Miss Universe 2012 was the 61st Miss Universe pageant, held at the PH Live at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in

Las Vegas 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 ...

, Nevada, United States on December 19, 2012. The contest was won by Olivia Culpo of the United States, who was crowned by Leila Lopes of Angola. It was the United States' first win in fifteen years, and its eighth win at the pageant. There were contestants from eighty-nine countries and territories, three more than the previous year. It was hosted by Andy Cohen and

Giuliana Rancic Giuliana Rancic (; ; born August 17, 1974) is an Italian-born American Entertainment journalism, entertainment reporter and television personality. She is a co-anchor of ''E! News'' and resides in Chicago and Los Angeles. Early life Rancic was bo ...

, with Jeannie Mai as backstage correspondent. American rock band

Train A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

and Australian musician Tim Omaji performed in this year's pageant.

Background

Location and date

In March 2012, the Miss Universe Organization announced that the pageant was postponed to mid-December as broadcaster, NBC, was unable to broadcast the pageant at the same time as the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and the 2012 United States presidential election. In April 2012, it was announced that Bangladesh would host the pageant on December 13, 2012. However, in July, the Bangladeshi president announced that they would not host the pageant because of financial constraints. In August 2012, the Dominican government received a proposal from the Miss Universe Organization to host the competition on December 11, 2012. The Dominican Republic had previously hosted Miss Universe 1977 in

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

. The organization was considering hosting the final night at the Hard Rock Resort and Casino in

Punta Cana Punta Cana is a resort town in the easternmost region of the Dominican Republic. It was politically incorporated as the "Verón–Punta Cana township" in 2006, and it is subject to the municipality of Higüey (La Altagracia Province). According ...

. However, the government said that the country was not able to provide any kind of financial assistance to the pageant, and so was not granted the hosting rights. The organization moved the pageant to

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

in December changing from the customary mid-year scheduling. On September 27, 2012, the organization confirmed that the 2012 pageant would be held at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 19, 2012.

Selection of participants

Contestants from eighty-nine countries and territories were selected to compete in the competition. Seven of these were appointed to their positions after being a runner-up of their national pageant or were selected through a casting process, while nine were selected to replace the original winners. Adwoa Yamoah, the first runner-up of Miss Universe Canada 2012, was appointed to represent Canada after Sahar Biniaz, Miss Universe Canada 2012, withdrew for personal reasons. Ioánna Yiannakoú, the runner-up of Star Cyprus 2012, was appointed to represent Cyprus after Ntaniella Kefala, Star Cyprus 2012, withdrew for undisclosed reasons. Carola Durán, Miss Dominican Republic 2012, was to compete, but was dethroned after it was discovered that she was previously married and is divorced. She was replaced by, Dulcita Lieggi, the first runner-up. Natalie Korneitsik, the first runner-up of Miss Estonia 2012, was appointed to represent Estonia after the winner Kätlin Valdmets, withdrew due to lack of sponsorship. Marie Payet, the first runner-up of Miss France 2012, was appointed to represent France due to a potential date conflict between Miss Universe 2012 and Miss France 2013, at which Delphine Wespiser, Miss France 2012, was contractually obligated to be present. Channa Divouvi, the first runner-up of Miss Gabon 2012, was appointed to represent Gabon due to a potential date conflict between Miss Universe 2012 and Miss Gabon 2013, at which winner Marie-Noëlle Ada, was contractually obligated to be present. Shilpa Singh, the first runner-up of I Am She 2012, was appointed to represent India after Urvashi Rautela, Miss Universe India 2012, withdrew due as she was underage and also the reigning Miss Tourism Queen of the Year International at that time. Avianca Böhm, Miss Universe New Zealand 2012, was replaced by her first runner-up, Talia Bennett, due to citizenship issues. Isabella Ayuk, Most Beautigul Girl in Nigeria 2012, switched pageants with Damiete Charles Granville, Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria Universe 2012, due to being overage at Miss World. Andrea Huisgen, Miss Spain 2011, was unable to participate as the Miss Spain organization was bankrupt, and the license was awarded to a new organization called Miss Universe Spain. Although the rights had changed, Huisgen was allowed to compete having changed contracts. This contest saw the debuts of Gabon and Lithuania, and the returns of Bulgaria, Ethiopia, Namibia, and Norway. Bulgaria, Ethiopia, and Namibia last competed in Miss Universe 2009, while Norway last competed in Miss Universe 2010. Egypt, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Slovenia, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands withdrew. Aĭnur Tolyeuova of Kazakhstan withdrew as she was underage. Egypt, Portugal, Slovenia, Turks and Caicos, and the U.S. Virgin Islands withdrew after their respective organizations failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate.

