Miss World 2021

Miss World 2021 was the 70th edition of the Miss World pageant, held at the Coca-Cola Music Hall in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 16 March 2022. The coronation was originally scheduled to be held on 16 December 2021 at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum. However, the pageant was rescheduled to 16 March 2022 due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Puerto Rico.

At the end of the event, Karolina Bielawska of Poland was crowned as Miss World 2021 by Toni-Ann Singh of Jamaica. It is the second victory of Poland in the history of the pageant.

Contestants from ninety-seven countries and territories competed in this year's pageant, featuring the smallest number of candidates at the pageant since 2003. The pageant was hosted by Peter Andre and Fernando Allende. Don Omar, Gente de Zona, Víctor Manuelle, Pedro Capó, and the Puerto Rico Philharmonic Orchestra (Filarmónica de Puerto Rico) conducted by Angel Velez with guest conductor Mike Dixon performed in this year's pageant.

Location and date
The edition was initially set at the end of 2020 but was postponed indefinitely due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. On 29 July 2020, the Miss World Organization announced that the 70th Miss World will take place at the end of 2021.

On 8 March 2021, the Miss World Organization confirmed that the competition will take place at the Coca-Cola Music Hall in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 16 December 2021. However, due to high demands of tickets for the final competition, the Organization announced on 2 September that the competition would be relocated to the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum, the largest indoor venue in Puerto Rico.

The threat of the Omicron variant had already detected in some parts of the world during the pre-pageant activities, as the disease started to ravage and swept across the island. On 14 December Miss World Indonesia Pricilia Carla Yules tested positive for COVID-19. As a precaution, her roommate Miss World India Manasa Varanasi and five others were classified as suspected cases. Miss World Organization chairwoman Julia Morley confirmed that the delegates are currently isolated and in quarantine and that they will not be on stage for the final show if they do not produce a negative PCR test. On 15 December, Puerto Rico Department of Health confirmed that 17 positive cases for COVID-19 related to the Miss World pageant activities, includes contestants and technical personnel.

An official statement stating that Miss World Malaysia Lavanya Sivaji tested positive for COVID-19 by her national director via Miss World Malaysia Instagram on 16 December 2021. She was required to be isolated for 10 days and will not be permitted on the stage during the finals as part of Puerto Rico Department of Health and Miss World guidelines. The finale, originally slated 16 December, was later postponed and will be held on an unspecified date but within 90 days in Puerto Rico. On 16 December, epidemiologist Melissa Marzán confirmed that 15 staff and 23 contestants were positive cases associated with Miss World during the Puerto Rico Department of Health press conference. She added that pageant organizers decided to postpone, not the island's authorities.

On December 22, the Miss World Organization announced via the Miss World social media accounts that the rescheduled 70th Miss World pageant would take place on 16 March 2022 and would be held at Puerto Rico's Coca-Cola Music Hall instead of the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum. Only the 40 semifinalists had returned to Puerto Rico from 9 to 11 March 2022 for the rescheduled event.

Selection of participants
Contestants from ninety-seven countries and territories were selected to compete in the competition. Due to the pandemic, numerous national pageants were postponed or canceled entirely, resulting in multiple former runners-up from previous national pageants being appointed, or casting processes taking place instead. Eight of these delegates were designees after the original contestant withdrew or elapsed her reign.

Replacements
Andrea Montero, Miss World Costa Rica 2020, was expected to represent Costa Rica at Miss World. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Montero elapsed her reign as Miss World Costa Rica, making her no longer eligible to compete. Due to this, Tamara Dal Maso was appointed as Miss World Costa Rica 2021. The same happened with Miss World America 2020 Alissa Anderegg, where she was replaced by Miss World America 2021 Shree Saini, a semi-finalist at Miss World America 2020, Miss World Japan 2020 Maria Kaneya, where she was replaced by Miss World Japan 2021 Tamaki Koshi, Miss Rwanda 2020 Nishimwe Naomie Mäckenzie, where she was replaced by Miss Rwanda 2021 Grace Ingabire, and Miss Senegal 2020 Ndeye Fatima Dione, where she was replaced by Miss Senegal 2021 Penda Sy.

Amela Agastra was appointed as the representative of Albania after Joanna Kiose, Miss World Albania 2021, withdrew due to undisclosed reasons. Lizzy Dobbe, the first runner-up of Miss World Netherlands 2020-2021, was appointed to represent the Netherlands since Dilay Willemstein, Miss World Netherlands 2020-2021, doesn't want to take the vaccine against COVID-19. Juliana Rugumisa was appointed as the representative of Tanzania after Miss Tanzania 2020/2021 Rose David Manfere breached her contract with Miss Tanzania.

Debuts, returns, and withdrawals
The 2021 edition saw the debuts of Iraq and Somalia, and the returns of Belize, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Estonia, Guinea, Madagascar, Namibia, Norway, Saint Lucia, Serbia, Sint Maarten, and Uruguay. Sint Maarten last competed in 2001, Estonia last competed in 2007, Namibia last competed in 2015, Saint Lucia last competed in 2016, Cote D'Iviore, Guinea and Uruguay last competed in 2017, while the others last competed in 2018. Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Australia, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, British Virgin Islands, Croatia, Cook Islands, Denmark, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Montenegro, Myanmar, New Zealand, Russia, Samoa, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Thailand, and the US Virgin Islands withdrew. Both Darya Goncharevich of Belarus and Natalija Labovic of Montenegro withdrew due to health concerns. Star Hellas 2021 Anna Pavlidou of Greece withdrew after not getting the second dose for the COVID-19 vaccine. Michelle Calderon of Guatemala, Nazerke Karmanova of Kazakhstan, and Adesha Penn of the US Virgin Islands withdrew due to undisclosed reasons.

