User:Mauriziok/Miss Universe 2014

Miss Universe 2014, the 63rd Miss Universe pageant, was held on 25 January 2015 at the FIU Arena at the Florida, United States. Gabriela Isler of Venezuela crowned her successor Paulina Vega of Colombia at the end of the event. This is the second time that Colombia has won the title.

88 contestants competed in this year with a new crown manufactured by Diamonds International Corporation the newest official jewelry sponsor of the Miss Universe Organization. This was the last Miss Universe to be aired on NBC and the last edition that Donald Trump had been the owner. Due a change of the format of the pageant, this was the first time that the telecast had 3 hours instead of 2.

Contestants
88 contestants competed for the title of Miss Universe 2014:

Designations

 * 🇪🇹 Ethiopia – Hiwot Mamo was appointed as Miss Universe Ethiopia 2014. She was the 1st runner-up in the Miss World Ethiopia 2014 pageant.
 * 🇬🇷 Greece – Ismini Dafopoulou was appointed as Miss Universe Greece 2014 after a casting call took place.
 * 🇭🇹 Haiti – Christie Desir was appointed to represent Haiti by Magali Febles, national director of Miss Universe in Haiti.
 * 🇵🇱 Poland – Marcela Chmielowska was appointed as Miss Universe Poland 2014, due to the rescheduling of the Miss Polonia 2014 pageant to December 2014. She was 2nd runner-up in the Miss Polonia 2011 pageant.
 * 🇨🇭 Switzerland – Zoé Metthez was appointed as Miss Universe Switzerland 2014 by François Matthey, national director of Miss Universe in Switzerland.

Replacements

 * 🇧🇪 Belgium – Laurence Langen was replaced by her 1st runner-up, Anissa Blondin, due to problems with the Miss Belgium Organization.
 * 🇨🇳 China – Nora Xu resigned her title, preferring to continue with her studies instead of competing in the pageant. She was replaced by Yanliang Hu.
 * 🇫🇷 France – Camille Cerf (Miss France 2015) replaced Flora Coquerel (Miss France 2014) after Miss France decided to send Coquerel only to Miss World 2014, due to scheduling conflicts between the two pageants. Coquerel competed at Miss Universe the following year in 2015. Cerf was crowned Miss France 2015 one month prior to Miss Universe 2014.
 * 🇷🇸 Serbia – Anđelka Tomašević replaced Arnela Zeković, who resigned due to personal reasons.
 * 🇿🇦 South Africa – Rolene Strauss was crowned Miss South Africa 2014, but after she was crowned Miss World 2014, she was ineligible to compete for Miss Universe 2014. Ziphozakhe Zokufa the 1st runner-up, replaced Strauss as the representative for South Africa.
 * 🇹🇿 Tanzania – Carolyne Bernard resigned from the competition after fracturing her feet in a car accident, and was replaced by 1st runner-up Nale Boniface.
 * 🇹🇭 Thailand – Weluree Ditsayabut was to represent Thailand in Miss Universe 2014, but resigned her Miss Universe Thailand 2014 title on 9 June 2014, after calling for supporters of the Prime Minister of Thailand to be executed. 1st Runner-up Pimbongkod Chankaew replaced her to represent Thailand in the Miss Universe 2014 pageant.
 * 🇺🇦 Ukraine – Anna Andres resigned her title due to personal reasons. 2nd Runner-up Diana Harkusha was selected to represent Ukraine at the Miss Universe pageant, and finished as 2nd runner-up.

Preliminary competition

 * Lloyd Boston – Fashion guru, TV host and regular correspondent on NBC's The Today Show and CBS's The Insider
 * Azucena Cierco – Latina actress, TV host and special correspondent at Telemundo, particularly her hosting stint at Un Nuevo Dia
 * Jeneine Doucette-White – New York bureau manager at Access Hollywood
 * Michelle McLean – Miss Universe 1992 from Namibia
 * Jimmy Nguyen – Prominent entertainment and digital media lawyer, diversity advocate, blogger and technology adviser
 * Corinne Nicolas – President of Trump Models Modelling Agency
 * Tyler Tixier – Part of the sales team of Delta Air Lines, dubbed as the World's Best Airline

Final telecast

 * Kristin Cavallari – American actress, TV personality, fashion designer
 * William Levy – Cuban American model and actor, previously named People en Español's Sexiest Man Alive
 * Manny Pacquiao – Filipino world champion professional boxer, Fighter of the Decade
 * Louise Roe – English TV presenter, fashion journalist, host of MTV International's "Plain Jane", STAR World Asia's "Fit for Fashion"
 * Lisa Vanderpump – Reality star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
 * Emilio Estefan – musician and producer
 * DeSean Jackson – Washington Redskins wide receiver
 * Nina Garcia – Creative Director of Marie Claire Magazine, Project Runway judge, and fashion industry expert
 * Rob Dyrdek – Entrepreneur
 * Giancarlo Stanton – Miami Marlins right fielder

Returns

 * Last competed in 2005:
 * 🇰🇪 Kenya
 * Last competed in 2011:
 * 🇪🇬 Egypt
 * 🇵🇹 Portugal
 * Last competed in 2012:
 * 🇦🇱 Albania
 *  Georgia
 * 🇮🇪 Ireland
 *  Kosovo
 *  St. Lucia
 * 🇺🇾 Uruguay

Withdrawals

 *  US Virgin Islands – On 2 January, Miss US Virgin Islands 2014, Angela Gabriel was set to fly to Florida for the pageant, but she suffered an arm injury, and did not compete at the pageant.
 *  Vietnam – No national pageant was held due to lack of sponsorship. Nguyễn Lâm Diễm Trang, the 2nd Runner-up of Miss Vietnam 2014 was appointed to represent Vietnam at competition but withdrew at the last minute due to lack of time to prepare for the pageant. The next edition of Miss Universe Vietnam will be held in 2015.

Controversy
Negotiations between Ceará State Secretary of Tourism, Brazil, and Miss Universe Organization started in late September 2013, when MUO directors traveled to Fortaleza to start dialogues and arrangement of pageant activities in the city. On 11 January 2014, Bismarck Maia, State Secretary of Tourism, announced the latest development to Fortaleza's market leading newspaper, Diário do Nordeste, confirming that the event would be held at Centro de Eventos do Ceará, in Ceará's capital.

On 27 March 2014, Annette Cammer, national licenses director of the Miss Universe Organization, answered via an e-mail conversation to a question by a national directive that the 2014 Miss Universe pageant would not be held in Ceará's capital as promised and announced by local authorities. Fortaleza's bid was officially retired on 20 May, and four other Brazilian cities – Rio de Janeiro, Ribeirão Preto, Porto Alegre and Manaus were being considered by MUO as a replacement.

On 22 August 2014, Donald Trump posted to Twitter that Miami and other cities were "fighting hard to host the Miss Universe pageant" and that an announcement would be made soon; specifically mentioning the city of Miami prompted many pageant watchers to believe that the pageant was headed for the Floridian city for the first time since 1997. On 9 September 2014, Puerto Rican newspaper, El Nuevo Dia, and Venezuelan newspaper, El Nacional, each printed an article that said that the contestants would be staying at a Trump-owned hotel in Miami; further fueling rumors that the pageant would be held in Miami in December.

On 12 September 2014, Luigi Boria, mayor of Doral, Florida, announced via Twitter that the pageant was going to take place in Doral on 18 January 2015, leading to some controversy among pageant fans. This was confirmed in late September. Because the pageant slipped into 2015, 2014 was the first year in the Miss Universe history where the pageant hasn't been celebrated during a Julian calendar year, however, the pageant was still known as the 2014 pageant.