Transgender women allowed to compete

Beginning with Miss Universe 2013, the Miss Universe Organization allowed

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

women to compete, following the consultation with the

GLAAD GLAAD () is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization. Originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals in the media and entertainment industries, it has since ...

Organization. The changes in the rules came after Jenna Talackova, a transgender woman competing at Miss Universe Canada 2012, was reinstated, having been removed from the pageant. Her removal was because she "did not meet the requirements to compete". A month after her removal, the organization allowed Talackova to compete provided that "she meets the legal gender recognition requirements of Canada, and the standards established by other international competitions." Talackova reached the top 12, and was one of the four contestants to win the Miss Congeniality award. Six years after the pageant rules were changed,

Ángela Ponce Ángela María Ponce Camacho (born 18 January 1991) is a Spanish model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Universe Spain 2018. Ponce made history on 29 June 2018 as the first openly transgender woman to be crowned Miss Spain. She repres ...

of Spain made history at Miss Universe 2018 as the first transgender contestant to compete at Miss Universe.

Results

Placements

Special awards

Best National Costume

Pageant

Format

As with Miss Universe 2011, fifteen semifinalists were chosen through the preliminary competition, that was composed of the swimsuit and evening gown competitions, and closed-door interviews. Internet voting was still being implemented, with fans being able to vote for another delegate to advance into the semifinals, making the number of semifinalists sixteen. The winner of the fan vote was not revealed during the final telecast. The sixteen semifinalists competed in the swimsuit competition, narrowing them down to ten. The ten then competed in the evening gown competition, and were narrowed down to five. The five finalists competed in the question and answer round and the final look.

Selection committee

Preliminary competition

* Carlos Anaya – Host for My Lifestyle Extra * Beverly Frank – Executive Vice-president for Business Affairs for 19 Entertainment * Duane Gazi – International scout with the Trump Model Management * Michael Greenwald – Vice-President of Talent at Don Buchwald & Associates * Jimmy Nguyen – Prominent entertainment and new media lawyer * Corinne Nicolas – President of the Trump Model Management * Amy Sadowsky – Senior Vice-President of Public Relations for Planet Holywood International * Crystle Stewart – Miss USA 2008 from

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Final telecast

* Nigel Barker – Fashion photographer and the host of The Face * Diego Boneta – Singer, actor and songwriter from Mexico * Scott Disick – Businessman, entrepreneur and reality star of Keeping Up With the Kardashians * Brad Goreski – Fashion stylist and reality star of It's a Brad, Brad World * Masaharu Morimoto – Chef and star of Iron Chef and Iron Chef America from Japan * Ximena Navarrete – Miss Universe 2010 from Mexico * Pablo Sandoval – Professional baseball player from Venezuela *

Lisa Vanderpump Lisa Jane Vanderpump (born 15 September 1960) is an English television personality and actress. She initially gained fame as a main cast member on ''The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills'' from 2010 until 2019. Vanderpump parlayed her ''Housewiv ...

– Reality star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills * Kerri Walsh Jennings – Professional beach volleyball player and triple gold medalist in Summer Olympics

Contestants

Eighty-nine contestants competed for the title.

Notes

References

External links

Miss Universe official website
{{Miss Universe countries and territories 2012 beauty pageants

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2012 in the United States Beauty pageants in the United States 2012 in Nevada December 2012 in the United States Zappos Theater