Participation of Miss Sint Maarten
On 15 December, the government of Sint Maarten officially denounced the participation of Lara Mateo at Miss World 2021 as Dutch territory representative. The current franchise holder of the Miss and Mr World license for Sint Maarten did not select Lara Mateo for her participation; they are currently under investigation by the government. Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs said the government discovered that Lara Mateo was wrong registered by Guadeloupe's franchise holder to represent Sint Maarten. The local government issued an official letter stating that they did not endorse Lara Mateo to Miss World. She added that Collectivity of Saint Martin, neither their Tourism Department nor the Culture Department, did not know or acknowledge the candidate and reassured that their winners would solely compete at Miss France.

Incidents before the pageant
On 28 February 2022, Del Valle took to Instagram to announce she would no longer be hosting the pageant's 70th edition, claiming "It is contrary to my ethics and moral principles to continue working with an organization that has acted in a defamatory, frivolous and unfair manner; solely for the purpose of causing harm." Puerto Rico with a Purpose's lawsuit against Del Valle and Del Valle's countersuit are still active.

Placements
§ – Digital Media Challenge winner

Head-to-Head Challenge
The contestants were officially assigned to their grouping via Miss World YouTube Channel on 24 November 2021. The winner of each group will compete at the head-to-head final in the Capitol of Puerto Rico on 9 December. The eight semi-finalists who won at the second round will automatically be part of the Top 40.

Round 1

 * Advanced to Round 2 of the Head-to-Head Challenge.
 * Advanced to Round 2 of the Head-to-Head Challenge, but advanced to the Top 40 via judges' choice or a challenge event other than Head-to-Head Challenge.
 * Advanced to the Top 40 via a challenge event other than Head-to-Head Challenge.
 * Advanced to the Top 40 via judges' choice.


 * Note: 🇹🇿 tanzania wasn't assigned to any group for the Head-to-Head challenge.

Round 2

 * Advanced to the Top 40 via the Head-to-Head challenge.

Talent
The finals of the Talent competition was held on 4 December 2021, and the winner was officially announced via the Miss World Facebook page on 13 December 2021. The candidate who won the challenge will be included in the Top 40 and will compete at the finale on 16 March 2022. Burte-Ujin Anu of Mongolia won the challenge.


 * Advanced to the Top 40 via the Talent challenge.

Top Model
The finals of the Top Model competition was held at the T-Mobile Distrito on 6 December 2021, and the winner was officially announced via the Miss World Facebook page on 13 December 2021. The candidate who won the challenge will be included in the Top 40 and will compete at the finale on 16 March 2022. Olivia Yacé of Cote D'Ivoire won the challenge.


 * Advanced to the Top 40 via the Top Model challenge.

Sports
The Sports Challenge was initially held on 1 December 2021, but Miss Norway, Amine Storrød, had an asthma attack during the event which led to the delay the rest of the competition. The finals of the challenge was held on 10 December 2021, and the winner was officially announced via the Miss World Facebook page on 13 December 2021. The candidate who won the challenge will be included in the Top 40 and will compete at the finale on 16 March 2022. Karolina Vidales of Mexico won the challenge.


 * Advanced to the Top 40 via the Sports challenge.

Multimedia
The winner of the Multimedia Challenge was officially announced via the Miss World Facebook page on 13 December 2021. The candidate who won the challenge will be included in the Top 40 and will compete at the finale on 16 March 2022. Olivia Yacé of Côte D'Ivoire won the challenge.


 * Advanced to the Top 40 via the Multimedia challenge.

Beauty With a Purpose
The finalists of the Beauty With a Purpose was officially announced via the Miss World Facebook page on 13 December 2021. The six finalists were then announced as winners and are included in the Top 40 and will compete at the finale on 16 March 2022.   Aside from that, a Beauty With a Purpose Ambassador Award was given during the finale to a candidate that will accompany the new Miss World with her reign.


 * Advanced to the Top 40 via Beauty With a Purpose.

§ B eauty With a Purpose Ambassador Award winner

Format
Fifteen contestants earned their spot in the semi-finals via various challenges and the remaining twenty-five semi-finalists were officially announced via Miss World Facebook page on 21 January 2022. There was a tie for the twelve semi-finalists on the coronation night, which increased the placements to thirteen including the Digital Media Challenge Winner. Shree Saini of United States was awarded as Beauty With A Purpose Ambassador and she will accompany the new Miss World, Karolina Bielawska of Poland during her reign.

Selection committee

 * Jacqueline Aguilera – Miss World 1995 from Venezuela
 * Stella Nolasco – Puerto Rican fashion designer
 * Vanessa Ponce – Miss World 2018 from Mexico
 * Brock Pierce – American entrepreneur and cryptocurrency tycoon
 * Crystal Rose Pierce – American entrepreneur
 * Vincent De Paul – American actor and model
 * Julia Morley – Chairman and CEO of the Miss World Organization
 * Peter Thomas Roth – CEO and founder of Peter Thomas Roth Skin Care
 * Giselle Laronde – Miss World 1986 from Trinidad and Tobago
 * Patrick Robinson – American fashion designer
 * Mari Allende – Mexican philanthropist and television personality

Contestants
Ninety-seven contestants competed for the title.