score becoming the winner. If there is a tie, the higher semifinal scores become decisive. Since 2015, all scores are all tallied from the preliminaries up to the finale.
The winner is assigned a one-year contract with the Miss Universe Organization, going overseas to spread messages about the control of diseases, peace, and public awareness of AIDS. Aside from the job, the winner also receives a cash allowance for her entire reign, a New York Film Academy scholarship, a modelling portfolio, beauty products, clothes, shoes, as well as styling, healthcare, and fitness services by different sponsors of the pageant. She also gains exclusive access to events such as fashion shows and opening galas, as well as access to casting calls and modelling opportunities throughout New York City. From 1996 to 2015, the winner is given the use of a Trump Place apartment in New York City during her reign, which she shares with the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA titleholders.
If the winner, for any reason, cannot fulfill her duties as Miss Universe, the 1st runner-up takes over. This protocol has happened only once as of, when Panama's Justine Pasek succeeded Russia's Oxana Fedorova as Miss Universe in 2002 after the latter's dethronement later that same year. Aside from the main winner and her runners-up, special awards are also given to the winners of the best National Costume, Miss Photogenic, and Miss Congeniality. The Miss Congeniality award is chosen by the delegates themselves. In recent years, Miss Photogenic has been chosen by popular internet vote.

Final judgment

The competition for the Miss Universe title has seen many changes, although there have been several constants throughout its history. All the contestants compete in a preliminary round of judging where the field is narrowed to a select number of semifinalists. This number has fluctuated over the years. The first Miss Universe pageant had ten semifinalists. For the next two years, the number of semifinalists grew to 16. In 1955, the number dropped to a stable 15, which remained through 1970. In 1971, the number was reduced to 12. That number was further reduced to 10 in 1984. This lasted until 2003, when the contest reinstated the Top 15. This selection continued to be the norm until 2015, except in 2006 and 2011 to 2013. In 2006 and since 2018, there are 20 semifinalists, the highest number of contestants through to the semifinals.
From 2011 to 2013, there were 16 semifinalists, 15 chosen by judges and one chosen through Internet votes. In the 2016 edition, there were 13 semifinalists - 12 chosen by judges panel from the quarantine to the preliminary night and one chosen by Twitter and Vodi app. In 2017, 16 semifinalists were selected from 4 different groups each hailing from a different region in the world - Africa & Asia-Pacific, Europe, The Americas - and a wild card group. The wild card spots have been in place since 2017. Since 2018, 5 semifinalists are chosen per group and the public vote has been removed. U.S.A.'s Olivia Culpo is the only candidate to have been voted by the public through to the semifinals and eventually win Miss Universe back in 2012, while Jamaica's Davina Bennett and Venezuela's Sthefany Gutiérrez are the highest-placed wildcard contestants at Miss Universe, eventually finishing as 2nd runners-up in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
In the early years, the contestants were judged in swimsuit and evening gown only. Since the 1990s, the contestants are now also judged based on their live interviews with their question and answer responses during the coronation night. The crowning moment usually involves the three remaining finalists. However, since 2015, the climax round for the live pageant is the question and answer portion of the Top 3 remaining contestants. The contestants also competed in a preliminary interview round in a one-on-one meeting with each individual judge, mostly closed-door sessions, as well as in the national costume show in the preliminaries. The live interview round for the semifinalists was dropped as a separate segment with bearing to determine the winner in 2004, and was integrated in the introduction of the semifinalists since 2016.
The 2018 edition marked the first time that the Miss Universe pageant included the live opening statements after the semifinalists have been announced, to be included in the overall tallies in determining the winner of the competition. The 2019 edition marked the first time ever in Miss Universe pageant's history that the remaining Top 3 contestants are required to deliver their live closing statements, to be included in the overall tallies, right before the announcement of the winner of the competition.

Crowns of Miss Universe

The crown of Miss Universe has changed nine times over the course of its 67-year history.

Recent titleholders

Gallery of winners

Miss Universe Organization

The Miss Universe Organization is the organization that currently owns and runs the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA beauty contests. Based in New York, the organization is owned by WME/IMG. The current president is Paula Shugart. The organization sells television rights to the pageants in other countries.

Miss Universe Organization titleholders

The following is a list of all Miss Universe Organization titleholders over the years.
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Gallery

Licensing

was reportedly developing a video game based on the pageant, but development status is currently uncertain due to the closure of EA Black Box, the studio allegedly developing the game.