Demi-Leigh Tebow ( ;

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Nel-Peters; born 28 June 1995) is a South African model and beauty queen best known for winning the title of

Miss Universe 2017 Miss Universe 2017 was the 66th Miss Universe pageant, held at The AXIS in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States on 26 November 2017. At the end of the event, Iris Mittenaere of France crowned Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters of South Africa as Miss Unive ...

. She was crowned Miss South Africa 2017, and the second Miss Universe winner from South Africa, following Margaret Gardiner, who was crowned

Miss Universe 1978 Miss Universe 1978 was the 27th Miss Universe pageant, held on 24 July 1978 at the Centro de Convenciones de Acapulco in Acapulco, Mexico. It was the first time in the pageant's history that the event was held in Mexico. Margaret Gardiner of S ...

Early life and education

Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters was born on 28 June 1995 in

Sedgefield, Western Cape Sedgefield is a coastal town on the Garden Route in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is situated on the N2 national road, between George and Knysna. The town was proclaimed in 1929 on the farm Sedgefield, which in turn was named in ...

, to Bennie Peters and Anne-Marie Steenkamp. She identified her half-sister, Franje, who was born with

cerebellar agenesis Cerebellar agenesis is a rare condition in which a brain develops without the cerebellum. The cerebellum controls smooth movement, and when it does not develop, the rest of the brain must compensate, which it cannot do completely. The condition is ...

, as the most significant motivator in her life. Franje died on 4 May 2019, aged 13. Nel-Peters graduated from

North-West University The North-West University (NWU) is a public research university located on three campuses in Potchefstroom, Mahikeng and Vanderbijlpark in South Africa. The university came into existence through the merger in 2004 of the Potchefstroom Univer ...

in March 2017, a few days before winning the Miss South Africa 2017 competition. She is fluent in both

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

and

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

. Nel-Peters also won Miss Varsity Cup 2015 and was a Top 5 finalist in Miss Teen SA in 2010.

Pageantry

Miss South Africa 2017

Nel-Peters represented

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

in the Miss South Africa 2017 competition on 26 March 2017, which she won. As Miss South Africa, she had the right to represent South Africa in both

Miss World 2017 Miss World 2017 was the 67th edition of the Miss World pageant, held at the Sanya City Arena in Sanya, China, on 18 November 2017. Stephanie Del Valle of Puerto Rico crowned Manushi Chhillar of India as her successor at the end of the event. ...

and

, but since the dates of the two pageants coincided, she was sent only to Miss Universe, held in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Miss Universe 2017

In the final round

Steve Harvey Broderick Stephen Harvey Sr. Also aired August 16, 2015. (born January 17, 1957) is an American comedian, television host, actor, writer, and producer. He hosts ''The Steve Harvey Morning Show'', ''Family Feud'', ''Celebrity Family Feud'', '' ...

asked Nel-Peters, "What quality in yourself are you most proud of and how will you apply that quality to your time as Miss Universe?" She said: When asked about what she thought was the most important issue regarding women in the workplace, she said: She went on to win the competition and was crowned Miss Universe 2017 by outgoing titleholder

Iris Mittenaere Iris Mittenaere ( ; ; born 25 January 1993) is a French television personality, model and beauty pageant titleholder best known for winning the title of Miss Universe 2016. The second Miss Universe from France after Christiane Martel, Mittenae ...

. Nel-Peters is the second titleholder from South Africa; Margaret Gardiner won

. Nel-Peters said during a segment at Miss Universe that she wants to use her

self-defence Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in tim ...

workshops to help as many women as she can. This stems from an incident a month after she was crowned Miss South Africa, when she was

carjacked Carjacking is a robbery in which a motor vehicle is taken over.Michael Cherbonneau, "Carjacking," in ''Encyclopedia of Social Problems'', Vol. 1 (SAGE, 2008: ed. Vincent N. Parrillo), pp. 110-11. In contrast to car theft, carjacking is usually i ...

at Hyde Park. She handed over her car keys but was forced into her car by the carjackers. She punched one of them in the throat and managed to run away and get help. In her capacity as Miss Universe, Nel-Peters visited the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

(twice),

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

(twice),

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

(twice),

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

(twice),

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, various cities in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and her home country,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Nel-Peters ended her reign on 17 December 2018 in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

, the host nation of the 67th Miss Universe pageant. She eventually crowned

Catriona Gray Catriona Elisa Magnayon Gray ( ; ; born January 6, 1994) is a Filipino beauty queen and media personality best known for winning the title of Miss Universe 2018. The fourth Filipina to win Miss Universe, Gray was previously crowned Miss Worl ...

of the

as her successor.

Personal life

During her reign as Miss Universe 2017, Nel-Peters began dating

Tim Tebow Timothy Richard Tebow (; born August 14, 1987) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons, primarily with the Denver Broncos. Tebow played college football for t ...

, a former professional

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

and former professional baseball

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

for the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

minor league affiliates. Nel-Peters and Tebow became engaged on 9 January 2019 at Tebow's family farm in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

. They married on 20 January 2020 in

Franschhoek Franschhoek (; Afrikaans for "French Corner", Dutch spelling before 1947 ''Fransche Hoek'', French: ''Le Coin Français'') is a small town in the Western Cape Province and one of the oldest towns in South Africa. It was formerly known as Oliph ...

, about an hour outside of Cape Town. Like Tebow, she is a Christian.

References

External links

Official websiteProfile of Nel-Peters at the official Miss South Africa website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tebow, Demi-Leigh 1995 births Living people Afrikaner people Cape Coloureds Miss South Africa winners Miss Universe 2017 contestants Miss Universe winners North-West University alumni People from Knysna Local Municipality South African beauty pageant winners South African Christians South African female models South African women's rights activists