Miss Universe


Miss Universe is an annual international beauty contest, and the title for the winner of the contest, founded in 1952 by California clothing company Pacific Mills. The pageant became part of Kayser-Roth and then Gulf and Western Industries, before being acquired by Donald Trump in 1996. The pageant is run by the Miss Universe Organization.

Miss Universe 2007

Main article: Miss Universe 2007

The 2007 Miss Universe Pageant will be held in Mexico City on May 28. Although initial expectations were that ninety delegates would participate., only 77 candidates will compete for the title.

The Miss Universe Organization officially informed (March 29, 2007) the event will take place on May 28 at the National Auditorium in Mexico City, Mexico. Other events will take place in the cities of Cancun, the Mayan Riviera and Chiapas [1].

History

The winner of 1950s "Miss America 1951" pageant, Yolande Betbeze, refused to pose in a swimsuit from major sponsor Catalina swimwear. As a result, the brand's manufacturer Pacific Mills withdrew from Miss America and set up the Miss USA and Miss Universe contests. 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 to get married to a Filipino tycoon, Virgilio Hilario, shortly before her year was complete. Until 1958 the Miss Universe title (like Miss America) was post-dated, so at the time Ms. Kuusela's title was Miss Universe 1953.

The pageant was first televised in 1955. CBS began nationally broadcasting the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants combined from 1960, and separately from 1965. In 2003, NBC took over the television rights.

The main pageant was held consecutively in the continental US from 1952 to 1971. Since then it has usually been held in a different country each year.

The contest today

The Miss Universe Organization, a New York-based partnership between NBC and Donald Trump, has run the contest since June 20, 2002. The current president is Paula Shugart. The Organization sells television rights to the pageant in other countries, and also produces the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA contests. The winner of Miss USA represents the USA in Miss Universe.

Candidate selection

Each year, bids are received by the Miss Universe organizers from organizations who wish to select the Miss Universe contestant for a country. This allows competition between different pageants to hold a country's license, as happened for Miss Italy and Miss France for example when the licenses for their respective traditional organizations were revoked (the usual Miss France competition returned in 2004).

Usually a country's candidate selection involves pageants in major cities, with the winners competing in a national pageant, but this does not always occur. For example, in 2000 Australia's national pageant was abolished as a relic of a bygone era, with Australian delegates instead chosen by a modeling agency. Such "castings" are generally discouraged by the Miss Universe Organization, which prefers national pageants that preserve an aura of respectability and competition. Despite the "casted" Australian delegate, Miss Australia, Jennifer Hawkins, was chosen as Miss Universe. In 2004, Australia resumed its national pageant and choose Michelle Guy as Miss Universe Australia 2005.

Some of the most successful national pageants in the last decade are Miss USA, Venezuela, India, Colombia ,Puerto Rico, Lebanon, and France which command consistently high interest and television ratings in their respective countries. Organizations attempting to build themselves up to a higher level include Canada, Philippines, Mexico, Peru, Miss Universe Japan, and the triumvirate of Miss Bolivia, Miss Paraguay, and Miss Uruguay (all directed by Gloria de Limpias). Recent arrivals in the pageant include China (2002), Albania (2002), Vietnam (2004), Georgia (2004), Ethiopia (2004), Latvia (2005), Kazakhstan (2006), and Tanzania (2007); there have also been efforts to revive strong national pageants in Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, Canada, and the Caribbean, among other regions. There are continually efforts to expand the pageant, but the participation of some countries such as Indonesia and Algeria has proven difficult due to cultural barriers to the swimsuit competition, while others such as Mozambique, Armenia and Nepal have balked at sending representatives due to the cost (in fact, of all the major international pageants, the franchise fee for Miss Universe is the most expensive). As of 2005, only four countries have been present at every Miss Universe since its inception in 1952: Canada, France, Germany, and the USA. Many European countries allow 17-year-old contestants to compete in their pageants, while Miss Universe's minimum age is 18, so national titleholders often have to be replaced by their runners-up. Miss Universe also prohibits transsexual applicants and age fabrication.

Main pageant

The main Miss Universe Pageant, as of now, is held over a two week period between May-July. In the 1970s through the 1990s, the pageant was a month-long extravaganza. This allows 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 organisers, the Miss Universe contest is more than a beauty pageant: women who aspire 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 interview rounds; although this section of competition has held less importance during recent pageants than it did in the twentieth century. Delegates also compete 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, which often happens when there are even members of the jury, the higher semifinal scores become decisive.

