User:Mauriziok/Miss Universe 2012

Miss Universe 2012, the 61st Miss Universe pageant, was held on 19 December 2012 at PH Live at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Leila Lopes of Angola crowned her successor Olivia Culpo of the United States at the end of the event, making the eighth crown for the United States at Miss Universe. 89 contestants competed in this year's pageant, same as the last year. This record was broken in 2017 with 92 contestants, which again was broken in 2018 with 94 contestants.

Organization
The Dominican Republic negotiated with the Miss Universe Organization to organize the pageant in Punta Cana but was not granted the hosting rights due to the country not being able to fulfill the requirements asked by the Miss Universe Organization. The backing out of the Dominican Republic caused the Miss Universe Organization to host the pageant in Las Vegas, Nevada in December deviating from the customary mid-year scheduling of the pageant.

Contestants
The following 89 women competed for the title of Miss Universe 2012:

Retreats

 * 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan: Aĭnur Tolyeuova,  Miss Kazakhstan 2012 , won the title at the age of 17, for which she was not accepted as a contestant in  Miss Universe 2012 , due to her strict age requirements.

Substitutions

 * 🇨🇦 Canada: Sahar Biniaz did not compete in Miss Universe 2012 for personal reasons; Adwoa Yamoah, first runner-up in the national pageant, took her place.
 * 🇨🇾 Cyprus: Ntaniella Kefala, winner of the 2012 Star Cyprus contest, was replaced by Ioánna Yiannakoú, for reasons not disclosed.
 * 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic: Dulcita Lieggi represented her country, the Dominican Republic, after Carola Durán, the original winner, was removed from office after it was discovered that she is a divorced woman, which contravenes Miss Universe rules.
 * 🇪🇪 Estonia: Kätlin Valdmets Miss Estonia 2012, due to personal commitments, could not represent her nation in Miss Universe 2012, so Natalie Korneitsik, the First Finalist of the national pageant, did.
 * 🇫🇷 France: Marie Payet was appointed to represent her country "Miss Universe 2012", replacing Delphine Wespiser, "Miss France 2012"; who delivered the title of the national contest for 2013, and this was in conflict with the dates of the world contest. Payet was second finalist in the contest national.
 * 🇬🇦 Gabon: Channa Divouvi, was appointed to represent her country Miss Universe 2012, replacing Marie-Noëlle Ada, Miss Gabon 2012; she who delivered the title of the national contest for 2013, and this was in conflict with the dates of the world contest. Divouvi was the first finalist in the national competition.
 * 🇮🇳 India: Urvashi Rautela was dismissed from the title "Miss Universe India" because she does not have the minimum age that Miss Universe asks for and because she is the bearer of the title "Miss Tourism Queen of the Year International", which came into conflict with her participation in Miss Universe. Her first runner-up Shilpa Singh competed in Miss Universe 2012.
 * 🇳🇿 New Zealand: Avianca Böhm won the title "Miss Universe New Zealand" having South African nationality, since she was born in that African nation; Böhm tried unsuccessfully to obtain New Zealand nationality, which made her participation in "Miss Universe 2012" impossible, with the substitute for the national competition, "" Talia Bennett "", who took her place.
 * 🇳🇬 Nigeria: Damiete Charles-Granville would represent her nation, Nigeria, in Miss Universe, but eventually she did so in the Miss World 2012 pageant, replacing  'Isabella Ayuk' . The change is due to Ayuk not meeting the age limit that Miss World requires; Ayuk was the Nigerian representative in  Miss Universe 2012 .

Designations

 * 🇦🇼 Aruba: Liza Helder was appointed by a new organization in her nation to represent her in Miss Universe 2012, after being the only candidate registered in the national qualifying round.
 * 🇨🇼 Curaçao: Monifa Jansen represented her country in Miss Universe 2012 after she could not do it in the last edition because she did not meet the minimum age required.
 * 🇩🇪 Germany: Alicia Endemann was selected without a contest to represent her nation in Miss Universe 2012 by the national organization in her country.
 * 🇳🇱 Netherlands: Nathalie Den Dekker was selected to compete for her nation in Miss Universe 2012 by the national organization in her country.
 * 🇷🇸 Serbia: Brana Mandic was selected to compete for her nation in Miss Universe 2012 after a special audition.
 * 🇪🇸 Spain: Andrea Huisgen, would represent her nation in Miss Universe 2012; But the "Miss Spain Organization" fell into bankruptcy and the rights to send a Spanish contestant fell into the hands of a new organization called "Miss Universe Spain" that would seek a new representative for this year's competition; however, said organization decided to respect and sponsor Huisgen's participation in the world competition, after she requested it, designating it for that purpose.
 * Vietnam: Diem Huong Luu was selected to represent his nation in Miss Universe 2012 by the Ministry of Culture and the holder of the franchise.

Preliminary competition
– Source:
 * Carlos Anaya
 * Beverly Frank
 * Duane Gazi
 * Michael Greenwald
 * Jimmy Nguyen
 * Corinne Nicolas
 * Amy Sadowsky
 * Crystle Stewart – Miss USA 2008 from Texas

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
 * Claudia Jordan – Miss Rhode Island Teen USA 1990 & Miss Rhode Island USA 1997
 * 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 – Reality star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
 * Kerri Walsh Jennings – Professional beach volleyball player and triple gold medalist in Summer Olympics

Debuts

 * 🇬🇦 Gabon
 * 🇱🇹 Lithuania

Returns

 * Last competed in 2009:
 * 🇧🇬 Bulgaria
 * 🇪🇹 Ethiopia
 * 🇳🇦 Namibia
 * Last competed in 2010:
 * 🇳🇴 Norway

Withdrawals

 * 🇪🇬 Egypt – Egypt didn't send a delegate because there were no sponsors for the 2012 pageant.
 * 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan – Ainur Toleuova withdrew because she didn't meet the minimum age requirement.
 * 🇵🇹 Portugal - The Miss Universe Portugal 2012 was not held due to losing the franchise until 2013. Portugal will returned to Miss Universe in 2014.
 * 🇸🇮 Slovenia – The main national pageant organizers "Delo Revije", a magazine company, lost the franchise license due to company's bankruptcy filed in 2011.
 *  Turks and Caicos
 *  US Virgin Islands

Host city


Miss Universe had been struggling to find a venue for this year's pageant. In March 2012, it was announced that the pageant would be moved to December because the broadcaster, NBC, could not broadcast the pageant at the same time as the 2012 Summer Olympics and the United States presidential election.

In April 2012, it was announced that Bangladesh would host the pageant on 13 December. In July 2012, the Bangladeshi president announced that they will not host the pageant because of financial constraints.

It was rumored that Guadalajara of Mexico, Isla Margarita of Venezuela, Sun City of South Africa, and Jakarta of Indonesia were to host the competition. But, in August 2012, the Dominican government received a proposal from the Miss Universe Organization to host the competition on 11 December. The Dominican Republic had once hosted the Miss Universe pageant in 1977 in Santo Domingo. The Miss Universe Organization was considering hosting the final night at the Hard Rock Resort and Casino in Punta Cana. However, The Dominican government said that the country was not able to provide any kind of financial assistance to the pageant.

Finally, in September 2012, it was confirmed by the Miss Universe Organization that the 2012 Miss Universe pageant would take place at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 19 December. It was the fourth time the Miss Universe pageant was held in Las Vegas, the other three times being in 1991, 1996, and 2010.