The winner is assigned a one-year contract with the Miss Universe Organisation, traveling overseas to spread messages about the control of diseases, peace, and public awareness of AIDS. Since Donald Trump took over the pageant, the winner has been given the use of a Trump Tower apartment in New York City for use during her reign.

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. Miss Congeniality is chosen by the delegates themselves. In recent years, Miss Photogenic has been chosen by popular internet vote (the winner used to be chosen by media personnel covering the event).

The Competition Proper

The Preliminaries

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 (nowadays called the "Presentation Show") where the field is narrowed to a select number of semi-finalists. This number has fluctuated over the years. The very first Miss Universe pageant had ten semi-finalists. The next two years, the number of semi-finalists 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 a mere 10 in 1984. This lasted until 2003, when the number of 15 was re-instated. In 2006, there were 20 semi-finalists, the highest number ever. In 2007, the Organization announced the Top 15 system will be back.

In the early years, the contestants were judged in swimsuit and evening gown only. In the later years, the contestants also competed in a preliminary interview round in a one-on-one meeting with each individual judge.

The Final Competition

In the early years of the pageant, the ladies who make the cut are announced after the preliminary competition. From 1965 until the present day, the semi-finalists were not announced until the night of the main event. The semi-finalists once again competed in evening gown and swimsuit and a top 5 was announced. An interview portion was introduced in 1960. From there, the runners-up and winner was selected. However, in 1959 through 1963, there was no cut to 5 finalists; the runners-up and winners were called from the assembled 15 semi-finalists.

In 1964, the top 15 became a top 10, and after a round of interview, the winner and runners-up were called from the 10 finalists.

In 1965, the pageant returned to a cut to 5 finalists, and remained so until 1989. Also, in 1969, a final question was posed to the last five contestants. The final question was an on-and-off feature of the pageant, especially in the 1980s, because from 1986-1989, the final question portion was not used. In 1990, it had taken root and every pageant since the final 5 contestants have to answer a final question.

In 1990, the pageant implemented major format changes in the competition itself. Instead of five finalists, the field was reduced from 10 semi-finalists to six (in 1998, the number of finalists return to 5). Each contestant then randomly selected a judge and answered the question posed by the judge. After that, the field is narrowed down further to a final three. However, in 2001, it became a final five again.

In 2000, the interview portion of the semi-finals was quietly dropped and the contestants once again, as in the early days of the pageant, competed only in swimsuit and gowns.

In 2006, twenty semi-finalists were announced, with these delegates competing in the swimsuit competition. The number of competing delegates was then cut to ten, with those delegates competing in the evening gown competition. After that round of competition, the final five were announced, with the finalists competing in the "final question" or interview round. At the end of competition the runners-up were announced and the winner crowned by the outgoing queen.

Best performances by continental regions

As of 2006

*

In 2002, Russia's Oxana Fedorova won the Miss Universe crown in San Juan, Puerto Rico. However, she was dethroned a few months later by the Miss Universe Organization for not fulfilling the duties stipulated in her contract. First runner-up, Panama's Justine Pasek was crowned Miss Universe for 2002.

*

Central America and the Caribean are part of North America.

Tally

Anyone who follows the Olympic Games or other sporting events will be familiar with the concept of the Medal Table, which ranks countries based on their first (gold), second (silver) and third (bronze) place finishes. Here is a similar table of the top rankings for the Miss Universe pageant, based on all results from the first event in 1952 to the most recent competition in 2006.

Hosts and invited artists

The following is a list of finals hosts and invited artists of the previous ten years. See List of Miss Universe hosts and invited artists for the full list of hosts and invited artists.

Trivia and statistics

Scores

Locations

For the full list of venues, see List of Miss Universe winners and venues.

Competing states

Delegates

Winners

Interview compeititon - 9.843 by Milka Chulina of Venezuela in 1993.

Evening Gown competition - 9.897 by Carolina Gomez Correa of Colombia in 1994.

Awards

The Miss Universe Creed

From 1960 to 1990, the Miss Universe Creed was read at each pageant:

"We, the young women of the universe, believe people everywhere are seeking peace, tolerance and mutual understanding. We pledge to spread this message in every way we can, wherever we go."

The Crown

External links

Citations